Ways to track down a tattoo?

[Imbrium]

I adopted a rabbit from the HSPCA Sunday evening. I was more than a little surprised to see a tattoo when I looked in his ear today! It certainly explains a lot about this rabbit's ridiculous temperament - he got dumped at the shelter four days before Christmas because he was "too big" (though I suspect the real problem with this rabbit is that the previous owners wanted "a cute little cage animal" but got a vegan house cat with airplane ears). I expected to have to earn his trust... but on the very first day, he was begging for snuggles, licking me all over and following me around the apartment! He's the most affectionate rabbit I've ever met.

I know that it's possible to connect a tattoo to a specific breeder, since everyone has their own system for tattooing... but I have no idea how to go about doing that ><

I'd like to find his breeder if possible so that I can get a more accurate age estimate or maybe even a birthday for him... plus, I want to inform them about one of their rabbits ending up at a shelter - on the off-chance that the jerks who dumped him there ever try to get another rabbit through that breeder, I imagine the breeder would appreciate knowing what they did with this one. Also, I'm sure they'd be happy to hear that his story has a happy ending .

Here's the tattoo:

I can try to get a better picture if that would help... he didn't want to stay still for that one.

He was surrendered in Houston, but that doesn't necessarily mean he came from a local breeder since the previous owners could've traveled or moved. I believe he's an American Sable:

 

[Kipcha]

Does your SPCA not tattoo their own animals? Ours does, they tattoo each and every one that goes through during their spay/neuter surgery.

 

[RabbitGirl101]

Hmm thats odd! Not many breeders rabbit end up in shelters, could it be the SPCA? I know some breeders put the birth date in he ear could it be possible that his birth date is 4/24/12? Otherwise I'm no sure. Some breeders use intials (I use BA and then a number) some just write the name (ex. HoneyBewBew) and some people just put a random number in the ear/or how many rabbits where born there.

I would ask the shelter first to make sure they didn't tattoo it. I would expect if it was a breeder that they would want to know and they would be grateful for you taking him in.

If your certain that its a breeders animal then try joining the ARBA group on facebook, the best way to start a quest is to ask the breeders themselves! Maybe someone will find it and realize it was one of their own.

Also could it be a Siamese sable with a tight crown? The ears look a little flopped, while an American Sables ears are usually held erect.

 

[zombiesue]

Hmm thats odd! Not many breeders rabbit end up in shelters,

Yeah, in the US anyway I have like never ever heard of this happening before. Where I live, anyway, rabbits in shelters are like 95% "backyard breeders"/mills and meat rabbit rescues, neither of which care to tattoo their buns. Is it different in Texas, Imbrium?

 

[woahlookitsme]

I would try calling or visiting the shelter to ask if they tattoo. American sables are pretty rare in Texas and you're probably looking for only a handful of breeders. I would second finding the ARBA Facebook and posting a picture on there of the rabbit and the tattoo. Someone might recognize it. There is also a Texas rabbit breeders association Facebook that you or I can post on

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

I can't see the tattoo very well in the photo. What are the characters? Can you tell if it seems to be permanent in the ear, or simply Sharpie? I'm asking because it looks like a rather long marking, possibly done in some kind of pen/marker. Breeders typically use just 2-4 digits and it's often a letter/number combination, or just letters. That isn't always the case, just a common theme.

If you do find it to be permanent, you can use the ARBA website to find and contact breeders in the area. Unfortunately there is no database or way to track tattoos unless the rabbit is registered with ARBA. It's unlikely that a registered rabbit found its way to a shelter (since they would typically be used for show/breeding, not sold as pets), but you could always run the tattoo characters by ARBA and see if they could provide any hint.

In MOST cases, rabbits sold as pets are either not tattooed or may have "PET" tattooed in the ear. So it may either be a temporary identification number from the shelter, or he may be an older rabbit that was retired into a pet home.

 

[Imbrium]

I know any "questionable" breeder isn't going to tattoo and a lot of reputable breeders do, but it never occurred to me that shelters might tattoo - I'll check the other rabbits and/or ask them the next time I'm in there (I have full access at the shelter as part of the foster/volunteer program).

As for the breed, I'm not really sure, I believe his sheet said "American Sable Point" and something else, it seemed more like a guess than fact . I really don't know much at all about breeds.

