Happy Hearts Feline Rescue

21/02/2025

Another excellent ear tip message.

Why We Promote EarTipping

I saw this on a friend’s page and thought it was a great way to explain the importance and reasoning behind ear-tipping. This is a discussion that people doing TNR often have with the community cat caregivers.

"Someone cared enough…

That’s what the corner of that cat’s ear being tipped (cut off) means. Someone cared enough. Enough to take time out of their day for that wild cat. To load up trapping supplies, go to the trapping location, set traps, monitor traps, and wait hours in most cases to fill traps. Then to bring them home in the traps and get them set up somewhere overnight and care for them. To drive them to the vet the next day, wait in line, and check them in for surgery. To pay (or get vouchers) for them to be spayed/neutered and vaccinated. If they are extra nice, they pay extra for flea meds and dewormer, knowing it will only last a month, but knowing that might be the only month of reprieve they have in their whole life from being eating alive. They care enough to drive back the next day and pick them up from the vet and in most cases house them for a day or two for recovery. In that time they care for them and make sure they are healing from surgery well. Then they drive them back to the trapping location and release them back to their outdoor home. From there, back home to clean and wash the traps and supplies to be ready for next time. This takes HOURS. Hours for a feral street cat that so many people hate.

So that feral cat you see out there with an ear tip, someone cared enough to take the time to give them a better life. To stop the cycle. To try to tackle the overpopulation and suffering. To help curb the testosterone driven territorial fights and spraying. To help that female not get pyometria from having litter after litter until she dies. To try to keep the numbers down so less people threaten their lives.

That indoor cat with the ear tip…someone cared a little extra. They saw that cat had potential to thrive in a life off the streets and they gave them that chance. They worked with them to overcome their fears so they wouldn’t live that harsh street life with a much shorter life expectancy than indoor cats.

That ear tip is how us trappers identify a cat that has already been spayed/neutered. It is a quick way to look at a feral cat and know if they have been fixed or not. This helps us not trap the same cats and send them through the stress of transport to the vet repeatedly, because we can see they have already been fixed. If a cat with an ear tip ends up in the trap, we can just release them immediately and keep trying until we get a cat that is not ear tipped.

Some people don’t like how the ear tip looks, or how painful it might be (it’s done under anesthesia during their spay/neuter surgery)… But that ear tip is a badge of honor. Someone cared enough."

Written by:
Amanda Rumble
Community Cat Care

20/02/2025

This is an excellent article. A little long, but worth it.

Skipping the Ear Tip. Is This a Dealbreaker?

Marianne contacted trapper “Joan” when the 2 stray cats she fed became 35 in just 18 months. She could afford to feed a few cats, but not 35 and certainly NOT the 100+ cats she would soon have if they weren’t fixed before kitten season. But she was adamant that these cats NOT be ear tipped. She felt it was wrong to “mutilate their ears.” Trapper Joan explained the purpose of ear tips, reassured her that it wasn’t painful and let her know that the spay surgery and rabies vaccines would be free if the cats were ear tipped. Nope, she was not going to allow them to be ear tipped!

Although frustrated, the Joan knew that there would be multiple litters in the next few months if they weren’t fixed. This site was close to her home and she had vouchers that would reimburse her costs if she DIDN’T eat tip. She decided to honor their wishes and not have the ears tipped. And this is what happened.

Everything started well. Joan trap-trained ahead of time with traps zip-tied in the open position. She made appointments to get all the cats fixed over several days of appointments. Since they wouldn’t allow ear tipping, she planned to hold them longer so the fixed cats wouldn’t be released until ALL had been trapped. It seemed like a solid plan.

On day one, 18 cats were quickly trapped and another 11 went in the next day. However, it was now apparent that this was NOT a colony of 35 cats. Most of the cats were solid gray or solid black and there should have been only 6 cats left. She could see at LEAST 15 cats on day 3 and a few of the known tomcats had not shown up at all. Joan trapped another 6 cats, but didn’t have appointments for the rest. Since she didn’t have the space to hold over 35 cats for weeks, she had to make the tough decision to release the altered cats a few days later.

Joan managed to get more appointments a couple weeks later and started trapping again. In the first group of cats she brought in, three had already been altered. She did her best to check ahead of time, but this is difficult when you have feral cats in traps. Three appointments were wasted. Trapping again, she ended up with more already-altered cats. Over the course of several months, she tried to trap more of them, but at least 8 of them remained unaltered. Two of those cats had babies over the next few months. Joan looked for the kittens hoping to grab them and use them as bait to get their feral moms. But there were 10 million hiding spots. By the time the kittens showed up, her foster space was over capacity and they were too feral to get into a rescue.

Fast forward a year and this is the state of the colony. 34 cats were fixed at a cost of over $1,200. (A few had been fixed free by another vet or the cost would have been closer to $2,000.) At least 8 of the remaining cats had never been trapped and several had a litter or two over the next year. The colony size had nearly doubled and they were not doing well because Marianne couldn’t afford to feed them all. And now she was planning to move out of the area. Of course she called Joan to see if she would “take the cats and find them a good home.”

Joan was so frustrated and depressed with this endless site that she decided to work on other sites. She didn’t feel that this site was a good use of her time because she could get so many more cats fixed starting fresh on a new colony.

Not finishing a site is taboo in rescue because the population will quickly rebound. And without ear tips, it is nearly impossible to know which feral cats are altered. Appointments are wasted, resources are squandered and the already altered cats are stressed from unnecessary re-trapping and transport to the clinic.

We’ve all encountered people who want us to fix the cats but NOT ear tip. And this can be a reasonable request if there are just a few cats and they are easily recognized due to their unique color patterns or other physical features. But if you are doing a large colony, skipping the tip is a dealbreaker. It is likely to result in an incomplete trapping, continued colony growth and a ridiculous amount of work trying to trap a few unidentifiable cats in an sea of cats who are already fixed.

17/04/2024

12/04/2024

Smile, it's Friday

23/02/2024

Hello all, this is one of our adopted! Please consider supporting him. Thank you.

Willie loves everyone! He is independent, easy going, friendly, vocal and very fluffy.

17/01/2024

Hope everyone is staying warm. If you have outside cats, please make sure they have water, some extra food, and of course a place to get out of the weather...just like you.

01/01/2024

http://www.happyheartsfelinerescue.org/donations.html

01/01/2024

As we begin this new year, we will be moving forward with a long-term plan for the shelter. Our current location is privately owned and limited in room to grow. Our vision is to create a separate property, approximately 3 to 5 acres, that will accommodate facilities for felines with special needs, elderly/aging, and adoptions as well as in-house medical care. This is where we start.

As we all know, property is expensive. Finding the correct location at a reasonable cost will be a challenge. We are searching for a location outside of the City of Ann Arbor in Washtenaw County, but close enough for access to emergency and specialized veterinary care when needed.

This is a huge undertaking for a small organization. We will be keeping all of you updated as we move forward with this endeavor. It is not going to happen overnight; we are aiming to complete this project within approximately five years. During that time, your support will be welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Happy Hearts Feline Rescue and Sanctuary is a 501.c3 non-profit organization licensed by the State of Michigan.

Thank you as always for your support, from the Board of Happy Hearts.