Stanley’s got a bad case of the sniffles

We still have yet to sight Stanley since he got back.

However, A has sighted him a few times, and reported that he’s got the sniffles, which seemed to be getting worse every succeeding time – his third-eyelids were clearly seen in her last sighting on 4 Feb. Stanley also seemed to trust A a lot more than he does us, as she said that he will eat in her presence.

So we met her on 5 Feb to pass her some supplements which she can feed him in wet food mush when she sees him. We are not arranging for him to see the vet as he does not appear regularly nor in the same spot, which makes it difficult to get him. Also, his bout of flu is probably brought on by stress from his de-mojo adventure, and we do not want to stress him further. Plus, he is quite the feral one, and it seemed the best course of action to leave him to fight his illness as far as possible. We hope the supplements help him.

At last, trapping happens for Area2. And juicy gossips abound

Quick update: It’s now 12.05am, 23 Jan, and we’re just back from another trapping session, and unlike the last round where we targetted Area2 and ended up with 2 Area1 kitties and 1 marauding male, we went to Area2 and got 5 Area2 kitties!

Aside from the torbie calico female kitten, Brielle who remains at large, and the short-tailed agouti who’s been missing since mid Dec, the dilute calico family comprising Mum-Brina, short-tailed and small-sized black kitten with white mittens-Brayden, 2 cream-coloured tabbies-Brenna (long-tail female) and Brennan (short-tail male), are slated for mojo freedom tomorrow. We also got a new adult male Jerry, whose gentle and sweet nature belies his experience. He is sterilised but ear’s untipped, so we’re sending him to get that done and to get him checked for the surgical wound he appeared with. We started out at 9.50pm (22 Jan), and called it a night at 11.30ish.

Bradley continues to elude efforts to get him but there may be hope. While waiting for V, we met A and her daughter, J, who feeds the cats nightly. A says Bradley usually waits for her behind the eatery at around 8something. We’ll work with her to get him. For interested readers, since we named him, we’ve not been able to find him until last Wednesday. He’s growing up quite well.

A has also sighted Stanley recently, and we’re glad to have the confirmation that he’s well since we’ve not seen him since his release.

Other interesting bits: A lives in the same block as Saba‘s family, and confirms she has a new litter she’s hiding in the drains somewhere.

Scottie has been claimed by the family’s man of the house due to his super sweet nature. Scottie was found with a knife wound to his tail last week and the family has applied medicine.

They also have a new white cat with a a fluffy tail which they paid more than $100 to get sterilised voluntarily but is still terribly unwilling to sterilise Saba. They told A they wanted to ask us to help sterilise Saba but can’t contact us as we’ve changed our numbers- which is incredible since both btmao and I have kept the same hp numbers.

A has been persuading them to get Saba done, but the same excuses as the ones they used on us were trotted out apparently. They even asked A to sponsor $30… a rather brazen request considering that they now have 2 wall-mounted large LCD TVs, expensive looking wall-mounted sound systems, and even renovated their home for the last Hari Raya.

Now that Saba has kittens, she has also been going up to A’s flat to ask for food too! A provides food outside her door. I told A to stop doing that and to feed in common areas with discretion as she would any other cat. I have also requested A not to let the family know she has made contact with us – I am fed up with them and the case with the white cat shows they are more than able to afford and find their own vet.

On a related tangent, btmao is trying to handle a complaint. The TC has pictures of a cat which an Area2  resident claims is noisy in the early morning but will not share the picture nor reveal the complainant’s contact details. In frustration, btmao asked the TCO why can’t the complainant then talk to the feeder or the cat’s owner since he is able to take the cat’s pictures. The TCO has no answer except that people don’t take ownership of their own problems. The TCO then said he would call HDB, so btmao reminded him that HDB does not allow pet cats, which means it would result in more cats outside which means more potential problems for him. He then said he might need to talk to the MP, and btmao said fine, we’ll go see him first. To be fair, the TCO is a nice person and he does try to work with us, but this was a conversation that really got nowhere fast.

Anyway, from our convo with A today, we believe the cat in question is the family’s white cat as A says it goes into the carpark nearby in the early morning and cries for food. We’ll need to think on how to handle this one.

Sally, whom we thought missing or displaced by Saba and the steady stream of later additions to the family is also on A’s floor. A Malay family allows her in to play with their children and shuts her out when they sleep.

Sunny has died, knocked down at the very busy intersection nearby.

The elusive mother cat and second litter we heard about and have yet to locate is most probably Sarsi. Only 1 kitten from her first litter survived, likely kitnapped for its looks. As for her second known and current litter, no one is sure how many there were nor how many are alive now. We shall try to locate her.

A new male cat we named Robby has been on the prowl for love. Two nights ago, he was after Brina like a greyhound was on to a hare. He was sitting right by the drains Brina’s family called home as we were about to call it a night, so V set the trap for him. Unfortunately, he was not interested in food at all, and eluded capture this time. We can only hope Brielle will remain safe until Brina’s return on Sunday, and that his lust will subside soon.

