The music playing on this
page is Against All Odds
Spay/Neuter!

DID YOU KNOW: Every hour 415 children are born in the USA and every hour 3,500 cats are also born? 10-20 MILLION animals are euthanized every year; this doesn't include strays or those who die in the streets. Every 1.5 seconds a shelter animal is killed. One cat & her litter can produce 420,000 cats in 7 years - 10 MILLION in 10 years! Only 1 animal out of every 10 born in the USA gets a good home. The only way to stop overpopulation is to spay/neuter your pets. It's a simple, inexpensive procedure. You can find low-cost services at your local SPCA, animal shelter, rescue group or contact Friends of Animals at 1-800-321-PETS to get a low cost spay/neuter certificate.

A Different Point of View

I'm being taken somewhere but I don't know where. It's dark inside this box.
I hear a door and know we're in some kind of building.
I hear dogs barking and cats crying. It's very hot.

Someone is opening the box.
It's the girl that found me in the street and brought me here.
I used to have a home. I felt loved there. Then something happened.
They opened the door and put me outside. Then they closed the door.
I couldn't get back in. I don't understand.

The girl is crying now. She picks me up and holds me. It feels good.
I'm placed in a cage. It's not that small, but I don't like it.
The girl leaves me here. I look around and see other cats, just like me, in cages.
What is this place?

Where is my family and why wouldn't they let me back inside?

Another cat looks at me. He's very sad. I don't think he was ever loved.
Maybe it's better that way.

I've been here for hours. People walk past me and they coo and sigh,
but they leave too. I think I know what's happening.
This is where we're put when no one else wants us.
Why did my family take me in the first place?

Underneath me is a new mother nursing three kittens, or are there four?
Why are they here? The kittens are barely a week old.

The girl who held me comes back and opens my cage.
She holds me again, and again, it feels good.
She puts me back and gives me a blanket and some food.
There is a tear in her eye. She's sad.
She wants to help, but there isn't much she can do.

It's dark now. Someone comes in and takes an older cat from his cage.
From somewhere in the building, I here him crying. He doesn't come back.

I've been here three days now. Everyday, they bring in more cats.
Where did they all come from? I'm scared.

The mother only has two kittens now. Two of them are dead.

The dogs keep barking, but I can't see them. People keep walking past.
Some of them stop and stare at me. Once, I was held. But I'm still in this cage.
I feel lonely and frightened.

More cats are taken away and they never come back.
I hear them cry, and then it's silent.

I don't understand. Why don't people do something? They have the power to stop this.
But they don't. Don't I count? Doesn't my life matter?

It's dark again. Someone comes to me and takes me from my cage.

I'm placed on a cold metal table. There is a girl with me.
She's holding a needle. And she's crying.
I guess it's my turn now. I won't be coming back.

PLEASE SPAY AND NEUTER -
...for me

© Copyright Alicia Drnek 1995





The Miracle of Life...
"Come quick, come quick", their mother said "The time is getting near"
She feels that when the kittens come the children should be here.
She told them that a big orange Tom took "Kitty" as his wife
"It's wonderful, a gift from God, the miracle of life"
At half a year young "Kitty" feels too painful and too scared
to appreciate six miracles, blind-eyed and yellow haired.
But she knows these lives depend on her and nature tells her how
and as she cleans them, children ask "Mom, can we go now?"
But now and then for six more weeks the children visit her
to play with six new magic toys made of life and fur.
The six weeks pass, the newness gone and new homes yet unfound,
Mom bundles up six miracles and takes them to the pound,
Where lovingly, with gentle hands and no tears left to cry,
the shelter workers kiss them once and take them off to die.
And "Momma Kitty" now shes called mourns her loss and then,
she's put outside, and of course, she's pregnant once again.
Dad tells "Kitty" STOP THIS NOW or you wont live here long!
but deep inside of Momma Cat, this time something's wrong.
Too young, too small, too often bred now nature's gone awry,
Momma Kitty feels it too and she crawls off to die.
She too is freed from this cruel world, and from her time of strife.
How harsh the truth, how high the price this "Miracle of Life"?

-By Barry Taylor, DVM





To a Homeless Cat
Who was there when you died, pretty one?
Who was there when you left this place?
Who was there to say good bye, pretty one?
Who was there to rain tears on your face?

Were you hurt and in pain, pretty one?
Were you hungry and cold and alone?
Were you sick and afraid, pretty one?
Were you just too tired to go on?

Somebody loves you, pretty one,
Though you may not have seen her this time.
Someone will hold you, pretty one,
When your trials in this life are behind.

Head straight for the Bridge, pretty one.
Run swift, and run straight, and you'll see.
There is food, there is sun, pretty one.
There is nothing and no one to fear.

And there is also, for you, my pretty one,
The love that you never felt here.
They are waiting for you, my pretty one.
And I'll follow, to hold you, my dear.

Go to sleep, pretty one, and forget.
Forget the horrible life humankind has dealt you.
And awake to renewal, and contentment, and joy.
Stretch in the sun, pretty one!


- January 1996 Tamsyn Nesbit












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