
Back Groomer
I don't think the photos are necessarily photoshopped, but that does not mean that the story goes with the photos, or is at all true. I suspect the story may be false, actually.
So, it could be a cat shaved by a vet under sedation for some medical reason.
Or, it could be a cat shaved by someone with no experience, or no business, shaving cats. Or for amusement, or to be a jerk.
As for the sedation question, I would think it would depend a great deal on the cat. My Cleo was a big scared you cat about many things, but she was always extremely docile about clippers. I often, in the last year's of her life, shaved mats off of her myself, because it was far less traumatic to her than taking her to a groomer. I could shave the mats around her cheeks and on her neck without anyone assisting me.
So, with someone to scruff her and wrap her in a towel, I suspect that if I'd ever needed to shave her ears it might have been somewhere between not so bad and difficult but possible.