There is another new male cat we sighted early last month untipped and unsterilised. He then turned up 2 weeks later with a tipped ear and a collar. We call him Jet due to his spraying. From A, we got to know that he belongs to the family’s neighbour. The family DEMANDED Jet be sterilised as he was getting intimate with Saba and they don’t want more kittens. The wonder is that the neighbour complied. The bigger wonder is that the neighbour didn’t demand the family reciprocate with Saba’s sterilisation.

No wonder my head get achesies

We’ve exchanged contact info with A and J and will be sharing more info, esp kitty food info.

Details and of course pictures of Brina and her family, Jerry, Jet to come.

Stanley’s back

Another update on the trio.

Stanley has returned after his 2-week convalescence. Earlier this night, we met up with V, and took over Stanley who had his sterilisation on Boxing Day.

He looked very calm in the carrier, so I pushed the camera right up to the carrier door to snap a pic of him, as we may not see him again if he choose to settle down outside of Areas 1 and 2.

Closeup of his tipped left ear.

I couldn’t get a clear shot of the site where the lump was. But it was right behind his left ear. I was able to see the surgical stitches and it looked very clean and was healing nicely. Right before he was released, V had piled on the anti-septic powder on the site too. V said he was a terror to handle, though he didn’t look it.

As soon as the carrier door opened, Stanley shot off, blazing across the road into an area outside of Areas 1 and 2. I’m glad to have taken the pics.

V also checked out the territory of the dilute calico mum and her babies. A separate update on them to come.

Update on the trio

While it may have been the bestest news in a long while when we packed Stanley off for his de-mojo appointment on Christmas evening, we got a bit of a shock on Boxing day. V called btmao for a decision in the morning. Stanley was on the operating table, his juju removed. However, the vet noticed a largish lump on his ear and was asking if we wanted it removed as well. So btmao said yes. It might be a tumour, it might be not, but it seemed to be growing. As V was busy and the reception bad, it was all we had to go on for a while.

Post-surgery, Stanley would need 2 weeks of recovery time. We asked V to foster him if he couldn’t stay at the vet’s. V said he would see what can be done for the big boy. The other two were fine, although Brenda was in heat, which meant that her surgery bill would cost that much more. V would settle the bill and let us know the cost.

On Sunday, 28 Dec, Brenda and Indy returned.

V brought out Indy first. He was still placid, calm, though he did seemed a bit too wild-eyed and overwhelmed. When the carrier door opened, he seemed dumbfolded.

Next was Brenda. But even before we saw her, we heard her. She was crying the block down. We forgot Indy for a moment as we quickly opened the carrier door for her. She shot out like a champion racer and stopped only to get her orientation about 8 metres away. Then she set off purposefully, all the while complaining for the world to hear.

When I turned back from taking this photo, Indy was still inside the carrier. Since I was the one who put him into the carrier, the honour fell to me to get him out. He was still immobile even outside the carrier. So I carried him 5 metres, in the direction of his “home”. He was still immobile. In total, I moved him 5 times, putting him nearly on the doorstep of the family before he clued in to what’s going on. He never did once struggled while I carried him. Obviously, he has deep trust in people and has no inkling of self-preservation.

As for Stanley, the lump behind his ear turned out to be a pus-filled growth, mostly likely a result of an infected wound. He would be fine and need no further follow-up. We settled up with V and would see him when he returned Stanley in 2 weeks’ time.

The next morning, Monday, 29 Dec, I walked out to the mrt station, and was cautiously happy to see that Indy wasn’t outside the flat. Reality bit on Tuesday though. I can no longer be surprised at the nonchalance of the family.

It was not until last night that we met Brenda for the first time after her surgery. She seemed well, though a different cat from the one we released, simply because she wasn’t crying at the top of her lungs nor wary. In fact, she was extremely affectionate and chatting softly.

She was more interested in headbutts and kisses, and kept coming up to btmao and me while the juices of the food seeped through her dinner plate. Finally she ate.

But only a little.

She was still more interested in getting some attention.

In fact, she tried to follow us home.

She looks emaciated, and given our emphasis on not sterilising very skinny cats (especially if their history is not known), it might seemed a contrarian decision to sterilise her. But compared to the first time I saw her, she is actually padded. Also, her fur looks good, again unlike the baldy flanks she spotted then. She is doing well and should settle down fine now that her hormones won’t bother her anymore. We suspect she might be a newly displaced free-ranging pet cat from across the road (like Ryan) as she seemed to commute between the blocks there and Area1. She might also be a newly abandoned pet.

Trapped! The bestest news in a long while

So, btmao got hold of a master trapper, V, and tonight he helped alleviate the situation that’s been developing in Area 2.

