Timur Rimut, a 24-year-old tattoo artist from Tatarstan, Russia has recently angered animal activists around the world?by giving his pet Sphynx cat an ornamental tattoo. ?The naturally hairless Sphynx, Coco, was sedated while Rimut tattooed her with the words ?Carpe Diem? in a design that matches the tattoo inked across Rimut?s own chest.
The self-taught tattoo artist may need to brush up on his spelling, as instead of tattooing ?Carpe Diem,? on his cat he mistakingly wrote ?Carpe Deem.? Not only was Coco tattooed against her will, she has a tattoo that in effect, also has no meaning.
Coco isn?t the first Sphynx cat to be tattooed. The practice has been gaining popularity in Russia since 2009, when a Moscow artist, Oksana Popova, had her cat Mickey sedated for three hours so a tattoo of Tutankhamen could be inked on his chest. The tattoo artist Anatoly Keksel performed the work at his?TattoonHamon Tattoo Parlor in Russia. Many Russian cat owners have followed suit.
Although they appear to be hairless, Sphynx cats actually have very fine, short hair that feels like peach fuzz. Their skin is the color that their furry coat would have been, if they had a regular cat pelt. A lack of thick fur makes the strange-looking cats susceptible to sunburn and extreme temperatures.
A cat that is being tattooed has to remain perfectly still, so must be anesthetized ? sometimes for hours.
The British organization ?Cats Protection? has say that??Animals should only be sedated for veterinarian reasons, not for cosmetic. We hope that people realize that such behavior is unacceptable.?
A London RSPCA spokesman also stated that ?We are totally against using animals for purely cosmetic reasons just on the owner?s whim. Clearly the animal has no say in the matter. We do not believe in using pets as fashion accessories. It shows no respect for the animal whatsoever.?
Some have called Rimut?s behavior the ultimate act of animal cruelty, and agencies wanting to know exactly how Rimut sedated his cat have prompted Russian authorities to investigate.
Russia is quite a cat savvy country. They have their own cat association(s) and their own cat breeds such as the Siberian, Don Sphynx, Russian Blue and Kurilian Bobtail, but Russian animal activist, Irena Novozhilova suggested that the fad is not so much a result of ignorance but a result of selfishness.
?The ethical thinking about animals in Russia lags behind the West,? Novozhilova said. ?People here mostly buy animals for selfish reasons, and anything else that happens to them afterwards is a consequence of that.?
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About the author: Ariel Wulff is an author, artist and animal advocate. She has worked in animal rescue for more than 24 years, authoring the book Born Without a Tail, a memoir of her experiences with rescued animals. She writes a column as the Cleveland Pets Examiner, and is the National Animal Books Examiner. She also maintains a personal blog about dogs: Up on the Woof, and uses her yelodoggie art to spread the joy of living with dogs.
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