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Comment by k2enemy | Hacker News Reader

Given that the article is also kind of a PSA for New Yorkers, I'm surprised that it didn't mention ear clipping. If a feral cat has already been spayed or neutered, its left ear is clipped so that people know to leave it alone and not trap it again.

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TNR with ear clipping is done in the UK by the Cat Protection League. They loan you a trap and neuter the cat. Our house cat is an ex stray with a clipped ear from CPL.

here, they now give neutered cats a tattoo on the belly (~1cm green line) instead of clipping. this is a bit more humane and becoming more the standard nowadays i believe.

Not sure if it's changed here, but in Australia it's a tattoo on the inner ear (a circle with a line through it).

Pretty soon it'll be a full-sleeve and a nose ring.

I think that's pretty normal for pet cats: mine are like this.

However, I don't see how it's useful for stray cats. You can't just pick up a stray cat to look at its belly. A clipped ear you can see from a distance.

yes, i should clarify that LA has a pretty effective no-kill cat rescue network (even sending rescues to other states for adoption), so most cats here are neutered, chipped, vaccinated, and tattooed when rescued and adopted out (e.g., my sweet little rescue cat). but there are also dedicated TNR volunteers who strictly neuter and release stray cats and employ the ear-clipping method for that reason (easier to see from distance).

ear-clipping isn't foolproof though, since many feral cats will not sit still long enough or let you get close enough for you to observe a clipped ear. that said, plenty of stray cats are relative docile and friendly, and totally adoptable by simply picking them up and taking them home (which is what one of my neighbors did).

>ear-clipping isn't foolproof though, since many feral cats will not sit still long enough or let you get close enough for you to observe a clipped ear.

Nothing is foolproof, but you can use binoculars to see feral cats' ears from a distance if you really have to. Most stray cats, in my experience, are NOT friendly at all; they won't let you come close enough to them to pick them up, and if you do they might fight you.

this is not always the case this is only done by public service organizations. if you have you pet taken into the vet to get fixed, the ear clip is optional and many choose not to get it clipped

While neutered cats don't always have their ears clipped, a cat with a clipped ear is near-guaranteed to be neutered.

This is why it makes sense to mention it.

NYT, which called TNR (trap-enuter-release) "controversial", isn't interested in informing people about it, it seems.

Well, yeah, it'd done for TNR so people know they don't have to catch the cat again.

If this is successful, I wonder how long it would be before we see a cat that is born with ears that look like they are clipped as it would be a pretty big reproductive advantage.

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