Our main aim was BambiBaby, who bit btmao’s hand in our first (failed) attempt to trap him, and Saba, whose recalcitrant family has allowed her to continue to get pregnant.

As we walked out to Area 2, who should we spot but a new young male cat, probably a yearling, lounging in front of the late Charlotte‘s home. A new member to Ian’s gang, btmao had seen the very friendly boy a few times, once sauntering out the family’s front door. We briefly discussed our options as we walked along the school buttressing Area 1.

Who should we see but Stanley swaggering his way in parallel on the other side of the fence! I shadowed him while btmao went to meet V and direct him over.

When V and btmao met up with me, Stanley was in between blocks of Area 1, As V set up the cat trap, an Indian grandpa and his two young granddaughters watched a little distance away. Though language was rather the barrier, I managed to explain to the granddad what we were up to, and he considerately pulled his young charges a little further away.

Stanley showed no interest in stepping inside the trap, so V went to get his net. While V was away, Stanley went into gladiator mode, as another tom, a young (we estimate 2 years old) Tabby Tuxedo male crossed his path. It was pure happenstance, but as concentrated on posturing as Stanley was, V was able nab him without incident. At last, our second enfant terrible was in the carrier!

V quickly brought Stanley back to his van, and then came back to work on the other male. When he showed no interest in food and was thus not going into the trap either, V went ot get another carrier.

Jut as V was walking to his van, who should come walking up but Brenda, another newbie female who resembles Freda. She was first spotted only on 12 Dec 08. A skinny, famished cat with some balding parts on her rump, she was scared and wary at out first meeting, but who last week, allowed btmao to touch her upon their first meeting. She was a bit malnutritioned then, but has since fattened up a bit. V simply picked her up and brought her to the van.

To cut a long story short, the tabby tuxedo boy got away.

So we decided it was time to go over to Area 2 and try for Saba and BambiBaby.

We spread out in different directions.

Saba was nowhere to found.

As for BambiBaby, btmao found him in his usual hiding place behind the eatery. Since our last report, he has learnt that hearing btmao means dinner but that she’s not to be trusted so much. btmao has to put the food down among the bushes, and step back at least 3 metres before he will cautiously approach the dinner “plate”, check out the coast in an elaborate 5 to 10m minute ritual before he starts eating, gingerly.

By the time I joined btmao and V, I could see BambiBaby cautiously sniffing outside the trap and calling as loudly as ever.

An audience was also gathering. There was a gazebo nearby, and some among the usual evening gaggle of men who gathered there tried to sabotage the operation by distracting BambiBaby with catcalls of their own. One of them even stamped his feet loudly just as BambiBaby took his first step into the trap. V tried to explain to the group but the saboteur started posturing. Fortunately, he had open-minded companions who were more receptive and managed to keep things calm.

BambiBaby got spooked nonetheless and ran a little away and almost into the drains that surround the eatery, so btmao went to drop a dollop of canned food at the trap entrance.

At this time, a family walked by and obliviously gathered, less than 0.5 m from the trap. btmao asked them to move back and they did, though they continued to watch.

It was a very tense time, but after 10 minutes, BambiBaby finally did enter the trap. It took him another 10 minutes to venture deep enough to trigger the trap door. Success!

Then V took the trap one side to transfer BambiBaby to a carrier… and he promptly escaped. Looks like getting this growing scaredy cat will take more doing. The head of the spectator family then came up and started sharing clandestine info – that there were a few cats around, 1 “mother” and 3 or 4 kittens and that the mother was often there calling. We suspect he meant Saba and that he may have mistaken other kittens (as yet unsighted by us) for BambiBaby’s litter as Bambi (who is still MIA) had never been seen with any other kitten.

The peacemaker from the men gaggle also offered some insider news: there’s a family of cats whom people are feeding. We suspect he was referring to the calico cat we spotted that day. She definitely has a litter, and he confirms the whole family is being irresponsibly fed.

With the double setbacks of not finding Saba and BambiBaby’s escape, we decided to go and get Indy instead.

Strangely, he was afraid of btmao but would respond to me. As the family was home, we did a bit of stealthing: I carried Indy to the next block where V met us and I put him into the carrier with no effort at all. In fact, he purred all the way.

Frankly, I was wavering over whether to sterilise Indy or to leave him for his family, even though we are quite sure they would probably do no such thing, given their history, but years of accumulating peeve made me want to try for a game of brinksmanship with them. But Iggy came to mind. Frankly, we have more than enough kitty-sized albatrosses around the neck to deal with, so I surrendered as we did not want that to befall another beautiful cat.

We have more than enough cats in Area 2 needing de-mojoing. The calico mothercat‘s brood is 3-4 months old: 1 short-tailed and small-sized black kitten with white mittens, 2 cream-coloured tabbies, 1 torbie calico and 1 short-tailed agouti. All are scaredy and scoots readily into their drain of a home. The good thing is, they are not difficult to find though their schedule is also not fixed. All are ravenous and we hope they will stick around for another month or 2 until we can get them sterilised. Their mother, who has the most lovely large blue yellow eyes, we hope to settle sooner.

