Cutting a child's hair is not exactly the same thing. Nor is getting a small child's ears pierced. I, personally, think that's not such a great idea, but I don't think that it's unloving.
These people have decided that their pets need to look ridiculous, like stuffed toys. That is what I consider to be unloving.
I've seen pictures of a lion cut. It looks rather extreme to me, but there's a reason for doing it, and it actually benefits the cat. (And, personally, I'd be more inclined to call it a poodle cut, but that's neither here nor there.) This is a fashion statement, not something that's being done for the pet's own benefit. Assuming the animals could speak human (presumably Russian, in this case), can you imagine either one of them requesting that this be done? I can't. I can imagine a child requesting the kind of haircut you sometimes see that has words or a sports team's symbol or some such shaved into it (not a baby, but a very young child). Personally, I think it might be unwise to agree to that kind of request, but I'm not a parent, so I'm not sure that my opinion matters much. I do have a cat, have had numerous pets: cats, dogs, and canaries, in the past. Yes, I did feed my canary the kind of food that turns the bird more orange. Also, I was still a child at the time; I wouldn't do that today (not that I'd even consider getting a canary with Jasmine in the house). But even as a child I would never have considered doing something like this to a pet, and my mother wouldn't have allowed if if I'd asked.
I continue to feel that the real statement being made by the people who own these animals is "My cat/dog wasn't good enough for me looking like itself."
Margret
These people have decided that their pets need to look ridiculous, like stuffed toys. That is what I consider to be unloving.
I've seen pictures of a lion cut. It looks rather extreme to me, but there's a reason for doing it, and it actually benefits the cat. (And, personally, I'd be more inclined to call it a poodle cut, but that's neither here nor there.) This is a fashion statement, not something that's being done for the pet's own benefit. Assuming the animals could speak human (presumably Russian, in this case), can you imagine either one of them requesting that this be done? I can't. I can imagine a child requesting the kind of haircut you sometimes see that has words or a sports team's symbol or some such shaved into it (not a baby, but a very young child). Personally, I think it might be unwise to agree to that kind of request, but I'm not a parent, so I'm not sure that my opinion matters much. I do have a cat, have had numerous pets: cats, dogs, and canaries, in the past. Yes, I did feed my canary the kind of food that turns the bird more orange. Also, I was still a child at the time; I wouldn't do that today (not that I'd even consider getting a canary with Jasmine in the house). But even as a child I would never have considered doing something like this to a pet, and my mother wouldn't have allowed if if I'd asked.
I continue to feel that the real statement being made by the people who own these animals is "My cat/dog wasn't good enough for me looking like itself."
Margret