Pierced ears for cats?

[paw]

Just had this message sent to me by my father in the UK:

A couple in Bradford have been charged by the RSPCA
with cruelty for having their cat's ears pierced for stud earrings.
They intend to plead not guilty because: 'It doesn't hurt humans
so why should it be a problem for cats?'.

No other details than that but it does sound a horrendous thing to do.
--
paul
58-88 Sheffield 88-97 Milton Keynes 97-99 London 99-?? Seattle

[Rechelle]

I knew a guy that wanted to get his black female cat's ears pierced with
a gold hoop. I took that cat away from him because cats ears are SOOO
much more sensitive then ours. That is just plain old cruel and I can't
even imagine the pain it'ld cause a cat. I remember how badly it hurt
when I had mine done 18 years ago.

Rechelle

[Laney Silver]

I don't understand. Rescue groups routinely "tip" one ear of a stray/feral
to indicate that it's been altered surgically. If the vets don't think
that's painful, why would ear piercing be?

[BlondieNBrian]

Not that I am considering piercing my pets' ears, they also routinely pierce
large animals' ears to hang tags. I was taught by a friend that I used to work
with at a Zoo, that they also do it at some parks to ID animals from a
distance, like various deer species (antelope, gazelles, etc.) but also to the
elephants, lions and other large cats.

I guess this helps to ID them from a great distance, like in "free range" parks
or large fields. Or even, perhaps to keep up with individuals if they are
transported to new locations. I was told by her that what she does is to aim at
the ear leather between the veins, and that leather has no nerves in it. (At
least in the petting zoo goats and Zebus she was showing me on.)

Think about it this way, many cats get their ears torn fighting, and survive
that. Dogs often get their ears clipped while awake, I understand, to mark
various members of a hunting group. My mother has a hound that has a series of
u shaped notches in his ears, that look very deliberate. And varied in size. He
seems in no pain at all, and the notches edges are totally healed.

Ear piercing a cat is probably slightly annoying for the animal, but not life
threatening, IMO.

Denise

[Seth Goodman]

It's done while the cat is under the anesthetic.

[Rechelle]

Laney,

First off I've never heard of a rescue group "tipping" an ear. But the
reason ear piercing them would be more painful is because it'ld be going
through more cartilage and muscle then just tipping an ear. The ear on
a cat has 32 seperate muscles. Going through any of those muscles in an
ear piercing would sever the muscle and the nerve could get damaged. It
wouldn't be as easy for the cat to move that ear as it would be if in
wasn't pierced. It could actually cause the cat a lot of pain to try to
move the ear around because of the muscle being severed and also the
extra weigh of an ear ring in it.

Rechelle

[hunnybunnyfunnybunny(hbfb)]

and besides that, it's just another sick example of
surgically altering a cat for no good reason.
hbfb

Rechelle <mrb...@home.com> wrote in message
news:38136E86...@home.com...

[CoyoteRed]

On Sun, 24 Oct 1999 20:43:04 GMT, Rechelle <mrb...@home.com> wrote:

> It could actually cause the cat a lot of pain to try to
>move the ear around because of the muscle being severed and also the
>extra weigh of an ear ring in it.

Plus, it could get caught on something and the cat will tear it out
trying to get free.

Don't do it.

--
CoyoteRed
CoyoteRed <at> bigfoot <dot> com
http://go.to/CoyoteRed
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