Along with the family, BambiBaby, Saba remain on the radar, so V will be back.

We are going to burn a hole in our pocket, taking on responsibility that so-called pet owners, who own their own cars I might add, at least for Indy and Saba, and most likely the escaped tabby tuxedo boy, but the alternative is not something we want to happen.

So 3 cats down… X to go.

Mr Safety’s advocacy for cat trapping is a great public service, but all that advocacy can’t work without MIWs, minions-industriously-working, aka you and me.

Merry Christmas, and here’s to hoping all the kitties without roofs over their heads remain safe.

(Note: No pictures of tonight’s operation as I did not want the camera to get in the way nor to spook our quarry)

Stanley and Ivan again

There was drama again at Ivan’s carpark.

We decided to go out later for the service and were treated to ring-side seats of the feuding stars.

In a replay of a phenomenon that seems in danger of becoming a regular feature, we hurried over when a hostile cat-squabble echoed. There was nothing on the ground floor and no sound by the time we entered the carpark.

Stanley is leaving the building

btmao and I split up, as she hurried to the second floor and I was to make for the 3rd one. But on a hunch, I decided to comb the ground floor again. I followed the cat screams which have started again, and so through the wire meshing that covers part of each level, I caught sight of Ivan, completely against type, menacing Stanley from under a car. Stanley was about 1.5 metres or so away from him, right on the wire. He slowly made his way to a different part of the mesh in that typical cat stance meant to be unprovocative/submissive, and scrambled onto concrete. Ivan followed.

btmao managed to get between the two of them, and I met her outside the carpark on the ground floor, where Stanley was. btmao used food to lure Stanley away from the exit which Ivan would also use to get downstairs.

Ivan, posturing from his fortress

We ended up being the buffer to the terse situation. Ivan kept throwing verbal abuse at Stanley while the virile one was busy gobbling up food. Blocking his view, and reducing the visual sensory stimulus helped calm Ivan down somewhat.

Skinny strapping boy Stanley binging

But still, we had a few close shaves with Ivan trying to manoeuvre onto Stanley’s path. It was especially hair-trigger when Stanley refused to leave after eating and when he tried to re-enter the carpark, in plain view of Ivan.

Nonchalant Stanley, he behaved as if Ivan wasn’t there. Quite a contrast from his stance on the second level

Finally, we got Stanley going without incident. As usual, he trotted off in the same direction.

Ivan was obviously doing his job to keep Stanley out of his carbon monoxide laced kingdom. Stanley was just obviously adamant about access rights to the prime estate. Looking at how thin Stanley is, and he is that despite his great size, we believe it is the availability of food in the carpark that has him persistently mounting incursions. Once again, good karma feeders created a tense situation, though one which has not resulted in fatal outcomes so far.

By this time, Ivan was too full of machismo to eat, and Carlie was of course nowhere to be found, so we left the carpark and decided to do a bit of a walkabout. We thought the kitty drama was done for the night, week in fact. Little did we know… (to be con’t)

Stanley… again

After the Sunday evening drama, last night was an almost rehash of the face/off in Area1.

Ivan

Ivan, who was being lovey-dovey with btmao’s slippers, suddenly turned macho and bristled while she was laying out his dinner. We turned around to see Stanley about 5 metres away.

Stanley

While I watched over Ivan, she quickly lured Stanley away. She came back very soon, saying that he was amendable to scritches once he ate, but that he scooted off quickly too. I think the trick to conning Stanley is to be his friend first. We just hope the process wouldn’t take too long.

While Ivan returned to the concerns at hand and polished off his food, Carlie missed half her dinner as she was spooked by traffic in her dinner stairwell. No sign of Cara, so we’ve still got schedule adjustments to make with her.

Stanley got away again

Last night, as usual, we went to serve dinner to Ivan and Carlie, and to see if we can spot Cara, who has not been seen for the past 6 to 8 weeks.

Carlie

Ivan

I had to clean up at home, and so btmao set off first. After serving Ivan on the ground floor, she went up to the second level to get Carlie.

I had just reached the carpark at the same time, when she called me. Stanley was with Carlie, and seemed to trust her intentions – allowing her to get very near.

After the last botched attempt to get him, this was the closest we’ve got to him. Quickly, she called Foster Mum to check if a sterilisation slot was available. Once that was confirmed, I ran home for the carrier.

When I returned, Stanley already had a near scuffle with Ivan on the ground floor, and btmao had lured him further away and was enticing him with food.

However, he started trotted away as soon as he saw the carrier. We followed him for a while but he was obviously having nothing to do with us anymore. So once again, he escaped intact.

