This is George, and I don’t know if his ear was clipped by a vet, or if he got into it with some barbed wire. Before he lived with us, he lived rough in the neighbor’s abandoned barn for at least a couple of months. He was already neutered.
I thought be was feral, until he invited himself in, had some kibble, used the litter box, and parked himself in a cushy chair for a nap. He had no fear of me, but he flipped out when my (male) partner came home. It took him weeks to warm up to him, and stop being scared. Now they are great friends, no fear at all.
We speculate that he lived with a woman once, but a man treated him badly, probably involving a carrier box. Like, he got put in a box and dumped in the country, that’s our speculation. In the four years he’s lived here, he hasn’t gone to the vet, because he reacts SOOOoooo badly to the box, and to the sound of plastic bags. But, he’s healthy, good with the other kitties, even subservient to a smaller / younger male, and that keeps the peace.
Meh, seems like they could figure out something else to indicate neutered feral cats? I know that feral cats are a huge problem and it helps to be able to easily identify those already fixed, I just wish it wasn’t in that way.
Ha! Hardly! She does excel at involving herself in whatever I’m doing, but generally not in any sort of helpful way. Despite vacuuming and wiping the walls down well, I know there’s going to be some area with cat fluff painted in. So far she has not gotten into the paint tray or trim bucket…
This is the “before” color called Sweet Lavender (crappy cell phone photo doesn’t show the epic sweetness). Kiddo has decided it’s too baby-ish and picked out a sea glass greenish blue.
ETA the new color is looking kinda swimming pool blue, but Kiddo loves it, so it’s all good.
I hope you are not equating ear clipping with declawing.
The ear clipping cut heals very quickly, more quickly than the surgical cuts for fixing both males and females. It has no lasting impact on the cat, similar and worse injuries are common aming feral populations. It also serves an important purpose, unlike declawing or docking a dog’s tail. The organizations that fix feral cats do it so a cat can be identified as fixed upon sight. If an ear tipped cat is caught in abhimane trap, they will be released and the trap reset. The only other way to tell if a cat has been fixed is the tatoo on the belly. But to see that requires both trapping and sedating a feral cat. Sedation is dangerous for the cat and transport stressful. It would also waste money that could be used on a feral cat that needs to be fixed.
So yes, it is painful. But it’s currently the best way to tell whether a feral cat is fixed. Safer for the cat and trap-neueter-return programs depend on it.
Declawing is done solely for the benefit of a human, permanently cripples the cat, and often results in lifelong pain and behavioral issues.
I don’t know if all animal control units will leave an ear clipped cat alone, but a local vet probably does. I don’t know if all TNR programs clip cats’ ears, but it is a common practice.
