Sign this petition to have Amazon take dog ear cropping kits off!
December 5, 2020
Update: Thank you all for signing this! You guys did it – Amazon removed and took this off after 15,000 signatures on the Change petition! Thank you!
As a veterinarian and pit bull lover, it appalls me that Amazon is selling dog ear cropping ear kits online. The American Veterinary Medical Association – and pretty much every veterinary organization out there (like the American Animal Hospital Association, Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, etc. – states that they don’t support ear cropping and tail docking in dogs.
AVMA directly states: “The AVMA opposes ear cropping and tail docking of dogs when done solely for cosmetic purposes. The AVMA encourages the elimination of ear cropping and tail docking from breed standards.”
More importantly, when I was 19-years-old, I was working at a veterinary volunteer (I was still in undergraduate!) when I had to assist in an ear cropping. I was volunteering at a veterinary clinic to get “experience” in vet school, and the licensed veterinary technician in the clinic all of a “sudden disappeared.” (Turns out, she hated ear cropping and here’s why). I was asked to hold the ears out as this veterinarian did an ear cropping – basically cutting off the ear tips and taping them up. All the blood, all the whimper while under “IV sedation” made me nauseated and almost pass out during the procedure. And since then, I vowed to A) use better pain medications as a future veterinarian when I “grew up” and B) to never, ever do ear croppings.
Why is ear cropping inhumane?
First, it hurts. You’re basically chopping off the ears. It should ALWAYS – if done – be done under FULL anesthesia. Not just IV injectable under sedation. But I’m putting you on gas and putting a tube down your dog’s trachea and breathing for them.
Two, it involves a lot of postoperative care. Dogs are painful while their ears are taping up, bandaged, healing, bleeding and scaring. Dogs have to have their ears taped up and bandaged for weeks, and not only do they look ridiculous with two tampons and white tape holding up their ears correctly so they heal well, but they can’t play or be active during this vital time of puppy socialization.
Image by Momentmal from Pixabay
Last, complications – there’s no benefit for having ears cropped. It used to be done in the old days for pit bull fighting to prevent ears being ripped off during fighting (Hey, life tip – don’t fight dogs or don’t support pit bull fighting and the ears don’t get ripped off them!). It doesn’t help minimize ear infections – it’s TOTALLY cosmetic. If you want to pierce or cut off parts of your OWN body, go for it, but when your pet/animal/creature is voiceless, don’t do it, please. Complications from ear cropping include chronic pain, infection, scarring, mis-shapen appearance and trauma to veterinary staff who have to help with this.
More importantly, lay people – e.g., those without any medical license, anesthesia, etc. should NOT be able to purchase this stuff online to barbarically cut the ears off of pets.
Please, please sign this petition to have amazon take dog ear cropping kit (MULTIPLE sellers) offline. Because you’ll make this veterinarian send you future pet karma and love!
https://www.change.org/p/amazon-amazon-promotes-barbaric-animal-cruelty
Please stop selling these kits you are propagating a disposable act on dogs that will cause pain and possibly death … any surgery should be left to professionals and this one is illegal in most states therefore making it more heinous ….
THERE IS NO REASON TO INFLICT THIS CRUELTY ON AN ANIMAL!
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This is a horrible, traumatic, incredibly unnecessary, and not to mention just really ugly practice! Dogs are so cute with their ears! Sick to my stomach right now, hearing of this practice and what you and other vets have to go through, and what these poor pups have had to endure with this procedure. Hope we can stop it in any way!
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Ear cropping is only cosmetic. There is no reason what so ever to crop dogs ears. NONE. Now a days you have to look long and far to find a vet that does this, there is a reason for it. This should NOT be allowed for the people of the public to do. (To have a kit to crop ears) Never. There are too many ways this can go wrong. In the end do you want to support our our local shelters being over filled and having to euthanize dogs? ‘ cause that is what will happen when people take it in their own hands to clip their dogs ears. It’s gonna go wrong fast. Trust me I worked in a Veterinary ER for years. Please do not encourage this nor help by selling any product that promotes this
Ear cropping done by a licensed, trained veterinarian is a horrible surgery and healing period to start with, but when you add a lack of steilization, a lack of anesthesia during the procedure, and pain control afterward, not to mention antibiotics that will be needed because of the lack of sterile conditions, the surgery becomes an act of torture and animal cruelty. All for no purpose….