We returned to the carpark to serve Carlie dinner, and to sprinkle mothballs around the very open and accessible area on the second floor where cat poo has been on display for the past days. (We removed it each time, but there’s always a fresh pile greeting us.)

We had been puzzled by the reappearance of the poo piles since Carlie has been in the clear. Also, she is too timid to be marking territory or challenging Ivan’s alpha status so brazenly. Plus if it was her, why was it on the second floor and not on Ivan’s home tuft on the ground floor? We then thought it might be Ivan intimidating Carlie. But then, the oaf always had a soft spot for girls and he has never shown signs of aggression or hostility towards her.

With Stanley’s appearance on the second floor, we feel the light has turned on at last. That is, the poo piles are more likely to be macho posturing between these two.

After feeding Carlie, we went to serve Cara dinner. We were relieved to see her well, as she’s not been sighted for the past weeks.

Cara

Juding from the place she appeared at, btmao feels that it may just be a scheduling problem that our sightings of her has been sporadic and few. We’re going to make another adjustment in the Area1 kitchen service schedule, and hopefully include Cara. We also hope to be able to befriend Stanley enough to finally rid him of his mojo.

Area1 cats, Tue, 25 Dec 07

Today it’s the regular felines, Ivan and Carlie who waited for dinner.

Carlie

Ivan

At yesterday’s feeding, the same situation as Sunday happened – Stanley entered the carpark from outside Area1 but avoided us, and Ivan. too

But this evening, all was quiet. We wonder if it’s because we went a bit earlier today to serve dinner.

Area1 cats, Sun, 23 Dec 07

Our new night feeding program for the area 1 cats, specifically Carlie, is working out well.

She is learning to trust us enough that she will follow us from the second story down to the ground floor with little cajoling and bribing. Her record for getting down to the ground floor, from the second floor doorway, is 5 minutes.

Ivan has joined Carlie by default, as he would respond and call for us whenever he hears us calling Carlie.

We feed him first before going to get Carlie, as it is the best way to distract him and keep him and Carlie from any unplanned encounters. Last night was the smoothest feeding operation yet. Ivan came flying out, straight at btmao as soon as he heard her.

While I watched over him, she went to get Carlie, who eats in a more secluded spot.

After he finished his dinner, I cleaned up, and went to rejoin btmao. But I had to make a big detour as he spotted me and tried to follow. I had just gone out of the carpark on one side of the secluded Carlie spot, when came the big surprise… a large silver tom was going into the carpark on the other side!

It was, without a doubt, Stanley, whose faceoff with Ivan that fateful Friday, despatched all our efforts to habituate Carlie to eating on the ground floor back to Square 1.

Luckily, Ivan had followed me and was on my side of the carpark or else the War of the Toms version n would have taken place there and then.

Perhaps Stanley still recalled my botched attempt at shoving him into a carrier. Though hungry, and enticed by the remnants of Carlie’s meal (which btmao offered in friendship), he made the decision to retreat further into the carpark rather than accept the peace offering.

.

The direction that he appeared from, was a totally unexpected one. His range is definitely wider than we had thought. He must be quite an established tom to swagger over such a large at will. For the sake of every cat in the area, we really do need to get him robbed as soon as possible. The headache is how… we do not relish the thought of repeating the LONG LONG process that Ivan put us through. But well, if it has to be that way, that’s how we’ll have to do it.

We have of course, not forgotten the other members of the clan.

Cara, who also appeared for the second and third night feeding, has not attended since. Looks like there’s more schedule adjustments to be done.

As for new cat Chloe, we’ve not sighted her regularly enough to be able to befriend her and recruit her to the feeding programme.

We may try tonight, or tomorrow, to see about getting a signal fix on her, weather permitting. Her situation is getting more worrisome by the day, especially with Stanley marauding the area.

Face-off: the swaggering tom way

This morning, I went looking for Carlie and Ivan again. I was hoping to get a good clear picture of Carlie’s tail which I hope would help in confirming if she was indeed the lost cat from Yishun. Little was I to know.

When I got to level 2, I was surprised to see Ivan there. Carlie was nowhere to be seen. But Ivan was not exactly his usual “Mmmm… food! Here I come” self. He seemed to be edgy and bristly. I wondered if he had suddenly decided to evict Carlie.

Then I heard meows, which did not sound like Carlie. Ivan hissed his hostility in a direction and I turned to see him…

Stanley, the still virile male from Saba’s feeding station, who lords it over every cat there, including the newly unmaled Scottie.

I thought at first glance that it might be Iggy, who’s been missing since October and whose disappearance I believe I know the cause (more on that later).

Btu no, it’s definitely Stanley, who had wandered over from Area2. This large-territorial patrolling was not surprising as Buddy, who is now missing, also did the same frequently. So did Ivan himself until we got his mojo away.