I still think it might be a breeder tattoo, though, for the fact that his disposition isn't at all what you'd expect from a "backyard breeder," pet store or rescue rabbit - the odds of producing a rabbit with such a perfect personality through sheer luck and shoddy breeding practices seem incredibly slim; it feels more like someone put a lot of work into breeding rabbits with an ideal temperament. He's so easygoing, affectionate and well-mannered that he doesn't even seem like the same species as Nala and Gaz, lol.

I know any good breeder goes out of their way to make sure their rabbits don't end up in shelters... but at the end of the day, there's only so much you can do. It's possible for someone to ignore a contract and dump an animal off at the shelter for whatever reason even though they'd promised to return it to the breeder if they were going to surrender it. If the rabbit was given to someone else at some point or the owner(s) moved to a different state with the rabbit, I could see why they might opt to go the shelter route (though how anyone could give this sweetie up is beyond me!). While breeder rabbits ending up in shelters may be exceptionally rare (hence my surprise at the tattoo), it probably happens every once in a while. If the shelter didn't tattoo him/it turns out he IS from a breeder, I figure any breeder who cares enough to tattoo would care enough to want to know if one of their rabbits turns up at a shelter.

 

[Imbrium]

Oh, and the tattoo says 241248... the first 2 isn't as filled in as the rest, so perhaps it is temporary... I guess I'll know soon enough if the rest of it starts to wear off .

 

[Imbrium]

Does your SPCA not tattoo their own animals? Ours does, they tattoo each and every one that goes through during their spay/neuter surgery.

For what it's worth, I learned at orientation class that all SPCAs are independently run and aren't affiliated with other SPCA shelters... though it's definitely still a possibility that they did the tattoo (or temporary markings, whichever it turns out to be).

 

[Imbrium]

Hmm. I put some 91% rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and rubbed his "tattoo" with it. I didn't rub very hard and stopped after the first back-and-forth pass with the cotton ball (and used a cotton ball with just water to wipe away the traces of the alcohol), since rubbing alcohol is very drying and rabbits' ears are so sensitive.

It didn't lighten/reduce the markings at all, but the cotton ball picked up a good bit of purple tint (which is exactly what would happen if I took a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol to my purple hair, lol)... I'm guessing that means it's sharpie or pen? Darn! >.>

I got hopeful about the thought of him being from a reputable breeder, since that would mean an extremely low chance of him ever having health issues that were caused or influenced by genetics (compared to rabbits resulting from uneducated pairings). Ah, well. He seems very healthy and he's definitely happy - that's all that really matters! Now I just need him to learn some boundaries (our older cat doesn't appreciate his affection) and stop being hormonal so I can bond him to my girls (it's only been about a week since his neuter and he tried to hump Gaz's brains out when I did a preliminary introduction) .

 

[zombiesue]

Bummer. It would have been cool to be able to meet the people the rabbit came from QQ

 

[Imbrium]

Yeah

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

It didn't lighten/reduce the markings at all, but the cotton ball picked up a good bit of purple tint (which is exactly what would happen if I took a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol to my purple hair, lol)... I'm guessing that means it's sharpie or pen? Darn! >.>

Ah, yeah that sounds like something temporary. A permanent tattoo heals the ink into the skin so you're unable to remove ink from the ear.

Just based on the look and length of the marking, I suspected that might be the case. I'm sure rabbits (even from reputable breeders) end up in shelter/rescue more often than we think. But it would be more unusual for them to be tattooed. I usually only tattoo rabbits that I plan to keep for breeding or show, otherwise I don't put them through the stress (though minimal). A tattooed bunny that ends up as a pet would likely be an older, retired show/brood rabbit. Not in every case, of course!

Either way, I'm happy you found such a personable bunny! He may have been with a really great owner who had him well adjusted but just didn't have the resources to care for him anymore. Glad he found a good home.

 

[PolishRabbitmama]

Just a note on the subject, Here in Florida for the fairs all the animals at the fair need to be tattooed to tagged. Tagged of course for big livestock. So even if it's purebred but doesn't have a pedigree it still can be shown at the fairs. It just has to look like the specified breed. This is just my area though. Don't know about other areas.