Area1: Snippety Happy

We thought we had a new kitty in the hood… what do we know.

The kitty we confirmed about 2 weeks was an agouti female – she was sitting right outside our door, on the ninth floor, on a night when btmao returned home late, thus confirming herself to us. Like Isam when he first appeared, and Brenda, she seemed to trying to find her home, going up and down in tireless frenzy the blocks in the ‘hood.

Around the same time, we spotted a new silver spotted tabby male, young but with fullly ripe “grapes”.

Available adult female, add virile adult male. Bad combo. But as ever, they were scaredy-attention seeking (typical of newly abandoned pets), elusive and refused to give us their daily agenga. Talk about guerilla warfare.

This morning, we spotted the female downing some cooked rice strewn on the muddy roots of a tree. She ran off as I approached. So this evening we decided we would try to nail someone, anyone, to some sort of kitty schedule.

We got more than we ask for… different than what we hoped but definitely more.

We met a new kitty. A striped female with a stumpy tail and surprise of surprises – a tipped ear. She’s a carpark denizen and completely friendly.

Then while btmao fed her, I went round the neighbourhood. The silver spotted tabby boy was out and about, up to his usual frenetic search up and down the blocks looking for a home. But at least he was calm enough and friendly. We decided to call V to come collect him, not least because his loudmouth tendency wasn’t doing himself any fabours.

Thankfully V was available to swing by, ETA 9-ish. The silver spotted tabby boy wouldn’t know what hit him. He’s friendly, bright-eyed but definitely putting on the coy. His call even sounded like he’s wanting to show some lucky gal what a lover he was. And his advertisement was being answered. We were standing at the foot of a block. I heard someone responding to him, but it took btmao’s 6/6 vision (she went home for supplies), to spot the furry Rappunzel up on the third floor, upper body clear over the ledge and at the ready to fly down.

I went up to take a look. It was the rice-gulping agouti-female. But she was right on the ledge and let out a very scared howl. So I left her, and btmao to juggle her watch. btmao had to chaparone the loverlorn twosome as I had to go home to finish up some work. I also told her she just missed Brenda trotting by a while.

btmao just got home and gave me the surprise of week. When I went looking for the spotted tabby boy, he had climbed to the second floor of another block (he’s got the Isam’s initial run-up-and-down-every-block bug), where I had spotted 3 young cats in front of a flat (which occpuants refused to open and talk), 1 friendly ginger and 3 SCAREDY dilute gingers. The friendly I could see was a boy. That was in March. Since then I’ve not caught sight of them except for a chance encounter with one of the dilutes at the foot of our block in the compromised position of pooping. So tonight I requested Vincent to see if he can nab any of the threesome as well. Vincent took care of the spoted tabby boy. btmao met a Malay man who said he feeds nightly using styrofoam plates which he clears (he felt sorry for the many cats around and was angry at irresponsible people who dumped them, ostensibly just “downstairs”) and had just left food for some cats at the ginger’s block. He told her the flat where  where I found the ginger and dilutes loitering belonged to a macik who claimed she doesn’t own them, just fed them as they kept appearing at her door. (The macik, had annoyingly, been trying to lure the spotted tabby boy away while btmao was chaperoning him for V’s arrival) Even Brenda is a regular visitor to her kitty soup kitchen.

So btmao went to see and saw…

… the ginger, one dilute/white cat, and 2 more cats!

V grabbed the friendly ginger and was nearly lynched by the Malay man and his wife/relative on the way back to his van. V kept saying “Sterilise, sterilise” and btmao was luckily there to help defuse the situation too. Ultimately, V got 3 boys from there. The dilute/white was a girl who the Malay man said is already sterilised despite the lack of a tipped ear as he had seen the surgery scar on her. Someone besides us were sterilising kitties in the vicinity it seems (and the Malay man agrees), but who we have no idea, and why was the girl’s ear not tipped? Mysteries.

