Why You Should Tattoo Your Dog After Surgery
A while ago, we wrote an article on why dogs get tattoos. You can check out the article here: Why Do Dogs Get Tattoos?
We explained the purpose and the importance of why some dogs need to get tattoos. Now, we aren’t talking about tattoos like the ones that humans get. Humans get tattoos as a hobby or to represent something that is important to them on their body. Dogs get tattoos for a medical purpose.
One of our followers, Michele, recently shared with us a photo of her dog, Olive, who has a tattoo on her tummy. You can view the image below where we circled the tiny, line tattoo that is visible on her belly. Why did Olive get this tattoo you may ask? She was spayed!
As you can read in the image below, one of the reasons why it is important for dogs to get tattoos is to represent that they have been spayed or neutered. Marking that a dog has already been spayed or neutered will prevent them from possibly having stressful and unnecessary anesthesia and surgery. If a veterinarian sees the tattoo marking on their belly, they will know that they have already been through the spaying or neutering surgery.
Michele shared that she once adopted a dog who had been spayed but there was no medical records available to state that the dog had already had the surgery. The dog also had no marking on her belly to indicate the surgery. The dog was put under anesthesia and sent into surgery and the veterinarian discovered that the dog had already been spayed. This exposed the dog and the dog’s human to unnecessary stress and expenses.
If you plan on neutering or spaying your dog (especially an adopted dog), first check any available medical records to see if they have already had the surgery. If no records are available, check for a tattoo on their belly which would indicate they had the surgery. If your dog is going in for surgery, inquire with your veterinarian to see if they offer the tattooing option after surgery.
The tattoo is so small that you won’t have to worry about it being visible on your dog. It goes on their tummy, where the surgery occurred. The pros of inking your dog surely outweighs any cons of having a tiny tattoo on their belly. Our follower, Michele, joked that she has a lot of tattoos herself, so she tells her dog, Olive, that her tattoo matches her mommy’s tattoos!
Kim is the co-owner of DogLoverStore with her husband, John. She earned her BS in operations management at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She enjoys walking in nature, gardening in the sun, eating sour candy, going on drives, yoga, and reading.
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