This not about food or eating!
It’s about the ear-notch. I was trying to take the Blondies’ ear-notch photos this morning.
That’s Indra.
Samantha and her youngest, Indra.
A photo of two cats with the ear-notch in this one!
Akira and hers. Her tips kind of curled up after it was done, so it has a distinctive curl pattern of her own!
I find myself having to explain the importance of ear-notching to new applicants all the time.
For both males and females, an already neutered ear-notched animal can be identified from afar and will not be caught by any good samaritan to be sent for neutering again. It’s as simple as that.
But more importantly, it’s for the females. Because we do not want an already-spayed female to be opened up for spaying again. The surgical scar will not be visible after six months, after the fur has grown back and spaying cannot be detected by ultrasound or X-Ray.
The only way is to confine the female for two weeks for cats and longer for dogs, to observe if the animal comes into heat. But how many rescuers will have the luxury of space, time and effort to do this?
Well, I did this for Heidi. She was abandoned at our gate without any ear-notch and I took her to the vet’s to get her spayed, but the vet told me to observe her for two weeks to see if she displays in heat behaviour. She did not. Heidi had already been spayed and by doing so, I spared her from being opened up again.
For males, the empty scrotum can be easily felt or seen by a vet or any animal caregiver too, but before we can see or feel the empty scrotum, we have to get close enough, so why not just notch the ear?
An ear-notch can easily solve all these problems and become a life-saving procedure.
