Hi Ai Ney, do PAWS cats have Tag IDs? What's the best way for adopters to communicate the profile to PAWS in enquiries?

Good work on taking photos of so many new profiles! =)

AFAIK, the cats have no tags and they are not assigned numbers. Their records show their color markings and breed (if applicable).

Thanks.. I wonder why they don't tag cats? That'd be a bit of a challenge for adopters to describe to them over the phone.

In fact, it appears that some dogs' Tag numbers were reused when the older ones were adopted. I think they should use a permanently incrementing ID for all animals to avoid confusion and to keep an accurate record of all incoming and outgoing animals.

Bro... in the past 10 years, PAWS has handled tens of thousands of animals. The permanently incrementing number means more metal tags have to be printed. And mind you, they don't come cheap these days. Plus, what are you gonna do with the tags once the animal is adopted? throw it away? The owners have no need for it...

The thing is, once the animal is adopted, the tag is recycled for a new animal that comes in, the old record is moved to a separate file and new record is opened in the current population file.

True, it is a hassle for you to track animals which have already been adopted as you have to match receipt numbers as well as medical card numbers but in the end, very seldom do people come back and query about their adopted furkids. We provide them with everything they need to ensure their medical records are up to date.

As to why they don't Tag cats, is probably that since we use metal-link collars to attach the tags to the animals, it may not really be suitable for the cats. Unless anybody wants to donate a couple of hundred cat collars.... that may still be the way.