Ivan started a racket and he responded in kind. Ivan was near the stoppered doorway I used for Carlie. He then went under the taxi parked there and continued his posturing. I thought he might have been on the wrong end of whatever scuffle they’ve engaged in.

Combined, the ruckus from the two typical silly males was enough to raise the dead. I had to do something but did not know what. Stanley was approaching the car/doorway, and I had the sudden inspiration to use my tote bag and shoo him through it. Lucikily he scooted through it and shot downstairs.

Ivan was still in no mood for food, so I decided to follow Stanley. On the ground floor, he played a bit of hide-and-seek with me, but he seemed just wary but not feral. I called my mum and asked her to bring a large carrier. Despite being unwell, she was about to visit our family doctor for a consult, she decided to bring me the carrier first.

I had Stanley eating a bit of wet food and was petting him when my mum came. It took all of 5 minutes to get him to trust me. Close-up, I could see the network-like pattern of the bloody scratches above his left eye. He was also limping a little from a deep-looking wound on the back of his hind-left leg. My heart sank and I wondered how badly hurt was Ivan, given that he was posturing from under a car while this guy was swaggering up and spoiling for a new round.

My mum too worried me, she looked pale and I got anxious to get it over and done with, so I could accompany her to see the doctor.

But I had to concentrate on the present. After showing my mum how to hold the carrier and slam it shut once I got Stanley in, I scruffed him quickly and swung him toward the vertically-held carrier. He was very heavy but pliant. Unfortunately, just as his bum cleared the opening, his hindlegs almost got tangled in the door. I was trying to readjust his position when the element of surprise was lost. He started struggling and I had to let go off him or risk hurting either of us. He scooted off and I vented my frustration with a yell.

A Chinese uncle who I had noticed watching us as he meddled about his parked motorcycle about 10 metres away approached quickly and angrily asked if we were abandoning the cat.

I then explained to him that it was a homeless cat he saw us with and we were trying to trap him for sterilisation. He seemed puzzled and I told him we sterilise cats living in our neighbourhood so there’s less potential for problems. He said we were kind to do so and I tried to tell him it was better than seeing them dead from complaints, and that it’s not the solution since other cats will keep moving in. Then I ask him if he’s seen Ivan before, he said yes, that one’s always fighting. I said that’s because he’s sterilised and while I was trying to tell him Ivan fights off intruding cats and kept the area relatively free of cat problems, he wasn’t paying attention, but was telling me to make sure I clean the scratches I got from Stanley. Then he smiled and said “好心沒好报” (my kindness had been repaid with vengence).

But Stanley really wasn’t vicious at all. He was frightened and simply trying to escape a threatening situation.

Grime: My hands were grubby from scruffing him

Broken skin: for all my troubles. But the damage’s really relatively light and goes to show that Stanley was merely frightened, he wasn’t looking to attack, just get away from the scruffing.

We couldn’t find Stanley after, so I thought to go back home, deposit the food bag and carrier and accompany my mum to the doctor’s. But she insisted on feeding Ivan first.

So we went upstairs and while trying to get Ivan to follow me down, we heard a meow, and through the floor meshings, saw Stanley staring up at us. So we went downstairs and tried to get near him. This time, he maintained a healthy 2m buffer and finally scooted off and out of the carpark, away from Area1.

My mum again insisted that I feed Ivan even though what I wanted was to get her to the doctor quick. So I asked her to bring the carrier home and wait for me.

Ivan was still upstairs. Though he wouldn’t follow beyond the doorway as before, the terribly oafy one once again allowed me to lug him downstairs, where I served him his meal at the usual spot. This time, he made really short work of the food. He also seemed none the worse for wear, unlike Stanley. I felt relief and as soon as I cleared his “table”, I hurried home – Stanley’s mojo robbery will have to wait for another day and time.

Area 2 cats… sometimes it gets complicated

So! I have been busy these two mornings, running around like a good TNRM minion should, taknig care of “business” in area 2. The result? Scottie and the siblings, Sumie and Sunny have lost their mojo yesterday.

Scottie, a lovely silver agouti tabby, on the way back from the vet today. He’s still wondering what hit him.

Soon after this vid was taken, he relaxed and napped all the way back.

In contrast, the siblings were as calm as ever.

Total spent on the operation: $145.00 (Sterilisation bill excludes taxi fare of $22.70 to the vet, and $15.90 from the vet. This is not taking into account the transport cost and time for my trips from the vet post-delivery and pre-collection)

In conjunction, we also found out a few things from Sue, the owner of Sumie, Sunny and Saba. For example: the relationship between the kittens and Saba were not as we speculated. In all honesty, we also suspected that it might not be so, given the timeline, but it was the closest to making sense then. Now for the real picture, I give you the timeline of their story, guest-starring Stanley (the long-tailed adult silver male featured here), and Benji (his brother Kenji is sitll missing)

Somewhere in late 2005

• Sally appeared in area 2 with a tipped ear. She displayed the nervousness of a cat thrown into a new environment. Gradually she established herself in one of the two carparks there. By 2006, she became a semipet of Sue’s family, who refused to listen to advice to not leave food and water outside their ground-floor flat. With a regular food supply, Sally wasn’t too keen to depend on the tec soup-kitchen. Sue’s flat is very near the carpark which Sally used to call home.

