Tattoo Ears

[matilda1]

It's common practice for the de-sexing tattoo.

This always goes in the left ear.

I have been a vet nurse for nearly 10 years and every single patient who was de-sexed was tattoo'ed.

I had never heard of the M tattoo, until I rescued our Kelpie from Mildura pound and until I read this thread I thought it was a Mildura pound Tattoo. Great idea though to tattoo for microchipping as chips can migrate easily.

Having said this, out of ALL the strays that come into our clinic I have NEVER seen the M before I adopted the Kelpie. So obviously this is not a common thing to do.

[~*Shell*~]

Zero doesn't have a desexing tattoo but Mow (my cat) does. I would prefer to have the tattoo (there have been quite a few entire dogs stolen in a suburb a few kms away) but don't mind that Zero doesn't - it's pretty obvious he has nothing!

[koalathebear]

Kelpie ink

The number is Hoover's Working Kelpie Council tattoo, the circle below is his desexing tattoo. I was a little apprehensive about the second tattoo in the same ear because when they did Elbie's ear, it was a bit of a mess of dots and dashes but they did a nice tidy one for Hoover and in the same colour so it's all good

[Kynta]

"I guess in the unfortunate event she got lost, and we couldn't be contacted (unlikely since she's microchipped), at least they won't try to desex her again before rehoming."

This is so true. Something I would not have thought about until I got my rescue BC. She was 10 yrs old and no tattoo was evident so unsure if she was desexed or not. Had to keep a close eye on her but she did not come into season. Did not want to operate on her because of her age and heart murmur.

[bianca.a]

I got my pup spayed this year (QLD) and she doesn't have a tat. I never thought to ask as I thought they automatically did it upon de-sexing.

[fuzzy82]

Both dogs have tattoos from when they were desexed, they are both microchipped too, but they didn't get a tattoo for that. Not all of the cats have tattoos, but they are all desexed. I guess tattoos being mandatory is a recent thing? Some of the cats were desexed about 6 years ago, and they don't have tattoos, but the one that was desexed 3-4 years has a tattoo.

My European ones don't have tattoos as not all vets do it where I'm from and they are not mandatory, and for the last cat I actually don't know. She is desexed but she is so antisocial that I have never dared to look in her ear, and have had no reason to.

[Starkehre]

I did not know about the tattong being done for microchipped dogs. Interesting.

I am not sure if I am a fan of this or not.

The problem I see is that there will always be many dogs that do not have the M tatto as the breeders of Registered puppies generally get the puppues chipped prior to them leaving for their new forever homes.

Sure some of these breeders desex their young puppies, but I would say most do not. The puppies that are chipped without being desexed will not be sporting this M tattoo because they not been knocked out.

Will people assume that bitches without the M are not microchipped, when that is not necessarily the case?

I am glad that tattooing is not compulsory here in Vic as I will never have any of my dogs' ears tattoed. But that is my personal opinion. I understand why others like it.

Edited December 15, 2010 by dyzney

[Shaar]

When I had my bitch desexed we specifically asked them NOT to do the tattoo, but they did it anyway

[Guest muttrus]

When I had my bitch desexed we specifically asked them NOT to do the tattoo, but they did it anyway

sorry to hear that .BUT it does raise another question (or two)

Do vets just ask or do you request the ear to be tattooed?

Do you sign a waver or something?

That was why I raised this topic because at no stage had I ever been asked if I wanted the tattoo

and because I thought it was for certain breeds and only done many many years ago I had never asked for it to be done.

I guess the other side of this could be how do you see the tattoo?

by this I mean do you see it as a worthwhile practise? or as a disfigurement? cruelty? ugly? or maybe something else ?

Im sure Im not the only person out there who 'wasn't sure what it meant in the first place and had I been asked if I wanted the tattoo I guess I would have said yes but would have liked a different colour ----Im sorry but the greenie blue reminds me of backyard /prison tatts

So if its not common practise with all vets does that mean if you request it THEY can say no?

I think this has set me on alittle mission and I may just do a phone around and just see how many do and how many don't .

Either way this has become very interesting and very informative I didn't realise there was this much to it

[Starkehre]

When I had my bitch desexed we specifically asked them NOT to do the tattoo, but they did it anyway ;)

sorry to hear that .BUT it does raise another question (or two)

Do vets just ask or do you request the ear to be tattooed?

Do you sign a waver or something?

That was why I raised this topic because at no stage had I ever been asked if I wanted the tattoo

and because I thought it was for certain breeds and only done many many years ago I had never asked for it to be done.

