MARMADUKE A handsome cat named Marmaduke A real aristocrat Was shocked that he must earn The love of every lady cat. By battling all the other Toms In huge nocturnal fights, Involving savage scratching And some beastly bites. While fighting for the love of Jane, He turned extremely pale On noticing he’d lost The last two inches of his tail! And after winning Jezabel, He shed some bitter tears Because he found his foe had nipped The tips of both his ears! It was his latest battle, though, That really gave him pause, Poor Marmaduke was stunned to find He’d ripped out several claws! His owner, when she saw the plight Of her once handsome pet, Just scooped him up And took him to the vet. Since then his life is altered, And his fighting days are through. The reason why he’s kinder now, Is that he is altered, TOO!

If your once cuddly cat is starting to resemble Marmaduke, perhaps its time for you to consider a trip to the vet. Aside from the fact that Tomcats tend to eventually destroy each other, there are other good reasons why altering your Tom is a good idea: Your unaltered Tom is adding to the pet population explosion by fathering enormous numbers of unwanted kittens. If your reason for having a pet in the first place is companionship, you will be disappointed until you have him altered, because you will see so little of him! A wandering Tom cat runs more risk of being killed or injured by automobiles, hunters, irate owners of female cats, of neighbours, tires of listening to his yowling and fighting. "Intact" male cats, as they mature, develop a very strong unpleasant odor in their urine. They also acquire the habit of spraying a few drops of urine here and there around the house to "mark their territory". Since this is not a breech of housetraining, but an instinct, reprimanding does no good at all. If you own an intact male cat, in time your home gets to smell like a zoo! (And so do neighbours doorways, gardens, etc…, if you let your cat roam).

Every year in Ontario, tens of thousands of dogs, and particularly cats, are euthanized (put down) because there are not enough homes for them. It all starts with one female cat, followed by her offspring, breeding for only seven years, and you have 420,000 cats. It takes slightly less time for one female dog and her offspring to produce 67,000 dogs. Many companion animals will never find loving homes, even though most are young, healthy and friendly.

Pet overpopulation is at crisis levels in Ontario, and if we are to overcome this crisis, pet owners must take responsibility for their companion animals by having them spayed or neutered.

If people had their pets spayed or neutered,many thousands of animals could be saved.

• reduced aggression and dominance
• reduced desire to roam
• decreased risk of several types of cancer
• less embarrassing behaviour by male dogs
• no bloody stains from females in heat
• no unwanted suitors of the opposite sex
• less chance of spraying by male cats
• no unplanned and costly puppies or kittens to care for
• even if you are able to find homes for the puppies or kittens your pet produces, you are taking homes away from the thousands of unwanted animals already at humane societies/SPCAs