Jan/Feb 07:

• Complaint in Sally’s area led to the discovery of Stanley, a long-tailed silver tabby adult male, and a very handsome young dilute calico male (never sighted again).

April 07

• Spotted Scottie for the first time in the opposite end of area 2, away from Sally’s. He proved elusive. Later, we found out from Sue that he also frequented Sally’s for the food Sue leaves outside.

May 07

• Saba first sighted.
• Sometime before this, a different female cat who has established herself in the same area and went to Sue’s for food, gave birth. She was Sumie and Sunny’s mother, a cat we’ve never sighted. She was caring for and moving her litter of 3/4 kittens around. She was later killed by a dog. Sue adopted the litter, then less than 2 months old. In addition to Sumie and Sunny, there was another ginger kitten with a long tail, who has since disappeared.

Jun/Jul 07

• Saba got pregnant.

Sep/Oct 07

• Saba gives birth to a litter of 5 during Ramadan/near Hari Raya, of which only 1, Sabia, is still living.
• Somewhere in between all the changes, Sally decided to move back into the carpark.
• We sighted Sumie and Sunny for the first time and flyered all the ground floor units.

Nov 07

• A week after the flyering, Sue spotted btmao feeding Sally at the carpark, and approached her. That’s how the whole story started falling into place. btmao talked to Sue and got her to agree to sterilise her cats – Sumie, Sunny, Saba and Sabia. Benji, who’s been missing for months, also appeared! But he was promptly chased off by Scottie.
• To cut a long story short, Sue said yes after some negotiating and excuses. Sue has 4 children, is a housewife and claims her husband, who works shift, is the decision maker. We even got CWS involved in case they were in financial difficulties. But Sue said they will arrange for sterilisation themselves and the husband, who drives, will send Sumie and Saba for sterilisation first, in the weekend past though we tried our darnest to persuade her to send Sunny as well. But getting any cat done is better than none. We were relieved and were cautiously happy that at last we’ve met a free-ranging pet cat family who just might make honest pets out of their cats.
• But by this Monday, the two were still intact – Sue claimed her husband wasn’t free to send the cats. Now, if you’ve ever arranged for a sterilisation appointment, you’d notice a few things that doesn’t jive.
• Anyway, btmao was especially anxious as the siblings were looking to be at least 7-8 months old, and Sue had said that Saba was mated by Stanley in the week past. That evening, when btmao saw Sumie, Saba (who’ve both been kept indoors to prevent “accidents”), Sunny and even Scottie on the scene, she decided we should just rob the siblings, Saba and Scottie of their mojo and deal with the after-effect. Of course the fact that we have to bear the sterilisation cost for 3 pet cats left a bad after-taste in my mouth. But I was practical and I agreed with btmao’s decision. Luckily, we were able to book 4 sterilisation slots for the next day with Foster Mum’s help. In between all the logistics, btmao got in touch with Sue and told her our plans. Sue was amendable since it meant she didn’t have to pay a cent. In addition, she agreed to house Scottie for us. I arrived with the carrier for Scottie, and proceeded to impress on Sue that I am jobless and we’re doing this for the sake of every cat outside, and not only to help her cats. We decided not to send Saba in yet after checking in on little Sabia.
• On 13 Nov, I sent Scottie, who had spent the night in Sue’s toilet, and the siblings to the vet
• Today, I collected the de-mojoed kitties. The vet receptionist remarked that all three were absolutely lovable and easy to handle. I told her they’re probably home pets allowed to free-range but no one wants to take responsibility. She laughed. Upon arrival, I released Scottie, who proceeded to cry for a bit and then ate out of the bowls outside Sue’s flat. Then he spotted Benji and decided to get some exercise, and chased off Benji. I hope he’ll mellow out and learn to tolerate poor Benji, who is beginning to try to get into Sue’s flat (according to Sue, he’s super-affectionate, a trait which we are well-aware of). At the siblings’ home, I spoke to Sue about preparing for Saba’s turn, which should be soon, especially since Sabia was already starting on solids, as she claimed. I emphasized that the siblings’ bill will be ours but that for Saba and Sabia’s bills she will have bear the full amount. I also showed her the taxi receipts to impress on her the cost of transport and asked her to factor that in to the sterilisation costs as well. (Surprisingly, Sue did not return the receipts to me… instead she gave me $30 as reimbursement. I told her we’ll use it for Stanley). Present at her home was her sister, Julia. Julia lived in a nearby block and she revealed a piece of news that was good for us – Stanley, who refuses to let us near, trusts her and she’s able to catch him. So I asked her to assist – if we can get Stanley at the same time as Saba’s appointment, we’ll share the transport costs. Also, Julia said that Stanley hangs out at a different part of Area2… Sasha’s place, and where Benji and Kenji used to be too. That was also near to where we first spotted Scottie. btmao and I suspect that Sasha and Benji and Kenji had been displaced by Scottie and Stanley or simpyl changed their routines. Neither Sue or Julia have ever seen Sasha or Kenji, whom we’ve not sighted for a few months. But if Benji is able to survive, they may be coping too. Hopefully, after we get Stanley, both he and Scottie will mellow out enough to allow Sasha and Kenji to return.

