Spay and Neuter

I haven't wanted to wade into the controversey at the Newmarket OSPCA.  The situation where a good number of cats and dogs have been put down and hundreds of others were about to have their tickets punched because of an outbreak of ringworm.  Human error and politics. 

This hits a little to close to home for me because my home is a cat house.  Not that kind of cat house!  What I've done over time is take in cats.  Some are from shelters but most are strays.  Barn cats, feral cats and drop offs.  Not drop offs in a nice way. I live on a concession road.  Every now and then a car will stop, a person gets out, opens the rear door, a dog or cat jumps out and the car pulls away leaving their pet in alien territory. I don't hate a lot of things. I loathe these people.  

Some of the cats I've taken in are way too people friendly to be barn cats or feral cats.  They want your affection right away. Feral cats take time.  Junior Barnes took 3 years before I could touch him.  Jessie took 6 years before she finally jumped on my lap. Shadow was rubbing my leg the moment he showed up and where ever I went, he went.  Ergo the name Shadow.  But Shadow belonged to someone. 

I've lost a couple of cats on the road and there are coyotes in the area.  So I turned the garage into a rec room/cat room and they elected me the maven of the kitty haven.  I also fenced the property.  Makes it safe for them and I can sleep at night.

All of the cats are spayed and neutered.  I don't want kitty kudos for that.  But I can't stress enough, spay and neuter your pets.  You see a tom cat hanging around your cat flap smoking french cigarettes and wearing an ascott, he's not there for a bowl of milk. He wants to deflower your sweet little Fluffy.  I have friends who live in the city who feed stray cats.  They tell me that 6 months later the cat shows up with kittens.  I think it would be cost effective to catch the kitty, take it to the vet and have it fixed.  I know it can cost a bit but maybe you talk with the neighbours and you can all kick in for the nip and tuck.  2 young female cats can become 20 young cats pretty quickly.

Some people will tell you they're just animals.  True.  But everyone of my cats has it's own personalty.  As I'm wiriting this Izzy has himself drapped over my right arm.  He's sleeping. Roxy is watching what I'm doing from arm of the couch and Leon has his paws on my left thigh.  Every time I go into the washroom Kramer follows me, walks over to the toilet and starts yapping.  I lift the seat, he jumps up, I flush and his head goes around in sync with the water as it goes down the drain.  Show over, he jumps off and leaves. He's a cheap date.

Cats will ignore you for hours. I get the same treatment from people so I'm used to that.  But then the cat is all over you, looking for affection. Simon just jumped on the couch, drapped himself over my left arm and he's starring into my eyes.......... 7yoruwqsosiyqoq...sorry he just walked across the key board.  Everyone of  them has their peculiar fancies, fetishes and foibles, eccentricities and idionsycracies.  

A pet comes with responsibilities. It is not a throw away item. It's not disposable. 

Just animals?  Sure they are.  But so are we.

Spay and neuter, neuter and spay.