Have you all heard of this before?

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Jen M. - 08 Jun 2005 00:55 GMT

Two of my cats were neutered at the humane society and they clipped their
ears?

Initally--I thought George had inherited two types of ears--one rounded and
one pointed. The ear that they trimmed was perfectly round. I didn't know
until his wellness check that it has been clipped for this reason The
assistant laughed at the time someone spent making it look round.

And, once I got Girly out from under the bed I noticed that her's is
clipped too.

Is there a debate on this? My initial response is that it is a horrible
thing to do! Then I read in a thread about someone getting a lot of ferel
cats fixed on their land.

Is this a common practice?

Still think it is awful to do!

Thanks,
Jen

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rpl - 08 Jun 2005 03:29 GMT

> Two of my cats were neutered at the humane society and they clipped their
> ears?
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> Thanks,
> Jen

never heard of it; the only ear "clipping" that my cats have received
have been from other cats.

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BarB - 08 Jun 2005 13:18 GMT

>Two of my cats were neutered at the humane society and they clipped their
>ears?
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
>Still think it is awful to do!

HSUS clips the ears of feral cats to assure they don't get picked up
from a feral colony and neutered again. In our area, since it is
sometimes less expensive to have a feral done than one's own pet,
some people take their cat in as a feral. Then the ear will be
clipped.

BarB

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~*Connie*~ - 08 Jun 2005 13:55 GMT

in feral colonies, it is the only sure fire way to be sure a cat was
neutered. if they get a cat with a clipped ear in a have a heart trap, they
can simply release them with out having to put the cat through the trauma of
being "checked" - easy for boys, not so easy for girls.

However if they are in a humane society, and are not feral, I can't imagine
why they would dock their ears. If there is no reason to do so, then yes, I
agree, it was an awful thing to do.

> Two of my cats were neutered at the humane society and they clipped their
> ears?
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> Thanks,
> Jen

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Jen M. - 08 Jun 2005 16:02 GMT

Connie--I agree-thanks.

I was wondering--couldn't they do like tatoo dots on the inner ear vs.
clipping the ear? hmmm

Have Fun,
Jen

>in feral colonies, it is the only sure fire way to be sure a cat was
>neutered. if they get a cat with a clipped ear in a have a heart trap, they
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>> Thanks,
>> Jen

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Masha - 09 Jun 2005 23:36 GMT

I've seen it done in the Canary Islands to the feral colony, so that they
can identify which cats have been neutered, hence sparing the cats being
taken to the vet again and wasting their sparce resources, the cats don't
seem that bothered, I'm not sure if it hurts them or not.

> Two of my cats were neutered at the humane society and they clipped their
> ears?
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> Thanks,
> Jen

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Jen M. - 09 Jun 2005 23:42 GMT

Well, I guess the pain of the fixing would hurt more than the ear and I
understand--maybe-doing it in ferel colonies--but why my George and Girly?

Have Fun,
Jen

>I've seen it done in the Canary Islands to the feral colony, so that they
>can identify which cats have been neutered, hence sparing the cats being
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>> Thanks,
>> Jen

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Kalyahna - 13 Jun 2005 04:14 GMT

> Two of my cats were neutered at the humane society and they clipped their
> ears?

Call them and ask.

> Initally--I thought George had inherited two types of ears--one rounded and
> one pointed. The ear that they trimmed was perfectly round. I didn't know
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
> Is this a common practice?

And yes, it's common for feral cats to be ear-tipped. Tattoos may be nice,
but tattoos are also used on lab cats and can't usually be seen from a
distance or without handling the cat. Ear-tipping means people can just look
in the trap and see whether or not the cat's been trapped and altered
already. Less stress on the cat if it doesn't have to be pinned down and its
head wrenched around and its ear twisted.

There are some instances of 'feral' cats being altered and ear-tipped as
part of a trap-neuter-release program and then coming around to be
relatively or completely social.

Anyway, it's far easier and better to clip the tip from an ear and subject
the cat to less frustration and manhandling in the future. As for your
cats... the best you can do is call and ask them why your cats were tipped.
If it was part of an event (part of a spay/neuter assistance program thing),
there may have been miscommunication, especially if there were a lot of barn
cats or trailer park or freeroaming feral cats being done that day.

> Still think it is awful to do!
>
> Thanks,
> Jen

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