Tip of the ear a universal sign for feral cats
I’m new to San Antonio and have not yet joined any local feral cat coalitions. But in the Expressnews, I noticed a picture of a feral cat, “Ginger,” who was supposedly altered but does not have a clipped ear.
In fact, I have taken two female cats to two different vets, and neither had heard of ear clipping to identify altered feral cats. I was dumbfounded that any veterinarian didn’t know this!
I hope you will address the need to clip the right ear to identify that a feral cat is no longer procreating. The left ear is OK, but nationally, it’s usually the right ear.
Dear Elaine,
The column you are referring to, “Find caretaker for community cats before moving on,” which ran Dec. 2, was about someone who was feeding a feral/community cat named Ginger and was worried about who would take care of this cat if she moved.
The letter writer did not send a picture of “Ginger,” so the photo does not represent a fixed feral cat, just a feral cat, which in this case had not been fixed because of the lack of ear-tipping you describe.
For folks who don’t know, eartipping is done on feral/community cats while they are still under anesthesia for their spay-neuter surgery. It is a visual indicator that the cat is fixed and vaccinated, so they don’t get repeatedly trapped and brought into clinics for spay-neuter surgeries.
The practice has been around since the 1990s and is the widely accepted standard for identifying cats that have been through the TNR (trap-neuter-return) process.
The American Veterinary
Medical Association’s statement on “Free-roaming abandoned and feral cats” states that “cats in managed colonies be ear-tipped when spayed or neutered.” So I am just as surprised as you that two veterinarians in San Antonio have not heard of this practice.
As for you, I love that you have only been in San Antonio a short time and are already helping get some of our feral/community cats fixed. Thank you for stepping up in such a big way.
Depending on where you moved from, you might either be impressed with the work we do here helping animals or bummed that not enough progress has been made.
In the Northeast and Northwest, there are fewer animal welfare issues and fewer stray dogs and community cats on the streets. In our warmer, South Texas climate, animals are in heat longer, which extends the breeding cycle.
You will soon discover, though, that San Antonians care
very much about animal welfare and mention it as one of their top priorities when surveyed by the city.
As for local feral cat groups, I recommend contacting the San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition.
They would love to have someone with your passion in their midst.