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My dogs have tattoos and so do my cats. I would ALWAYS get a female animal tatooed but I don't think its necessary for the boys. I just think what if god forbid one of my girls ended up in a shelter? I would want them to know she was desexed so she didn't have to be opened up again.

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That's interesting re: scars & tattoos. Do all vets tattoo desexed females or is it generally something you'd have to request?

My girl was not tattooed when she was desexed. I just assumed all vets did that until she came home with "blank" ears.

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I was just thinking about this.

Is there any way at all that a vet/similarly qualified person can tell if a bitch is desexed simply by looking at her? Or would you have to perform some kind of invasive surgery to find out? I mean, if a stray dog came along with no microchip/tags/registration came along and you..well I don't know, wanted to keep it or wanted to rehome it or something, if you took it to the vet, would they know?

Apologies in advance if this is a stupid question or if there is an obvious answer :eek:

i apologise in advance if my paranoia is getting the better of me, but i just find this, as you said "sus"

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willow has 2 tattoos, one for her desexing :)

The other is for her microchip, at least i dont have to worry about it moving.

Kobayashi, did the vet tattoo the microchip number for you?

This sounds like a great idea to me - I never knew you could get it done.

Mine have two tattoos as well - one to indicate they are desexed and the other from the breeder/club.

I was asked both times.

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Kobayashi, did the vet tattoo the microchip number for you?

This sounds like a great idea to me - I never knew you could get it done.

I think the microchip tattoo is the letter 'M' in the dogs right ear (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

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I had to sign a consent form (at two different surgeries that I have used over the years) for the tattoo to be done. It wasn't an automatic thing.

The only female I have is a completely black longhaired cat and you can't see the tattoo anyway :laugh: She has the long feathers coming from her ears.

The tattoos on my boys are very noticeable, but then so is the lack of testes

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I have seen a few dogs with undescended testicles. They still have them, but you cannot see them. I wouldn't automatically assume a dog was desexed unless I had proof. We get these dogs ultrasounded now, to see exactly where the testes are before opening them up.

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I was just thinking about this.

Is there any way at all that a vet/similarly qualified person can tell if a bitch is desexed simply by looking at her? Or would you have to perform some kind of invasive surgery to find out? I mean, if a stray dog came along with no microchip/tags/registration came along and you..well I don't know, wanted to keep it or wanted to rehome it or something, if you took it to the vet, would they know?

Apologies in advance if this is a stupid question or if there is an obvious answer :love:

i apologise in advance if my paranoia is getting the better of me, but i just find this, as you said "sus"

Yes your paranoia is getting the better of you. I am extremely well aware that if you just "find" a dog that does belong to somebody else and keep it, it is illegal. I have found many a stray dog in my life and all have been taken to the vet to be scanned for a chip. If they don't have one then they go to the pound. If they do, our vet usually keeps them and contacts the owners (and if they can't be found, calls the rangers to take it to the pound). However, should you choose to go the Amstaff thread, you will find that yes I did very recently acquire a female dog and that I paid for her and that she is now chipped and registered in my name.

Will be more careful with how I phrase things in future to ensure I don't sound like a crazed dog-napper.

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Kobayashi, did the vet tattoo the microchip number for you?

This sounds like a great idea to me - I never knew you could get it done.

I think the microchip tattoo is the letter 'M' in the dogs right ear (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Thanks MissB. I didn't know this could be done - it sounds like a great idea.

Will be more careful with how I phrase things in future to ensure I don't sound like a crazed dog-napper.

:love: Don't worry, you didn't sound like that. But a funny mental picture - have to have a suitable costume, I think. :love:

It can be a challenge to read stuff in the way it's meant on forums. With only emoticons to help it can get a bit difficult to read the "tone".

And thanks for posting - I for one learnt something I didn't know before :)

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We see this all the time in rescue. When we take a female out of the pound how do we tell if she is desexed?

Some guidelines:

  • not all desexed dogs are tattooed.
  • a tattoo can fade to almost nothing over time. Sometimes all we find is one faint blue speck of dye.
  • tattoo's can sometimes be done in either ear.
  • a desexing scar fades over time.
  • an obvious scar could mean a previous caesar (sp?), rather than a desexing, particularly if the dog looks like she has had pups in the past.

A good 'rule of thumb' is that a dog without a microchip/current details, registration, ID, that is not collected from the pound is more likely to be undesexed, than one who is chipped, registered etc. The majority of dogs that we get out of the pound are not desexed (both boys and girls)

Often a vet cant tell by external inspection either, but it is worth getting their opinion as they may be able to feel scar tissue that cant be seen.

I know of female dogs that have been opened up only to find they are already desexed, and dogs that the vet thinks are desexed that come into heat, so it really is a bit of a guessing game a lot of the time.

Sidenote: the same thing can happen with boys too, if they have bi-lateral undescended testicles that are quite high in their body! It doesn't happen often, but it does happen :wink:

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  • 5 weeks later...

Is there any way at all that a vet/similarly qualified person can tell if a bitch is desexed simply by looking at her? Or would you have to perform some kind of invasive surgery to find out? I mean, if a stray dog came along with no microchip/tags/registration came along and you..well I don't know, wanted to keep it or wanted to rehome it or something, if you took it to the vet, would they know?

I am grateful that u posed this ? as i have been trying to find out if my recently acquired rescue GSD has been desexed. She has no tattoo but has a scar on her belly. The vet said he was 99.9% sure she was done, but I will have to wait and see if she comes into season or not. I really want her desexed there are enough unwanted pets out there already and I don't want to contribute to the problem, but obviously the vet doesn't want to open her up unnecessarily.

Edited by annagoddess
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this reminded me of somthing funny when Lucy came home with black spots in her ear I scrubed and scrubed the poor dogs ears I was sure she had ear mites or bites or somthing rang the vet all pissed off that she a caught somthing there the Vet Laughed her head off it was her De-sexing tatoo and Lucy u can see a scar the cat you cant but she was fixed up about 10 years ago

Edited by Falling_dawn
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