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Oh ok, shelter person didn't know said it was from an accident....
It could be, but they do tip them on purpose in the TNR programs as you have found. I'm not sure they would tip a typical known pet though. At least 15 years ago my cat was not tipped when she was spayed. I still don't think it's common to tip a known pet cat; I believe it's still used pretty much exclusively for trapped ferals.
This makes your recent adoption interesting because presumably this cat was trapped and neutered as part of a feral colony at one point. How it came to be adoptable as a pet is not so clear unless it was a kitten when trapped. (Adult ferals are not usually good candidates for transition to house pet, but there are always exceptions.)
It's pretty much standard to tip the left ear of feral cats when they get fixed so that it's easy to know if that cat is already done or not.
On Monday I was trapping at two locations where we had already done some cats about a month ago. Then when trapping this week we looked at each trapped cat to see if it had already been done. We got very lucky and didn't trap any that had been done previously. Maybe the ones we'd already done were saying "been there, done that, got the tipped ear to prove it".
It's very frustrating when you do a second or third pass at a particular location that has maybe 25 to 40 cats and find that half the cats that you trapped this time are done so you have to release them. Meanwhile the ones that need to be caught can't be because the traps are already full.
The dream scenario would be if people thought they had about 25 cats that they were feeding in their sheds and barns or where ever then you would go there with 30 to 40 traps and catch every single one of them all at once. Never happens that way in real life. So we go back several times to most locations that have high numbers and eventually get 98% of them. Sometimes there's one that's just too smart to ever get caught. There is a single big old tom at one location that we've tried about every 6 weeks for over a year to get but he's not buying.
It could be, but they do tip them on purpose in the TNR programs as you have found. I'm not sure they would tip a typical known pet though. At least 15 years ago my cat was not tipped when she was spayed. I still don't think it's common to tip a known pet cat; I believe it's still used pretty much exclusively for trapped ferals.
This makes your recent adoption interesting because presumably this cat was trapped and neutered as part of a feral colony at one point. How it came to be adoptable as a pet is not so clear unless it was a kitten when trapped. (Adult ferals are not usually good candidates for transition to house pet, but there are always exceptions.)
I've checked out that link among many others yesterday, very informative. Had no idea a program like that was going on.
That's why I had to research it the cut it was "too clean" and even to be from an accident. Of course I could be wrong. However from what I've been reading everything is pointing a TNR colony cat. No its an older cat I'm not sure how old though but its definitely not a young cat like the shelter had it listed.
The shelter didn't know much about the cat other than it was found near a marketplace. The ear was already tipped and he was neutered before they brought him in. This concludes its a feral cat part of a colony. Why AC brought him in is a mystery.
I agree but the more I read the more I became concerned. Like I said he's very friendly I can rub him, pet him, pick him up, etc. However knowing even more concerned about its unpredictable nature especially being feral. Not saying that there's anything wrong with ferals and I'm sure some make pets. For a first time cat owner this may or may not be a good idea.
Sounds like he's okay though. If you brought him home and he's not hiding, lets you handle him, etc, sounds like he's going to be fine. He may have been a feral at one time, but it sounds like he's well-acclimated to people and is not afraid of them.
I've checked out that link among many others yesterday, very informative. Had no idea a program like that was going on.
That's why I had to research it the cut it was "too clean" and even to be from an accident. Of course I could be wrong. However from what I've been reading everything is pointing a TNR colony cat. No its an older cat I'm not sure how old though but its definitely not a young cat like the shelter had it listed.
The shelter didn't know much about the cat other than it was found near a marketplace. The ear was already tipped and he was neutered before they brought him in. This concludes its a feral cat part of a colony. Why AC brought him in is a mystery.
I agree but the more I read the more I became concerned. Like I said he's very friendly I can rub him, pet him, pick him up, etc. However knowing even more concerned about its unpredictable nature especially being feral. Not saying that there's anything wrong with ferals and I'm sure some make pets. For a first time cat owner this may or may not be a good idea.
It's entirely possible he was a domesticated stray (abandoned by people), not a feral, who just took up with a feral population for survival, and became part of the TNR.
It's also possible he was an already neutered domesticated stray and the missing ear tip is due to frostbite rather than a TNR program.
Clearly he's been with people before, since he has settled in so well with you.
It's so they can be quickly identified as already having been neutered/spayed.
Ear tipping also literally saves their lives here in NYC. We have so many thousands of cats brought to the kill shelter in NYC that they are euthanized within hours or days if they are feral.
However, if they have an ear tip, they are not killed! They are put up in photos for us TNR certified rescuers to see and to hopefully identify and return to their colonies, or else to place in existing colonies (which is an arduous task as you know).
We register our colonies and there is an agreement with the city shelter to not kill healthy ear tipped ferals and do as above.
I've checked out that link among many others yesterday, very informative. Had no idea a program like that was going on.
That's why I had to research it the cut it was "too clean" and even to be from an accident. Of course I could be wrong. However from what I've been reading everything is pointing a TNR colony cat. No its an older cat I'm not sure how old though but its definitely not a young cat like the shelter had it listed.
The shelter didn't know much about the cat other than it was found near a marketplace. The ear was already tipped and he was neutered before they brought him in. This concludes its a feral cat part of a colony. Why AC brought him in is a mystery.
I agree but the more I read the more I became concerned. Like I said he's very friendly I can rub him, pet him, pick him up, etc. However knowing even more concerned about its unpredictable nature especially being feral. Not saying that there's anything wrong with ferals and I'm sure some make pets. For a first time cat owner this may or may not be a good idea.
If that cat can be picked up he is not a feral, I promise you that! I am TNR certified and deal with ferals, hard strays and fully socialized cats. A feral will never let you pick him up, never.
It is true that many cats are abandoned at a relatively young age, or were treated as indoor outdoor cats, mostly outdoor, and also the breed mix, I have always felt, does matter somewhat, too, how they will let you handle them if they are tame, even.
TIf the ear tip is clean, it is a deliberate ear tip by a vet. Many cats taken in traps to a spay/neuter clinic are ear tipped when in fact they are not feral. I have one cat outside I am getting ready to take in, I TNR'd her, and she got ear tipped: Guess what, I now realize she is a hard stray, was fully socialized at one point. I cannot touch her because she remembers I trapped her and held her for several days- she knows full well what I did - but my pet sitter, whom she does not know, can pet her and pick her right up.
The local low cost clinic that my humane society uses said we can bring up to 8 cats on Monday and up to 40 cats on Wednesday.
On Tuesday we'll be trying to catch as many as 25 at one colony and then smaller numbers at other farms where we've trapped before but were not able to get all the cats. Some of them are so smart and manage to get into the trap and eat the food without stepping on the pressure plate that springs the door closed behind them. Then there are the other ones, that have already been done but they get in the traps again. So we have to check for ear tipping and let those go.
I'll be at the clinic on Wednesday, cleaning the traps once the cats are out of them and being prepped for surgery.
Washing traps, my favorite thing.
Wish us luck.
Who will do the post surgery recovery care? Also, how many colleagues do you have doing this project?
Do you mind if I ask what the fee will be per cat and if they will be tattooed? (The females.) They do that now at the ASPCA here in NYC because the incisions are so tiny and hard to see later on and a vet surgeon told me that they open up cats who were already spayed!
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