# TNR. How to tell a spayed or neutered cat!



## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

For those new to TNR!


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

You know I brought my mom cat and her 3 kittens to TNR to be fixed at first and now that I have her and the one living son, I hate that their ears are snipped =(


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## atm53 (Feb 2, 2013)

I'm not crazy about that idea.  I suppose it gives them a way to tell which cats have been spayed or neutered, after they're released, but... it doesn't seem right to me. Just my opinion.


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## nklincoln (Aug 2, 2005)

My sister adopted her cat from the humane society, they had her go to a vet to get fixed. The vet discovered she had already been fixed. If her ear was clipped she would not have had to go through all the stress. poor baby.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

When your doing a colony of cats that is the only way you can tell who is done and who isn't. If a new member wanders in that is the only way we can tell. We've had no births in 3 colonies! Whooohooo. We wouldn't have been able to achieve that unless we knew everyone was fixed and tipped.


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

I do get it and am grateful that there was a Feral Cat Coalition that helped these cats and me. I never thought I was going to adopt any of them. But now that I do, I don't want anyone thinking they are feral as they do go outside. They seem to stay close and my neighbors know I have them as they hear me call them in a couple times a day. I was hoping to find a cheaper microchip place than the vets but haven't located one yet.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

I actually love seeing an ear-tipped stray cat. It gives me a warm feeling that someone has cared for them enough to neuter them, which means they've also been fed. If we didn't ear-tip them, it'd be a real problem. I have a female in my colony whom I sent off on TNR only to be told the next morning (after she spent the night at the vet's scared to death) that she was already neutered (she had a tiny tip on the RIGHT ear; whoever did that stupid thing must've been crazy). Since that awful night, she's been getting so much compensation in way of yummies and jowl-scratching that I'm starting to feel less guilty.


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## JungliBillis (Mar 20, 2013)

Ohhhhhhh that's very interesting and clever. I can see how that could be very helpful with colonies and feral cats.


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## sweetcuddles (Jun 30, 2013)

cat owner again said:


> I do get it and am grateful that there was a Feral Cat Coalition that helped these cats and me. I never thought I was going to adopt any of them. But now that I do, I don't want anyone thinking they are feral as they do go outside. They seem to stay close and my neighbors know I have them as they hear me call them in a couple times a day. I was hoping to find a cheaper microchip place than the vets but haven't located one yet.


I would think the humane society would have cheap microchipping. Most vets do have sales on microchipping. I had my cat that is missing microchipped. That was before he went missing.

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## camskyw (Jan 10, 2012)

I took my cat to the humane society to be spayed and he came back neutered! lol - they put a green tattoo on his belly, but when dealing with ferals you wouldn't necessarily be able to catch them and flip them over to find the tattoo, ear snipping is an easier way to spot. Not crazy about the look - just my 2 cents.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Some do ear tattooing, too, but I can see who ear tipping could be a better indicator especially in black and white cats!


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)




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## Manue (Jan 3, 2013)

camskyw said:


> they put a green tattoo on his belly


They did that to my cat too at the SPCA before I adopted her. My current vet definitely made a disapproving face when she saw that note in her health record... it's probably a bit overkill for a cat who's already microchipped as per SPCA rules.


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## howsefrau32 (Mar 6, 2013)

Here is a picture of Arwen, with her ear tipped. It is a little mangled looking as well as tipped.


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## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

The one difficulty with ear tipping is sometimes the ferals and strays get the crumpled ears from frostbite, mites, or fights - so the tipping is difficult to notice. Merry, what does your group do with those cats?


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## dt8thd (Jan 7, 2013)

Eartipping is really the only practical way of differentiating a spayed female from an unspayed one. Because the cat is going back to a colony situation, vets who participate in TNR usually try to minimize the incision size and the amount of fur that they shave off (it's important for a quick recovery and keeping kitty warm when she goes back out.) Often, it's impossible to see the scar even when the cat is anethetized on the operating table. It's not uncommon for a vet not to realize they're dealing with a spayed cat until they open it up and begin poking around. If a simple eartip is all that's needed to prevent that scenario, I'm all for the eartip!

I do understand why people have reservations though. Eartipping feral cats makes perfect sense, but sometimes those cats turn out to be not especially feral at all. Eartipping isn't exactly attractive looking, and, let's face it, tall, pointy kitty ears are adorable! Eartipping can also affect the way other people relate to your cat, or a potential adopter's perception of kitty's temperment or health status. But, it's ok to occasionally wish that your eartipped cat had two intact ears, as long as you love them regardless.

I've had to eartip tame cats before, simply because I would be living outside _with_ the ferals if I payed out of my own pocket to have every tame or semi-feral cat that I've pulled out of a feral colony fixed. I can get the cats fixed for free through one of the local feral clinics, but eartipping is a mandatory part of the procedure. Some of the vets we deal with though _will_ do a very subtle tip if the cat is clearly not a true feral when it arrives at the clinic.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

My group still tips the ears, mangled or not. We've gotten cats done, we found out later they were very domesticated and we adopted them out with a tipped ear. We didn't have a problem with getting them adopted. We've had a few complaints but it is what it is. We cant manage colonies without having that done. If they are kittens and we know we are going to take them and socialize them then they don't get it done to their ears. Just s/n vaccinate.


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