Humorist Tim Sample has teamed up with Spay Maine, the Greater Portland Animal Refuge League and Marian’s Dream to raise the status of cats, encourage adoption, recommend spay/neuter before five-months, and give people the tools they need to keep their cats for life.

Spay Maine has partnered with the Greater Portland Animal Refuge League and Marian’s Dream to develop the first advertising campaign in Maine designed to raise the status of cats, encourage adoption, encourage spay/neuter, and to encourage people to keep their cats for life.

It is hoped this new ad campaign to help Maine’s cats in southern Maine initiative can go statewide. One way it can is by Maine people spreading the word through social media.

People throughout the state can help this become a free state-wide campaign on their own by:

• Posting it on your website
• Posting it on Facebook
• Emailing it to your friends

Click on the link below and share with friends, family and others to spread the word, to friends in Maine and beyond.

The message is powerful. People need to spay/neuter their cats before they five-months-old. People need to value their cats, and make a lifetime commitment to them. The only way to make that happen is to keep repeating that message, over and over again. It’s amazing how many people just don’t know. You can do your part by keeping up spreading the word, over and over and over again.

Sample, very serious and engagingly effective, teams up with some equally engaging cats, in the Public Service announcement (PSA) that will air on cable stations in Cumberland and York countries for the next six months.

If all goes as planned, this will become a state-wide campaign. According to Spay Maine, this is the first ad campaign in Maine focused specifically on cats. There’s a huge number of cats that enter shelters each year, and it’s the biggest issue that rescue organizations and animal shelters face.

Because there’s no one voice for Maine cats, Paws will be adding a segment about Maine cats every Tuesday. As with all Paws’ blog posts, they will vary from informative to entertaining. For Maine pet related events, visit my column on Examiner.com.

Do you have any experience with public service announcements that have bettered the lives of cats? Do you have any suggestions on how we can work to elevate the status of cats so they won’t be dumped at shelters, or worse, on the street?