Unless you can guarantee the animal will be kept inside for the remainder of its life, ear tipping is mandatory through Fixing Felines. To identify and protect sterilized animals, the left ear of feral/stray cats will be slightly “tipped” at the time of surgery while the cat is anesthetized. The procedure doesn’t cause any pain to the cat and is a helpful tool to prevent recapture, transportation, anesthetization and potential surgery on previously sterilized cats. This form of identification is used all over the United States. In South Florida, some local trappers refuse to take cats with tipped ears and Animal Control will question euthanizing these animals.

The ear tip is completed while the animal is under anesthesia for sterilization. Approximately 1/8” – 1/4" of the left ear is removed. There are many different techniques for accomplishing this procedure, but we have had tremendous success (clean ear tips, minimal bleeding and minimal disfigurement)