tatoo

[Jedismom]

For a while now I've noticed that Jedi has a letter "S" tatooed into his right ear. Does anyone know what that is and why someone would do that?

 

Thanks,

 

Georgia

[esox]

I know some people had tattoos in their dogs ears to help identify them. This was before microchips. Others might do it to show where the dog came from?

 

Esox

[MrSnappy]

Is he neutered?

 

(sorry, I initially said spayed)

 

RDM

[Jedismom]

Jedi is neutered and microchipped as he came from the SPCA.

 

I got him at 6 mo. old. He is now 10 mo.

 

His surrender papers said that he was purchased from a breeder at 8 wks.

[MrSnappy]

Here in Canada, all registered dogs must be tattooed or chipped as puppies - this includes CKC and CBCA dogs. However, tattoos are more than a single letter - they are a kennel code, and month/year of birth combination.

 

Also, most dogs and cats in Canada are tattooed when neutered or spayed - the code is generally a unique animal code, combined with a clinic and year code. That way, if you find a dog or cat you can call the vet clinic, who will contact the owner of the animal.

 

I understand the latter is not common in the United States and that the former is not a requirement of most registries. So I don't know what that tattoo is. However, your shelter may tattoo animals they alter to identify them as being done (so that if they are ever returned, they do not try to alter the animal again ... though it would seem more obvious with males if the surgery had been done) or perhaps your dog originally came from a volume breeder who tattooed litters to identify them. I'm not sure what other reasons for tattooing happen in the US.

 

RDM

[Jedismom]

Here in Canada, all registered dogs must be tattooed or chipped as puppies - this includes CKC and CBCA dogs. However, tattoos are more than a single letter - they are a kennel code, and month/year of birth combination.

 

Also, most dogs and cats in Canada are tattooed when neutered or spayed - the code is generally a unique animal code, combined with a clinic and year code. That way, if you find a dog or cat you can call the vet clinic, who will contact the owner of the animal.

 

I understand the latter is not common in the United States and that the former is not a requirement of most registries. So I don't know what that tattoo is. However, your shelter may tattoo animals they alter to identify them as being done (so that if they are ever returned, they do not try to alter the animal again ... though it would seem more obvious with males if the surgery had been done) or perhaps your dog originally came from a volume breeder who tattooed litters to identify them. I'm not sure what other reasons for tattooing happen in the US.

 

RDM

 

 

Cadi does not have the tatoo and she was adopted from the same place. Considering it's only a letter, I guess the most likely reason might be a breeder tatooing for identification. Perhaps so if someone brought the puppy back they would know it was theirs? I guess....

 

Thanks RDM,

 

Georgia

[Jedismom]

oops...can't forget Esox ...thanks

[aussiered]

I don't know what the letter S stands for but I would think it might be for a breeder or possibly for 'Speyed' (although I just read that Jedi is a boy, sorry.

 

Here is Australia we tattoo the left ear of all dogs and cats when they are desexed, the tattoo is a little circle with a line through it. This makes it easy to tell if the animal is desexed if they are rescued later in life. Some states here tattoo a capital letter M in the right ear when the animal is microchipped so that people will know before scanning that the animal has a chip. I have also noticed some dogs have a series of numbers tattood in their ear (kind of like a barcode), this is done by the breeder but I'm not really sure why.

[sheepandakom]

One of the shelters we pull from tattoos all of the dogs they adopt out in the ear, but since you got your other dog from the same place, and it wasn't tattooed, I'm guessing that isn't the reason.

 

Emily

[bc4pack]

Some of our Customs dogs that were procured from shelters have tatoos.

My first dog had SPCA tat on inside of his left leg.

 

ALL of our dogs are both microchipped AND tatooed in the right ear. The tatoos help with 'in house' type

ID... When you have a 100 Black Labs or 100 Malinois, that can be transferred to other ports...No names

are on our collars...just the CBP 1 800 number.

[Jedismom]

Mystery solved. I went on the SPCA website and read their adoption policy section and right there it said they microchip and tattoo (finally spelled it right ) all their dogs. So now I'm going to re-check Cadi and see if I missed it somewhere. I probably should have known that but I guess I don't always read the fine print. Thanks everyone!