Pennsylvania dog groomer Holly Crawford, 35, went on trial yesterday for selling online for “hundreds of dollars” cats with pierced ears.  According to Melinda Merck, an animal cruelty investigator and veterinarian, the piercings not only damaged the cats’ hearing, but they hampered as well their sense of jumping and balance.  Not to mention dignity!

Gothic Kittens: Woman Charged With Animal Cruelty For Selling Pierced Cats Online

Let the punishment fit the crime. Someone should sew a tail on her. Dopey woman.

Wow she is really really a sicko. Poor kittens.

I Love these kittens. people have been docking tails and neutering animals for ever. A little piercing is not going to cause any lasting pain at all and is more humane than removing genitals and locking and animal up in a cage.
I want a pierced kitten!!

Ew. Jason, ur sick. Poor kittens. That woman should be fined and be jailed. After all, what she did is evil and cruel.

Nah, I’m with Jason - I have piercings and they don’t make me feel as though I’m being bitten.  They don’t feel like much of anything, in fact.  And while I don’t like the tradition of docking animals’ tales, it is certainly nothing new, and not worthy of a jail sentence or the nightmare of a court case. 

I wouldn’t want one of these kittens, and I think the whole idea is kind of stupid, but I don’t think that it is particularly cruel.  It’s not like dog fighting, cat declawing, or neglect.  This is just an unpopular aesthetic choice.  It makes about as much sense to drag this person to trial as it would to bring charges against someone who docks their dogs tail and then dresses it in a horrible sweater.  Yeah, it’s stupid, undignified, and maybe a little mean, but not really criminal.

Karen, just for the record, you are not a cat. Because your piercings do not bother you it does not then follow that similar piercings would not irritate a kitten. Notice, for instance, the size of the jewelry. It looks like jewelry a human would wear. I bet it is heavy and annoying for the smaller animal.

For the record, you humans with your piercings are all really sick F***s

Well I, for one, am way more willing to believe the word of a random anonymous internet poster than that of a trained veterinarian. What would a vet know about what would or wouldn’t hurt a cat? Clearly random people off the internet are a superior source of information.

*facepalm*

Is piercing a kittens ears ANY different than cutting a dog’s ears or tail with shears to conform to a specific breed’s “standards”? If you’re going to bitch about one, bitch about them all… if not, kindly refrain from any bitching.

Samantha that was a smart response! };p

Before I say anything, I think the piercings are a stupid idea.

We make a lot of surgical decisions for our pets for our own selfish interests.  I adopted a cat that has had it’s claws removed.  Is the cost of a couch a better reason for mutilating an animal then wanting it look cool.  I look at the picture and think “poor little kitty, someone should take those piercings out” but those piercings CAN come out.  No one can graft on the amputated parts of my cat.  I think if you are going to overreact about the piercings, there are whole bunch of other reasons to be concerned about animal welfare that should probably come first.

@ Peter. I think it all sucks. Cutting off body parts so that an animal conforms with “breed standards” is also very sick.

@ Karen, You are not a cat. You do not become partially paralyzed when someone grabs the skruff of your neck. This is where she put the piercings, which mimics the mother cat biting them to discipline them. It is the location more than the fact that they are pierced. I am also sure that your ear piercings do not drag the tops of your ears level with the lobes. This does cause discomfort and hearing loss and if you can not see that I wash my hands of you.

Does anyone else find this hilarious?

I am one of those “sick F__ks” with piercings that was spoken of earlier. What an ignorant opinion btw. 
The difference between me and the kittens among other things is that I made choice to get pierced. This is no better then piercing an infant in my opinion. I also agree with some that docking of tails and cropping of ears are no longer necessary in most cases. These modification where at one time made to aid the dogs in the performance their jobs. Lastly to those who say that spaying and neutering is cruelty, go volunteer at a animal shelter and see all of the homeless dogs that could be avoided by spaying and neutering. This surgery is done to cut back on the population of strays as well as health reasons. An animal is more likely to develop cancer of the reproductive organs if not bred. Now, before you say that they all should be bred,are you going to take care of all of the offspring from these animals.

omg this is a damn animal, in china we eat kittens for breakfast.

whats up with all these fairy tree animal huggers, its disgusting. look at all the humans starving to death and u waste your time crying about pierced animals. that is wrong

OMG poor kitten stupid people!!!

just like the nazis.

they complained about kitten piercings too.

