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Camels are getting Botox. Dogs too. Why on earth?

In 2018, we’ve surpassed the question of whether or not humans should get Botox. We’ve moved on to a new one: Would you shoot up your pet?

In Saudi Arabia, a traditional camel beauty pageant has made headlines for disqualifying 12 camels who reportedly received Botox to beautify their lips, noses, and jaws. As NPR reports, a local veterinarian was caught injecting the camels with Botox and surgically reducing their ears.

Camels during a beauty contest as part of the annual King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. (Photo: Getty Images)
Camels during a beauty contest as part of the annual King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. (Photo: Getty Images)

Surgically altering your pet has a bottom line in this context: Prize money at the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival totals $57 million (Dhs209.3 million), with more than $31.8 million for pageantry alone, according to the UAE newspaper the National.

Camels during a beauty contest as part of the annual King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. (Photo: Getty Images)
Camels during a beauty contest as part of the annual King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. (Photo: Getty Images)

The festival has even released a “Standards of Camel Beauty” infographic that denotes a laundry list for the ideal camel. But even in the camel world, personality is supposed to count: “The most prominent characteristics are that of pride of their dispositions and their trust in camels as animals involved in their schemes of pride and glory that they sing praises for.”

Camels walking at a beauty contest as part of the annual King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. (Photo: Getty Images)
Camels walking at a beauty contest as part of the annual King Abdulaziz Camel Festival. (Photo: Getty Images)

As the New York Post reported last year, Botox has popped up even for domestic pets. In São Paulo, Edgard Brito has emerged as “the world’s go-to dog surgeon.” He’s injected Botox in a dog’s ears and performed dog nose jobs, face-lifts, and testicular implants to allegedly “help neutered pets regain their masculinity.”

“If someone asked me for Botox in their animals, I would probably discourage it,” says Jodie Poller, DVM, owner and veterinarian at First Avenue Veterinary Hospital. Even if you can find a veterinarian willing to inject your pet, Poller contends that Botox likely won’t have much of a visible difference. “There’s so many different muscles in animals that I can’t see any use for Botox. Plus, the fur would be hiding any areas where you’d have done Botox.” Poller says she would consider performing Botox on an animal, but only if nerve pain was at stake. After all, her job is animal welfare, not animal beauty.

In her practice, Poller hasn’t had any patients ask for Botox for their pets yet. But now that you think about it, could your cat use a lift?

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