Would you tattoo your pets for ID purposes?

[capt_jordi]

I will be tattooing and microchipping the next dog I get. We have a lot of dogs at work that have tattoos.
Kahlua has a S tattooed on her belly. That way if she were ever to get out and someone caught her and tried to spay her when they shaved to do the surgery they would see it.
Google has a N on his belly too.

 

[cinder]

Originally Posted by missymotus

Over here cats are tattooed with an O and a line for desexed, and an M in the other ear for microchipped. You can opt out of the tattooing.

The circle of dots with a line in the right ear is what my vet uses also. They did it free with the last three females I had spayed. I thought it was a great idea. No, there is no way to trace them from it, but it does show a shelter or veterinarian that they have been spayed and are likely owned by someone. They use the ear because that's one place they always check when examining an animal. Two of them show up pretty good, but the third is very faint. I suppose if you're trained and know to look you'd spot it though.

With the dots there would be no need for anyone to disfigure a cat because it only shows they've been altered and isn't proof of ownership.

 

[judi]

My two cats and my two dogs have microchips.
The older dog came with a Tatoo. If the dog has long hair, you need to clip it frequently so that the tatoo can be read.

 

[cjh27]

Hi,

here in Germany its common to do both- tattoo and chip a cat. The tattoo is done when the cat is being neutered.

The point being that many people don't know about chipping animals and will assume a cat is a stray if it hasn't been tattooed. This goes especially for little old ladies who can be clueless about the chip.

Some vets will just tattoo the word CHIP into one ear while most still tattoo their initials + running number in one ear and the year and area code in the other, for example:

WL08- would be our area (Winsen Luhe) and 08 for 2008
MS342- Vets initials (Dr. Monica Schultz), the cat was the 342 cat of the year to be spayed.

This kind of tattoo is especially helpfull if the owner hasn't registered the tattoo at the central registration site. You can then go by the area code and telephone the vets of that area to find out who's initials were used, thus locating the vet.

Tattoo colours can fade, yes- if you want to be on the safe side go to a tattoo parlour and ask for a their advice on a long lasting colour that fits to the cat's ear colour. Buy some off the tattoo artist and bring it to your vet.

Christine

 

[bbleho]

Both my cats are microchipped and tattoed. The tattoo came standard with fixing. One cat was already fixed and tattooed when we bought her. We were going to opt out of the tattoo when we were getting the other one fixed because we were getting him microchipped anyways and then moving out of province, but the staff convinced us to get it anyways for reasons that have already been pointed out in this thread: it let's finders know the pet's not a stray, has been fixed, and is possibly microchipped even if it's not wearing a collar. The tattoo is also registered with the local database here and you can update your info. We were told that there was some inter-provincial information crossover too, so the tattoo was traceable in a larger area than we first thought.

The only drawback in my opinion is that it doesn't look that pretty. Especially if you have a white cat. And it can fade. I wouldn't use it as the only method of ID, but if it's a free service with the alteration....

 

[lauracatlover]

I'd never have my animals tattoed. Microchip is all

I know they do that with some horses

But I'd prefer to freezemark

 

[arlyn]

Originally Posted by lauracatlover

I'd never have my animals tattoed. Microchip is all

I know they do that with some horses

But I'd prefer to freezemark

Freezemark? Is that the dry ice branding they do on livestock now?
I'd heard the hair grows back white, is that true?