Dog with Tattoo, why?

cosmicpixie · Member Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 100

Hello All,
My mother recently acquired a stray dog. We believe it is a chihuahua. He was nothing but skin and bones when he arrived on their back door step. They took him in, gave him a bath, and fed him. They've decided to keep him. They've kept a look out for lost dog ads but haven't found anybody that's looking for him. The strangest thing about Chico (that's what my mom named him) is that he has a number tattoo on his leg. We have no idea why he has the tattoo and nobody has come looking for him. They live in a pretty sparsely populated rural area. So why would Chico have a tattoo? And if an owner took the time to tattoo him why aren't they looking for him?

Also we noticed that his testicles have not matured. The skin is there, but no testicles. We haven't seen any surgical scars that would tell us that he was neutered. My mom is taking him to the vet this week to get his shots and a check up. Could he just be younger than we think or is there a possible medical reason for that?

Thanks in advanced everybody!!

myshihpoo · Member Joined: 15 Jan 2005 Posts: 180

I know very little about the tatoo'ing (my dog is microchipped)... but from what I know they tatoo (thought it was on the ear tho!??) a "serial number" which is registered. Has your mother talked to a vet about the tatoo? It's always possible the dog is NOT from the area... perhaps someone was driving through, visiting, etc. and he got away?

The way you are describing the testicles sounds like what my dog looked like a few weeks after he was neutered.... you couldn't see any scars or anything, but the "sack" was still there for quite awhile.

nern · Moderator Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Posts: 5042 Location: NY

Three of my cats have numbered tattoos on their inner thighs....the SPCA tattooed them as a way to locate owners if they someday turn up back at the shelter again. I think some breeders also use tattoos. Its like a permanent identification tag.

DeLaUK · Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 9:58 am Post subject:

You could put a couple of adds in local and surrounding area papers etc, basic description of the dog and mention the tattoo but dont give the tattoo #, an owner should know this so they will be able to tell you the # then youll know its the right owner, I dont know too much about the tattoing just that the obvious ID and that ears used to be the place to put them until people started cutting off ears so they started putting it on the inside rear leg.
I agree with myshihpoo about the skin were the testes should be, from what you describe it sounds like a post neuter, youd really have to look hard for a scar, they are usually very small.

Shineillusion · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 2:47 am Post subject:

Tattoos were once the only way people had to permenantly identify an animal. They're still used for that purpose.

The owners may not be in your area for several reasons, one being that the dog was stolen.

If you want to find the owner try calling the National Pet Registry or Tattoo A Pet.

The NPR contact number is 1-800-738-6385

Tattoo A Pet contact number is 1-800-TATTOOS