Saber:

Yes, there are starving people in the world; who have been starving since they were born.
Once you have been starving for awhile; you get used to it, and it is only natural to you.

Mind you Saber, animals are living things to who need love.
A animal is like a baby.
A baby is helpless, as an animal is too.

But that is off topic.
If a human is very hungry, they can eat things out in the wild.
And some do. The people who live in Nigera learn to eat bugs, and other things.
And they are fine with that.

But, you’re just an ignorant child who ‘eats’ cats for breakfast.
What happens when you run out of cats and dogs.
You’re going to eat human next.

Back to the real topic.
Piercing the cat isn’t /that/ wrong. I believe she should have talked with a vet first and looked for the precations for these kittens.
Selling them, however; is wrong.

That is like selling your baby who just got piecered ears.

People are sick, and there is nothing we can do.

lets pierce the womans eyeballs and see how she likes it :D

I think it’s funny that people are freaking out about a few kittens having their ears pierced when bulls have big nose rings and goats have holes punched in their ears (for tags) all the time. No one freaks out about that…

It makes about as much sense to drag this person to trial as it would to bring charges against someone who docks their dogs tail and then dresses it in a horrible sweater.thank u for valuable information.

Shut up, it the same thing as tagging a goat at the zoo pretty much, so leave her alone. I have known her my entire life she is my aunt, she is just adventous, i am to, everyone is. We all make wrong choices sometimes, so you guys dont have to be so harsh about it, its not a big deal she shouldnt even be on houser arrest for it maybe a fine if anything, but really everyone is taking this to far and making it a bigger deal then it acually is.

This is just disgusting. I think that doing anything like this to any type of animal is just wrong. Yes, the piercings of the bull’s nose, and other animals is wrong too. I hate it when people think “they’re just animals.” they have feelings, they live and breath.

So this person should just be pierced in places that hurt or affect some part of her body too. And anybody who would buy one of them or thinks this is perfectly okay is just sick as well. She should be taken to jail.  If you are going to do anything to an animal, consult a vet. first. And even when you do it, don’t sell them!! I mean, come on. that’s just wrong.

Melinda Merck, an animal cruelty investigator and veterinarian, said the ear piercings altered the cats’ hearing. The piercings at the back of their necks and base of tails hampered balance and jumping, local media quoted her as saying.

Why not, its not any worse than cropping your animals and i guarantee it is way less painful and as long as its done with the right utensils I see no reason for it to not be allowed, if they do everything right and follow up on them to make sure they heal correctly there should be no problems. I mean seriously, if they’re that worried about the pain they can just numb it and or give the pets pain medicine, as soon as it heals they won’t even notice its there. Like people getting piercings once it heals it doesn’t hurt. This is not animal cruelty and i think people should spend more time focusing on the REAL problems with REAL animal cruelty in the world.. There are many animals dying in shelters or being truly abused why don’t you people focus on them instead of this… -_-”

I will agree though some of the gauges she used on those kittens are too big and the rings are too heavy and i think only limited piercings should be allowed such as ear piercings should either be really small hoops or studs and maybe the scruff but i think they should be kept at a reasonable gauge and not some huge unreasonable size and i think they should only be allowed to pierce certain places. I also don’t think they should be allowed to pierce kittens, only adult cats because kittens haven’t finished growing and their body is constantly changing which could cause problems as they age.. So i see no problems with it as long as its safe and limited..

I can see no reason to mutilate an animal in any way. The animal can not say yes or no like a human and runs a danger of pulling the piercing out when grooming or doing other things.

I do not approve of any kind of docking mutilation either. If the animal does no need an operation for medical reasons…leave it the hell alone and love the shape that it was born with.