In Alaska, Animal Control is now offering free tattoos for dogs and cats. Rather than a microchip, which needs a scanner in order to be read, a tattoo can easily be read by anyone, even if the pet’s collar is lost.
The procedure takes about fifteen minutes, and the pet is tattooed in the ear with a couple of letters and numbers identifying them to the state. These tattoos do not interfere with showing purebred animals, in fact The Kennel Club encourages owners too tattoo their pets.
Makes sense to us here at INKEDblog- you and Fido can make an appointment together.
yeah and it is alot easier if you got a pig too
Posted by: mitno at February 2, 2006 8:39 AM
Is this not inhumane?
Posted by: Chris at February 2, 2006 10:45 AM
I know my dog wouldn't be able to handle that. Any strange noise scares her to death!
Posted by: Laura at February 2, 2006 11:48 AM
Presumably if it was being done on an animal it could be sedated, or anaesthetic cream could be used. My housemate's bunny has a tattooed ear and he's the most neurotic stupid pet I've ever met.
And I totally agree that it's better than microchipping in terms of readability. There are several microchip manufacturers out there and their products are incompatible. If your microchipped kitty gets lost and winds up at a shelter with a different brand of chip reader, so long.
Posted by: xenobiologista at February 2, 2006 10:43 PM
Presumably if it was being done on an animal it could be sedated, or anaesthetic cream could be used. My housemate's bunny has a tattooed ear and he's the most neurotic stupid pet I've ever met.
And I totally agree that it's better than microchipping in terms of readability. There are several microchip manufacturers out there and their products are incompatible. If your microchipped kitty gets lost and winds up at a shelter with a different brand of chip reader, so long.
Posted by: xenobiologista at February 2, 2006 10:46 PM
Actually, the tattooing device they show in the picture is the standard sort used to tattoo animals. You dip the needlies in the ink and it works just like a pair of pliers; squeeze the handles and the clamps come together. Yes, I won't lie, you're poking your pet with needles and it hurts, but the pain is momentary and the tattoos tend to heal quickly and with few infections and are very easy to read once healed. Short process, great identifier.
Posted by: Kattums at February 3, 2006 8:27 PM
There is a guy on the BME website who tattooed his bottom lip with one of those machines.
Posted by: tokyowars at February 4, 2006 7:36 PM
Any one thinking of tattooing their dog should be aware of a few things. One, the ear is not a good place. This is were tattooing generally began several yrs. ago, unfortunately dogs started appearing at animal testing labs. minus ears (I.E., unscrupulous animal brokers were rounding up or buying strays, stealing house pets etc... and lopping off the offending ears to make a quick buck).
Two, most reputable dog tattooing is now done on the belly or inside of a rear leg where it may be harder to spot (and could requiring some shaving maintenance), but this circumvents the cut off ear.
Three, because of the belly/inner thigh tattoo placement, most reputable animal tattooists (yes, they're out there) using a regular human type tattoo gun/needle.
Posted by: dog at February 18, 2006 2:23 PM
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)