Scooter, World’s Coolest Cat Has Cool Message For Other Cats — ‘It’s Hip To Be Snipped!’

Unbelievably, there remain plenty of cat owners who still fail to neuter or spay their cats. At first, the hesitation seems understandable. Who wants to castrate your furry little friend? For most cat owners, the kitty is part of the family.

But now there’s a new ad campaign to promote feline population control through neutering and spaying cats that’s doing its best to make this unpleasant procedure seem, well, like the cool thing to do. The ad stars the World’s Coolest Cat, Scooter — or Scooter the Neuter, to use his full name.

Scooter is here to let you know that “it’s hip to be snipped.” The clever, tongue-in-cheek 30-second public service spot was produced by the Northlich/Cincinnati ad agency for the organization GiveThemTen.org. It was first released in April, but Scooter is still cool today.

Of course, there are many reason to neuter a cat other than coolness. Neutered male cats are less aggressive and tend not to roam far from home — if they are allowed outdoors. The cat also benefits. Neutered males run no risk of testicular cancer — because they have no testicles even if they don’t all have, like Scooter, “cool spectacles” — and a lowered risk of prostate cancer as well.

Neutering and spaying also reduces the severe problem of cat overpopulation. There are an estimated 73 million pet cats in the United States. But there are also about 70 million stray and feral cats. This is not only a problem for the cats, but for the environment. Outdoor cats kill an estimated 4 billion — “billion” with a “b” — birds and other small animals every year in the U.S., a mass slaughter that causes serious ecological imbalances.

But in addition to providing a public service, Scooter the Neuter is just plain funny. Cats are cool — but Scooter is cooler than all of them.