katysails wrote:

Making an animal that is a pet go through pain like that is unkind and unnatural.

I agree but go even farther. IMHO making an animal into a pet is unkind
and unnatural in and of itself. Most would agree with the fictional
characters in Tolkein's world who abhor the evil of breeding elves into
"orcs", yet we see nothing at all evil in breeding wolves, coyotes and
foxes into creatures that cannot survive without constant human succor.
Breeding food animals to be docile and yield more meat, or taming other
predators to guard us and/or help us hunt is/was a necessity, but
breeding them into misshapen creatures that can only live on somebody's
lap and run their tongues into their keepers' mouth just to gratify that
person's unnatural emotional needs ... Oy! And they'll call me sick?