Since you like the look, do they make faux cow hide rugs?

I know exactly what you mean! My husband scored on a full size black bear skin rug-complete. It was a very well done taxidermy, and when he called me to ask if he should get it I said YES!

He brought it home, we decided we didn't want to put it on the floor, so we laid it across the back of the leather sofa. But it bugged us...so we turned it so the head was facing away from us. Finally we agreed we just couldn't bear to have it. We thought we'd love to have one-but the reality was way more than we were prepared for. Just realizing it had been alive once...yeah, too much. So we rehomed it to someone else.

you're right -- I couldn't "bear" to have anything with an actual head, either, lol!

I don't know about faux ones, although I've seen patchwork hide rugs. The patchwork ones don't bother me as much, but I don't like the look as much, either.

I don't care for faux reptile or cock either. Especially in kitchen mats. YUK! I totally get your aversion to anything "hyde."

IDK why. I have plenty of leather shoes, bags and several pieces of leather furniture.

All I can advise is, don't buy one thinking you will deal with it logically and get over it.
I don't eat meat, but I'm not a vegan and I have leather shoes, belts, and bags.
I can't stand anything made with cowhide or fur, that still has the hair on it! No matter how attractive the item.
I once bought an awesome Botkier parka with real fur trim. It was so beautiful. I told myself over and over that fur was no different than leather, but it gave me the creeps and I couldn't ever get used to it. Finally gave it away.
There is probably some genetic programming that differentiates tanned leather from hide with hair or fur.

Funny how we are conditioned isn't it? No problem eating meat, but can't stand fur, etc. I don't like deer heads or antlers hanging on walls or anything taxidermy. My son is vegan and works in farm animal protection and he makes a very strong case against eating meat (chicken industry is far worse than cattle industry) and although I eat less meat than I used too, I can't give it up entirely, but when you really think about it, it is pretty gross eating dead animals...

IMO it's not a funny quirk at all, totally understandable. We had a hobby farm raising cattle and sheep for meat for years. At first I had to convince myself to eat the meat but since I wasn't planning to be a vegetarian I did eat the meat of the animals we raised rather than sell it and buy meat that others had raised perhaps not as well. Our daughter was in 4H for years so our animals were raised almost like pets. We knew what they ate and they were stressed as little as possible so it was very good quality meat. When we quit the hobby farm I couldn't bring myself to eat the first cow we had raised tho so donated the meat to the food bank. I had been with her when she delivered many calves and we had a personal relationship.

I currently have the hide of one of my DD's first 4H projects and don't walk on it but use it as a cover on a large end table. It has good memories for me as he was well cared for and had a good life for a short time.

In recent years I've become almost vegetarian partly because of my experiences of raising animals for meat. I prefer wild meat for health reasons. Still wearing leather shoes tho.

I can't even eat at any of those steak restaurants that have the taxidermy hanging over the tables. Talk about skeeving something. Gross buffalo fur hanging down - ewwww!

I have contradictory quirks ... I like cowhide, and have two rugs (one vintage, my dad had it in his office for years), but don't like Axis (deer) hides, or mounted heads. I do like horns (have a very old set in my entry).

I worked in a very upscale western decor store once, and we had one section I avoided. It was full of exotic game: deer leg and hoof lamp, Nutria pillows, big cats, and worst of all, a stool made with an elephant leg and foot, which sold for over 10 thou. I still have nightmares about that, it was horrific. :-(

So, I don't know why those all bother me, but not cowhide. I was raised on a working ranch, and couldn't get attached to anything except our horses, which were like pets.

Interesting, why certain things bother us more.

I have a large cowhide rug in the LR and I love it. But, I told DH the mounted squirrel and fish had to go (out of my living room anyway). I got my cowhide rug at the Houston Rodeo a couple of years ago, and drove my husband nuts picking it out. It does fit our (not too overboard) western style LR.
He wouldn't let me near the Longhorns though....

Violet.West: Bwahahaha! Guess I should do a better job proofing. Reminds me of "Damn you, Autocorrect!"