I guess the other side of this could be how do you see the tattoo?

by this I mean do you see it as a worthwhile practise? or as a disfigurement? cruelty? ugly? or maybe something else ?

Im sure Im not the only person out there who 'wasn't sure what it meant in the first place and had I been asked if I wanted the tattoo I guess I would have said yes but would have liked a different colour ----Im sorry but the greenie blue reminds me of backyard /prison tatts

So if its not common practise with all vets does that mean if you request it THEY can say no?

I think this has set me on alittle mission and I may just do a phone around and just see how many do and how many don't .

Either way this has become very interesting and very informative I didn't realise there was this much to it

As far as I am aware the tattoo is always done unless you specifically request for it not to be done... except in shaar's case, where they obviously erred :p

You will never be consulted on this, the default is to tattoo.

Edited December 16, 2010 by dyzney

[Miss B]

Do vets just ask or do you request the ear to be tattooed?

Do you sign a waver or something?

Before it was compulsory, we used to discuss it as part of the admit procedure.

The tattoo was explained to the owner, who could then choose whether to have it done or not.

These days it is compulsory for all dogs and cats in QLD (both male and female), we still discuss it during the admit but of course there is no option to not have it done.

Even before it became compulsory, I always had my pets tattooed when they were desexed. Particularly my girls, if they ever (god forbid) escaped the yard or were stolen, I see it as a visual deterrant to anyone who might view them as a potential puppy-making-machine.

I guess the other side of this could be how do you see the tattoo?

cruelty?

I don't think it could be seen as cruel, given that it's done under a general anaesthetic.

[Shaar]

Yes, it's just a given that they do it, some people don't even realize their dogs have tattoos they are that well hidden, especially in drop eared breeds.

It wasn't that big of a deal, but when I ask for something to be done (or not done) I expect the person I am paying that much money to, to listen to me.

The reason I didn't want it done was just that I have tattoos myself, they itch and hurt for days afterwards, she was going to be in a lot of discomfort from the surgery, I didn't want to give her a sore ear on top of it.

[OSoSwift]

That "prison" blue green (exactly the colour muttrus!) would look very ugly in my dogs nice fine rose Whippet ears! My Dobes drop ears wouldn't have bothered me quite so much.

[Kirty]

Some of mine are tattooed, some are not. I always prefer to have female dogs and cats done, but males are not so much of an issue because its so obvious.

[rastus_froggy]

I too see it as a possible deterrent if someone happened to steal your dog with the purpose of breeding in mind.

Both of my girls have it although you can't see Stimpy's anymore, you could when it was first done but her ears are black and it's faded right out.

My dad was horrified when he was taking his girl in to be desexed and I told him she would be tattooed, he is so anti tattoos.

[jesomil]

My Kelpie had his WKC tattoo done at 4 months. Its quite big as it is 5 numbers/letters and boy did he scream. It was quite awful. He really should have been done at 8 weeks like alot of them are. He is still flinchy and sensitive around that ear 6 years later.

When I had my old girl desexed, I requested for no tattoo and they didnt do it.

[Staranais]

I've never seen in done in NZ, it's interesting that it's common in Oz and not here.

But when I was doing some volunteer work on a pacific island, we did it then, mostly since record keeping was almost non-existent and dogs & cats wandered, and we didn't want to try to desex the same animal twice.

We did it under anaesthetic, but even so it did look ouchy - I bet it stung when it work up, probably as much as the spay site did. I certainly wouldn't want to do it on a conscious animal, that seems excessively cruel to me.

[wuffles]

It's mandatory in the ACT, and when my girl was desexed, it was part of the piece of paper I had to sign and was explained to me that she would get tattooed It's quite obvious as her ear is white (pink skin) but she has triangular or rose ears so you don't see it often, just when he ear flips inside out occasionally. I am just happy that she can easily be identified as desexed.

As far as pain goes, I would have thought it would hurt as well, but when Ava came home she didn't seem to have any discomfort around her ear. Even when I fiddled with it to clean the excess ink off the fur she wasn't fussed. Then again she was up and about the next morning and you would never have known she'd just had major surgery.

[jesomil]

I dont think it would hurt after desexing. By the time they wake up, the initial sting would be long gone. I have crunched many an ear (under GA) and never saw any response to the ear when they woke, even when I was cleaning all the green ink off.

[Jodi1981]

My little Cavalier girl was desexed on Tuesday, I was given the choice of tattoo or not, I chose to tattoo, they also did a tattoo for microchip in the other ear at the same time