Stray/feral cat- does this look like an "ear tip"?

This stray or feral cat has been hanging around for a long time. S/he likes to sleep on my porch. The cat will let me get a lot closer than most ferals I've seen, within a few feet, but won't let me approach more and will run if I try to act friendly. So I can't figure if it's truly a feral or a stray or possibly an "outdoor cat" owned by someone?

I posted about this before but I got better photos now.

One ear is torn or cut but I am not sure if this is an "ear tip" like a TNR cat or an old injury. I don't know of anyone in the area doing TNR and I have never seen another ear tipped cat around here, so if it is then it must have come from elsewhere I guess?

I'm not sure what to do. Technically you are not supposed to feed feral cats in my city unless you are a registered feral colony caregiver... S/he seems to be healthy.

Anyway here are some pics, does this look like "ear tipping"?

Looks like an ear tip to me.  I have 3 with ear tips and it looks very similar.  He/she is probably hungry.  Maybe whomever did the TNR moved or stopped feeding.

Thank you for feeding and giving love to this beautiful soul.

I think someone is feeding him/her because this cat appears pretty well fed. S/he's been hanging out around here at least a year, must really like my porch! Even when my dog was here, the cat would stay on the porch when my dog went outside. My dog never noticed since it was the far corner of the porch behind the table and my dog always just went straight into the yard.

Vets I have used never took that much off.  I have had 3 different vets tip one also notched but asked for tips only in future.  In the last pic is that the inside of the ear or the outside missing a bit of fur? 
 

I only have pictures of 2 of mine ( the 3rd one decided not to stay with me after I TNR'd him). 

This is Marvin.  His was just done this past March.  But I decided to bring him inside the house to live!


This is Shadow.  His was done in October 2010

I'm going to have to say definitely an ear tip. My vet hacks off quite a bit. If they're done at a high volume clinic, I imagine the tipped ears aren't always done... as nicely as they could be.

I agree that it looks like an ear tip. I have 5 tipped cats outside and the amount taken off varied. It looked as if almost half the ear was cut off on a couple of them while just the tip was taken in others, but they all healed up and are happy and healthy 2 years later. 

It's weird because I've never seen another ear tipped cat around here and we have a lot of ferals in the area. This cat's been hanging around for at least a year now. So I'm not sure where s/he came from, and whether someone else is taking care of her or what. This cat spends a lot of time on my porch during the day especially now in the summer. S/he doesn't seem to be very shy really for a feral.

Yes, this appears to be a neutered/spayed cat.  I have found Temptations treats to be great tamers to the point that a feral cat like yours can be petted and then picked up.  It takes patience but it works.

Linda in California

That's a great idea. I've noticed if I put food down sometime the cat will come close while I'm putting it down rather than hang back and wait for me to put the food down and leave, so it seems like treats might be likely to work well.

Yesterday I went out to water the flowers and there was ANOTHER cat laying on the porch along with the black cat! It was odd. I'm not sure what to do, is it normal for ferals to hang out together?
I mean I don't leave food sitting out or anything so it's not Ike this new cat would be attracted to that.

The  feral colony wher[color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]e[/color]  i park my car mornings has cats which are bonded  as fri[color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]ends.  [/color]

[color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]Th[/color][color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]er[/color]e [color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]is on[/color][color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]e[/color][color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]   "coupl[/color][color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]e"; th[/color][color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]e[/color][color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]y walk right n[/color][color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]e[/color][color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]xt to [/color][color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]each oth[/color][color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]e[/color][color= rgb(34, 34, 34)]r, tails winding.[/color]

Also, touch noses, play, etc.  

This gray and white girl is a very social one

Nekochan said:

Yesterday I went out to water the flowers and there was ANOTHER cat laying on the porch along with the black cat! It was odd. I'm not sure what to do, is it normal for ferals to hang out together?
I mean I don't leave food sitting out or anything so it's not Ike this new cat would be attracted to that.

Click to expand...

Where there is one, there may be many!  I started with 1 feral in July 2010.  Now 3 years later, I am on my 4th.  They seem to know where there are kind souls.  I had never seen a stray cat wander through my yard until 3 years ago.  I have lived in my current home for 13 years.  So for 10 years, no cats.  Then out of the blue, they all start appearing.  I have TNR'd 3 and will be doing my 4th next week.  There also is another one that is causing problems, but doesn't seem to be a feral or stray.  It's just out fighting. 

My first feral and then the stray/feral that appeared next, hung out together for about a year and really enjoyed being together.  The next one that showed up did not get along with either of the first two.  So the 3rd one (who was a stray) is now living inside my home.  The 4th one also gets along with my first.  They hang out together on the deck and in the yard.  So it's not uncommon for them to have "friends". 

The feral  clinic in our  area which gets money  from our city and  from charity takes lot of an cat's ear. And it is often cut badly, like  the ear  on  your picture. Male cats with thicker ears bleed a  lot. Explanation why  they  have to  take that much -  people  would  bring  owned  cats for  free or cheap surgery if they would be only tipping the ear.  They are also  very  strict  with  care takers. No  small  talks, no  complains. WHY  IT  IS  THEM  WHO GOT public  money nobody knows.

We have a one-day-per-month spay/neuter in an old house.

Usually 8 veterinarians and about 20 others that volunteer for the day.

Some days we have over 150 cats.

Only one lady does the tipping.......and it all works sorta in an assembly

line fashion, and by lunch time, she has quite a pile of ear tips.

They are pretty uniform, as she does it over and over, but she even

snips quite a bit on occasion.

It also depends sometimes on the shape of the ear.

(didn't mean to make that last post so enormous - musta hit something - sorry everyone!)

Not much to add here - except that he is a gorgeous cat.  I like black kitties!

This is an ear tip on my piglet Mimi.......

It definitely looks like an ear tip, and the person who stated that vets don't usually cut off that much of the ear is unfortunately mistaken. The vet tech where I brought my feral female to for spaying did a real hack job and chopped off half of her ear, without my permission. I am still so angry! She apologized, but that didn't take away from the pain she caused my kitty. I've heard other horror stories, too, about vets who ear tip without permission and hack off and mutilate.

If it's a male cat, you should easily be able to tell whether or not he was neutered when his tail is raised. If it's a female, I think you should just assume that she was already trapped and spayed. If she's not spayed, you'll find out when she goes into heat.