Woman who made goth kittens prosecuted for animal cruelty

[Lace Neil Singer]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1WKs76Ko9

This bitch be crazy. O_o Who the hell thinks that piercing kittens' ears and docking their tails just to sell "goth kittens" is right in any circumstance?

[Sleepwalker]

I imagine the same people who do it to various dogs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docking_(dog)

[Jester]

Shit like this PISSES ME OFF! And it's not even like she was claiming she was doing it for religious or personal belief reasons...she was doing it to make money. Not that there would be an acceptable reason for doing such a thing, but doing something this cruel to cats because you're a greedy fucking bitch just makes my fucking blood boil.

But I do love how the judges very succinctly got in the last word:

She claimed that a ‘person of normal intelligence would not know whether piercing a kitten’s ears or banding its tail is maiming, mutilating, torturing or disfiguring an animal.’

‘We disagree,’ the judge wrote.

[Eisa]

^I gotta agree with the judge on that one! She knew damn well it was hurting the kittens.

[anakhouri]

People have been docking dogs' tails and ears for centuries. While I disapprove of docking, the people who do it usually take the animals to a professional and it is done while they are very, very young.

And I might be wrong (someone tell me if I am), but a docking a dog's tail involves cutting off flesh only, no vertebrae. I just felt my cat's tail and she appears to have bone and muscle nearly to the end. So in my imagination, docking a cat involves removing part of its spine.

So this bitch is wrong on multiple levels.

[Sleepwalker]

Dog's tails do have bones, muscle, and nerves. Docking is generally done at a young age with no anaesthetic. Some countries do require it to be done by a vet- some, like the US, have no laws regarding this.

The length of time a wrong is committed increases the wrong, it does not decrease it.

[HYHYBT]

Strange... while arguments over circumcision don't bother me at all (nor does the idea), anything that involves causing a kitten pain in any way, especially chopping off pieces, makes me wince and cry.

Logically, if it's allowed for dogs, it should be allowed for cats... but I don't understand why the "how would you like it if someone decided to prune *your* appendages?" argument generally doesn't carry weight. People who would answer "but it's just a cat/dog" shouldn't have pets.

[tropicsgoddess]

That is freakin' crazy! Goth kittens?!!

[Jester]

Circumcision is not a comparable analogy, and let me tell you why.

Forgetting the religious aspect sometimes accompanying the procedure, there is a hygiene benefit to it, as well as the fact that it is simply removing skin, not bone or cartilage. And it has been going on for thousands of years with, from what I know, no serious damage to the boys it is done to. Not to be flip, but millions of Jewish boys (and others) can't be wrong!

And if it wasn't obvious before, I am a cat lover, and unlike circumcision and unlike with dogs, this is not something that is a regular procedure with cats. While we treat them similarly, dogs and cats ARE different species.

[AdminAssistant]

My understanding is that the hygiene benefit of circumcision has largely been blown out of proportion and that there is nerve damage as a consequence. Also, when little girls in some parts of Africa have their labias and clitoral hoods cut off there is general outcry although that is "simply removing skin."

That's all beside the point, however. Tail docking aside, putting such a heavy weight on the ears is cruelty in and of itself. If she had taken them to an actual vet to get the tails docked...well, I think it's stupid but it's not nearly as cruel as wrapping a rubber band around the tail and waiting for the tissue to rot off. Wouldn't that lead to infection/sepsis? Or something? Eeesh.

[Ladeeda]

I never got the point of docking ANY animals tail, or trimming ears. If the animal was meant to be short tailed and pointy earred, they'd be born with short tails and pointy ears.

Is there every a point to it? What's wrong with floppy ears and long tails?

And "Goth Kitties"? Bitch, Goths get black cats. That's as Goth as a cat needs to be.

[blas87]

I never understood docking the tails off certain breeds of dogs.

If I remember right, Manix cats are born without tails. There's a giant cat across the street where my parents live (no lie, this cat is over 20 pounds) that has no tail.

[AdminAssistant]

I can sorta see the logic in tail docking working dogs, particularly herding dogs. You don't want an extra appendage hanging out there for cattle to stomp on. Although, our poor Australian Cattle Dog (aka blue heeler) mix had his tail docked too much. All he had was a little wiggly nubbin.

[Nyoibo]

Blue Heelers shouldn't have their tails docked, most dogs shouldn't, there are certain dogs where the docking is done for a reason, Corgis are one, their tails are at risk of getting stomped on by cattle, I know one dog that had to be docked because it was too damn happy.

[Sleepwalker]

Forgetting the religious aspect sometimes accompanying the procedure, there is a hygiene benefit to it, as well as the fact that it is simply removing skin, not bone or cartilage. And it has been going on for thousands of years with, from what I know, no serious damage to the boys it is done to. Not to be flip, but millions of Jewish boys (and others) can't be wrong!

All the skin of the penis is 'merely skin'. Circumcision is frequently botched, resulting in the removal of some or all of the head of the penis, eliminating sexual pleasure. There is no hygiene benefit to circumcision in countries with access to clean water.

Arguing from ignorance and tradition doesn't make the argument more valid.