To be honest, it still baffles me how people can claim to love their cats, but allow them to wander outside. For these semi-pets, it’s not like their family has no idea of the dangers: the fate of siblings’ mother is an example, and Sue has had a cat who passed away from FiV. I an deathly afraid that our sympathy for the cats will be exploited, and that’s why we kept telling Sue that

• we’re trying to save their cats’ lives, that Town Council is not happy and there’s a chronic complainant lurking around. All true.
• we’re helping her to get her cats sterilised because of the first point, and to reduce the possibility that TC will round up all cats in the area
• we do not want her to tell people about what we’ve done for her as the risk was getting too huge for the cats in her area, and we do not have the money to sterilise every pet cat, which should be done by each individual owner anyway.

Regardless of the fact that I still feel we’ve been led by the noses in sterilising the siblings, ultimately, we will still try to work with Sue – it does take more energy to be antagonistic. Besides, we’ve had a few minor pleasant surprises out of this whole saga, which balances out the frustrating parts.

The semi-pets cats

Sally, who Sue calls Sayang

Sabia, Saba’s only surviving child out of her litter of 5, est 1 month old. Sue calls her Misty

Saba, who is Smoky Lost, simply Lost to Sue. Estimated 8 months old – was pregnant at 6.

Sumie, who is Angel to Sue. Her surgical site was only a tiny dot… really amazing work.

Sunny, who is Fluffy to Sue. He peed in the litterbox they prepared and proceeded to beg for food.

More photos taken today

Upon arrival, the first thing Scottie tried to do was enter Sue’s flat. With him is one of her 3 daughters.

Poor Benji, creeping back to the scene, and hiding on a chair after being violently chased off by Scottie. Let’s hope things will get better for him.

Area 2: Sally has company

Sometime in early February, btmao talked to the TCO about Sally’s case.

After hearing her out about the difference between responsible feeding and non-responsible feeding, he’s decided to take her suggestion to treat the family’s habit of leaving food and drink outside their home overnight as a case of littering. He’s gone to see the family with an NEA colleague and warned the family to stop or face littering fines. They cooperated and he observed no more food and drink bowls outside. Sally was safe from death for the monent it seems.

We were, as usual, a bit skeptical at the effectiveness of a mere warning but it must be said that the officious visit was more than what btmao and I ever achieved. In fact, we warned the family of Ian, Baby, Chica (and now it seems, Isam as well) about leaving food and drink out, and told them about what’s happening in Sally’s tuft, just across the road. They also cooperated, but good things don’t last – barely two weeks later, the food and drink were outside again. could we hope for any better across the road, at Sally’s? I wouldn’t bet on it.

Wait-and-see was still our modus operandus. After a long wait interval of more than a month, today was a good day to do that see bit.

Lo and behold, Sally came running. The only differences were that she looked slightly rounder and she was wearing a fuschia collar with a bell. Did the TCO/NEA officer visitation spook the family? But it wasn’t enough of a scare to make them make an honest cat of Sally. She was still free-ranging. And she’s as ravenous as we remembered.

Vid: Sally tucks in, just as always

We were relieved that Sally’s ok. As we settled down to wait for her to finish the food, we saw a new cat sitting a little aways, just outside the family’s flat, in fact.

A scaredy dilute calico, a scrawny and wary grubby boy who’snot developed the bigheaded look of mature virile males. He has lovely light blue eyes. We suspect he was newly abandoned.

He was hungry as you can see from this vid – he was trying to approach the feasting Sally, but got hissed away.

Vid: Scaredy dilute calico and Sally

He took big circles around us, he wanted food obviously, but was too scared to approach. Finally, he was far enough to feel safe. btmao managed to push some food at him and he finally ate.

Vid: Dilute calico finally eats

As we wait on both cats to finish their dinners, what should we see but a large virile silver tabby male saunter up and help himself to the buffet outside the irresponsible feeder family’s flat. As Sally and the dilute calico boy both seem afraid of him, we did not draw his attention.

Vid: Silver tabby male tucking into buffet

This night was just full of surprises. But it’s not the end – see Salvi losing fur, and Isam’s established… semipet?