Tattooing your pets?

Lyzelle

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#21
This sort of thing is such a slippery slope...
ID tattoos? Oh yeah... that’s okay, no problem...
Spay indicator tattoos... sure!

Okay... what if instead of a green line to indicate spay we did a cute little squiggly instead? Hey, what if we added some hearts and stars? Where does it stop.
Same with id - I *could* say that tattooing wings on the side of my hairless dog is for ID purposes right? Where’s the line?

Bottom line is, we do a LOT of things to our pets for purely cosmetic/selfish reasons that you could argue are not beneficial and could be detrimental.
This. I can think of some worse things done to pets for aesthetic reasons than some cute stars and hearts.

I've been messing around with the idea of having Zander tattooed for a few years. But since he's a "mutt" with no pedigree or any accomplishments, I can't go through the usual routes people would go through to ID tattoo their pets. No numbers or letters that can be looked up. Phone number tattoo is silly, as that can change often. Can't be anything important, like a SS number. Microchips can be overlooked, collars and tags can be lost. He could be mistaken as a wolf or hybrid, and immediately put down without identification.

So...why not a little brand that could go inside the hip or in the ear? Not that different from horse brands or race tattoos honestly, and I certainly don't think those are cruel.

It's a very slippery slope. But personally, if I were to tattoo him...I would much rather it be something cute/fun than some ugly scribbly letters and numbers.

Besides, Zane would totally look rocker with a tribal dragon tatt in his ear and a piercing. :cool: Maybe even spike his mane in a mohawk.
 

yoko

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#22
This. I can think of some worse things done to pets for aesthetic reasons than some cute stars and hearts.

I've been messing around with the idea of having Zander tattooed for a few years. But since he's a "mutt" with no pedigree or any accomplishments, I can't go through the usual routes people would go through to ID tattoo their pets. No numbers or letters that can be looked up. Phone number tattoo is silly, as that can change often. Can't be anything important, like a SS number. Microchips can be overlooked, collars and tags can be lost. He could be mistaken as a wolf or hybrid, and immediately put down without identification.

So...why not a little brand that could go inside the hip or in the ear? Not that different from horse brands or race tattoos honestly, and I certainly don't think those are cruel.

It's a very slippery slope. But personally, if I were to get a tattoo...I would much rather it be something cute/fun than some ugly scribbly letters and numbers.
Why not your vets number? Even if you change vets your old one should still have your dog on file.
 

Lyzelle

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#23
Why not your vets number? Even if you change vets your old one should still have your dog on file.
Vets can often change numbers, too, or go out of business. Move. Plus, we are traveling overseas. It's not a practical option.

ETA: I honestly think things would be way easier if a dog could get a life-time rabies number in an international database. That covers all pets, and all liability issues.
 

JessLough

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#24
But... tattooing your dog isn't going to tell anybody anything. Other than the fact that your dog has a tattoo. Its not going to tell them this is a dog -- its gonna tell them its an animal with a tattoo...

Tattooing animals for cosmetic purposes is unethical. Roseys intact and not tattooed, so I can say that not being a hypocrite :p
The ferrets all have tattoos. I hate it.
 

Lyzelle

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#25
But... tattooing your dog isn't going to tell anybody anything. Other than the fact that your dog has a tattoo. Its not going to tell them this is a dog -- its gonna tell them its an animal with a tattoo...
Not necessarily. Wild animals are usually tagged, not tattooed. So a canine with a tattoo would usually be ID'd as a pet, an owned pet, and at least then a microchip is more likely to be looked for...which would lead to ID of dog and owner.
 

JessLough

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#27
The amount of dogs that have been dumped with tattoos is going to not tell them it's an owned pet, really... it'll tell them it's a dog that once had an owner. Or a wolf that was once owned by somebody.
 

Lyzelle

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#29
The amount of dogs that have been dumped with tattoos is going to not tell them it's an owned pet, really... it'll tell them it's a dog that once had an owner. Or a wolf that was once owned by somebody.
Same with collars and tags. So I guess we shouldn't bother with those, either?
 

JessLough

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#30
Same with collars and tags. So I guess we shouldn't bother with those, either?
People know what a collar and tags mean. People don't know what a tattoo means.

ETA: I mean, your whole point was so that you had another way to get him back to you if the collar and tags were lost, no? I may just be misunderstanding the point..
 

Fran101

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#32
It's not something I would do to my dog.
and if I was a vet, it's not something I would agree to do.

That said, I am fine with S/N as well as docking/cropping..so it would be hypocritical for me to say this is downright wrong/unethical.

If the dog isn't in pain when it's done.. then I suppose I see nothing ethically wrong with it.
it does wrong me the wrong way but alas, a lot of things do lol doesn't mean they should be illegal
 

Lyzelle

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#34
I think there is a HUGE difference between collars and tags with pertinent info and getting a tattoo because you think it is pretty.
So ID tattoos absolutely must be ugly in order to have pertinent information?
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#35
I know a guy who was doing an ID tattoo on his pit bull and opt'd for a symbol instead of a number. It doesn't bother me.

Tucker has my name along his groin. It's now a messy blob at 15 but it did its job when he was a younger dog and a danger runner.
 

Lyzelle

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#37
I think they should be small and simple. If you want to show off tattoos get them on yourself.
Small can be a double edged sword, since they can often blur and become less readable as the tattoo ages. Simple is relative to the person. I never said I wanted to "show off" tattoos on Zander. I said it would be specifically for ID purposes, but there's no reason why he should have crappy vet handwriting scrawled across his stomach or in his ear.

If I can think of something easy, decent, that can be ID'd and easily so, I'll do that instead.
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#38
I would never want to put my dog under for a tattoo nor would I ask them to tolerate one without being put under. That said, I have no beef with them being done while the dog is neutered.

Of course there is no regulating that and frankly who am I to tell you you can't chop ears or ink your dog but you can pinch off dewclaws or cut it open and yank out its baby makers.
 

Lyzelle

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#39
I would never want to put my dog under for a tattoo nor would I ask them to tolerate one without being put under. That said, I have no beef with them being done while the dog is neutered.

Of course there is no regulating that and frankly who am I to tell you you can't chop ears or ink your dog but you can pinch off dewclaws or cut it open and yank out its baby makers.
That too. Horses are typically freeze or fire branded, but I don't think there is a way to safely do that on a dog, particularly those with longer hair, like Zander.

But if he was already being put under for something, like teeth cleaning or whatever, and I could figure out how the tattoo process typically went, I wouldn't mind it.

I think some of the ears are done with stamps, though, aren't they? I mess around with the idea, but I've never looked into the process too much because I can't think of a decent idea that would be a good and easy ID tattoo.
 

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