The Importance of Ear Tips

Ear tips are a very important part of TNR. Not only do they signal to trappers that the cat has already been sterilized helping to keep traps clear of animals that do not need to be taken in for surgery, but in a lot of cases the ear tip can help save the animals life. In Miami-Dade County, any ear tip cat that is brought in to one of the shelters has its picture circulated through the Cat Network in the hopes that the owner/caretaker recognizes the animal and can return it to the colony it came from (this happens quite often - people who do not want the cats around will trap them and take them to Animal Services to be euthanized, but the caretaker sees their picture and is able to rescue the cat and return it to its home).

Ear tips are done while the animal is under anesthesia, and causes no pain to the animal. There are no problems associated with ear tips at any point in the animals life, and while some people don't like them because "they're not pretty", they do help feral caretakers in their TNR mission, and in some cases are even a life saver... a small price to pay for all the positive effects!! While in Miami-Dade most animals receive the ear tip on their left ear, it really can be either.

On the Miami Meow Mobile, in addition to ear tips each cat receives a small green tattoo on their abdomen. There have been a few instances where cats came in with questionable ear tips, which turned out to be an injury. There have also been cases of cats who came in that were already sterilized but did not have an ear tip, which meant they went under anesthesia unnecessarily. The green tattoo is a clear indicator that the cat has undergone sterilization, and we have had more than a couple cats come back to us with green tattoos... sometimes a neutered male can look like an unsterilized female, and sometimes spay scars can look like a scratch, so the tattoo is very helpful in determining if a cat needs sterilization. This is not a common practice, but should really be made common!!!

I have to say, after working with so many feral cats and hearing people complain about ear tips without really considering the benefits, I do get giddy every time I see an ear tipped cat in a colony. To me that means someone is looking out for that animal, and as a TNR champion myself, it means I don't have to sit and worry about whether or not that cat is pregnant/sterilized/cared for... the ear tip told me everything I need to know to rest easy and help another cat who does need my attention!!

Ear tipped cat in a trap

Ear tipped cat outside

Female after sterilization with green tattoo