Couldn’t agree more. So heartbreaking… and disgusting.
Ear cropping is cruel and unnecessary and kits should not be sold. They are unethical.
Please take these kits off your site. IF this is done (and it shouldn’t) it should ONLY be done in the hospital with a licensed veterinarian with appropriate sterility and pain management. Amazon has many great attributes- stick to non-medical products. Please stop selling and promoting this torture.
This is horrible!
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Please stop selling these unethical devices.
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I am disgusted and devastated these are being sold on Amazon. They are cruel and unethical. As a loyal Amazon user, it is my hope you will cease the sale of these immediately. Otherwise, I will take my business elsewhere. Lots of other options these days.
I can’t believe that this is even still a thing. So inhumane.
Such a cruel practice.
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PLEASE stop selling these kits. It’s absolutely unnecessary and cruel to make these available to disfigure and hurt helpless aninals.
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If Veterinarians won’t crop ears, people at home have NO business doing it!!!
Gross, Amazon. Just gross. Can I come drop the ears of the people who make these decisions. I am rethinking my cart items and going to look where else I can go for my purchases. Also, seems like the motivation I need to cancel my audible subscription too. Thanks for saving me money through your disgusting greed.
PLEASE remove the ear cropping kits from your website. They are unnecessary and should not be available for the public to purchase. This should only be preformed by a licensed Veterinarian! Ear cropping is a cosmetic surgery , so many things could go wrong during and after this procedure like infection, inflammation, even death with anesthesia.
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Find the people at Amazon who thought selling these ear cropping kits was a Good Idea…and fire them!
Believe me I can live without ever ordering from Amazon. Find it in your heart to halt these sales now.
The amount of pain the animal will be in should be enough in itself to remove this item. And when these people take the pets in to the vet to help fix the original problem that they made… infection probably being number 1, they aren’t going to have money and blame the veterinary staff for being “heartless and only caring about money”
Please remove these ear cropping kits! No animal should ever have to endure this aweful, cruel procedure!
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Please remove these ear cropping kits
Please remove these ear cropping kits.
Please remove-A licensed Veterinarian should be the only one to do this procedure which requires requires pain medication and much more!
This is cruel and irresponsible.
Please take this cruel nasty product off your stock BAN IT NOW
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Thanks for this lovely sharing about your kitty’s health and your feelings.
We had a shock last week when we took our eldest in for a visit. Vets are still running with COVID protocols, so my partner received only a hurried report that she may have jaw cancer. Later he got a call that she has kidney disease. Things seemed quite dire. It seemed that there was no point in worrying about the jaw because the kidneys would take her.
So I spent a lot of time researching CKD and the various tumours of the cat mouth, and wrote the vet requesting the report and the kidney staging. Stage 2. So not great, but for a near 17 yo, manageable as long as she plays ball with us in making some food changes.
So back to the jaw. Her white blood count was high, and antibiotics were prescribed. The kidney food is very soft and mixes well with water, so she can essentially lap it up and is eating well. I am conscious of calories for her. While blood pressure meds were prescribed pain meds were not. Like someone else said above she loves to be scratched on the noticeable bony mass on her lower jaw. With her age and the risk of anaesthesia the vet is hesitant to do a biopsy.
The one thing I am perplexed about is the lack of odour. Maybe I have a strong tolerance but I haven’t noticed any untoward odour at all. Every article mentions that. I had originally thought there was a dental problem, but even if that was the case it seems that her breath would be unpleasant. Is this really a marker?
Finally, before we go off seeking a second opinion, or additional testing, could a cat be put into twilight sleep instead of fully out, to do a biopsy and X-rays? Would that be safe for the vet? Awake, this one is docile but of course under stress they can be quite difficult.
We will of course continue to monitor and adapt. But I am wondering if there is any way to safely get the info we need for future decisions. Thank you for any insight you are comfortable in sharing.
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Ignorance and Cruelty come in many forms! Sad that Amazon would even sell this product, let alone require a petition to have it removed.
idk i just want to be helpful and plus when you crop a dogs ears they cant move around their ears as much anymore and they cant get flies out of their ears if they cant move them.