Sadly, the rice-gulper was not to be found. A minion’s work is truly never done. But now that we know a feeder, who seems responsible, we can try to harness the power for good. Entrapment is the key now.

So in total 4 boys are going to lose their mojo tomorrow. The spotted tabby boy, the ginger, a new tabby white, and a new big-headed agouti tabby tux. The Malay man and his family seemed determined to be there to receive the tom kitties when they return from the event of their lives. I too am looking forward to meeting the new kitties, the responsible feeder encik and make arrangements for the area1 kitties, females or otherwise, still at large. Photos to come too.

But for now we have the task of a lifetime – a ton of names to come up with. Anyone with suggestions for names beginning with C and I? We need about 3 for girls, and 5 for boys. F is also another alphabet we’re using for area1.

Here’s the list of names already owned by our area1 kitties:

Area 1 (135)

• Baby (3)
• Brenda (3)
• Cally (13)
• Cara (28)
• Cari (10)
• Carlie (12)
• Charlotte (2)
• Chica (3)
• Ian (9)
• Idris (2)
• Iggy (3)
• Indy (3)
• Isam (13)
• Issac (7)
• Ivan the Terrible (39)

Foster Mum’s homeseeker: Vicky

(Must read: Cat care refs.)

Vicky is a petite 7 month old female. She is very friendly and trusting.

She has a perfect long tail and has dainty tabby patches on a mostly white coat.

No one knows where she came from, but this placid young female appeared among a resident TNRM colony and was not able to stand her ground against smackdowns dished out by the bigger residents. To save her, she has been sent to foster-care to await a real home.

Vicky has been sterilised, litter-box trained and vaccinated.

ENQUIRIES: ADOPTION AND PROCEDURE
Please email sephycat@gmail.com with the following:

• your name
• contact
• a summary of your background and experience with cats

Serious adopters only, please. All info will be treated in confidence and forwarded to Vicky’s guardian.

Foster Mum’s homeseeker: Sophie

(Must read: Cat care refs.)
Sophie is an adult silver tabby…

… with accents of ginger in her striking stripey fur.

She also has a perfect long tail…

And the rest of her is as pretty…

as anyone could wish for in a cat…

She is active, healthy…
… playful and inquisitive

Sophie is sterilised, litter-box trained and vaccinated.

ENQUIRIES: ADOPTION AND PROCEDURE
Please email sephycat@gmail.com with the following:

• your name
• contact
• a summary of your background and experience with cats

Serious adopters only, please. All info will be treated in confidence and forwarded to Sophie’s guardian.

Pierre may lose his eye…

… but it won’t be the end of the world as NIC, left in pic with best pal Jurgen, a doubly blind old bear rescued from the cruel bear bile farms of China show. Both NIC and Jurgen are of course in the safekeeping of animalsasia

It does seem that, in a month’s time, Pierre will most likely lose his right eye:

Vet Visit on 10 April 2010

Bui Bui has been to Dr Heng this afternoon. We were happy to hear that his left eye’s water pressure is under control. Unfortunately, the eyesight from his right is not looking good. He could be blind in the right eye. Dr Heng has kept trying to test his response from his right eye, but sad to know that there is no response at all. Dr Heng has decided to give him a final chance before removing his right eye. Bui Bui has been given some eye drops for a month. His right eye will need to be removed if there is still no response at the next visit which is one month away.

A gentle reminder that Pierre (and his friends in the existing colony of 8, especially Pumpkin) needs help and would still like to have a home:

Foster Mum’s homeseeker: Cherrie

(Must read: Cat care refs.)

Pretty Cherrie is a headbutter, gentle and purry beyond words.

She is sweet and inquisitive, and always respond positively to attempts to interact with her, even in mid-groom.

Cherrie is an adult female calico with a long tail. She is litter-box trained, vaccinated and sterilised.

ENQUIRIES: ADOPTION AND PROCEDURE
Please email sephycat@gmail.com with the following:

• your name
• contact
• a summary of your background and experience with cats

Serious adopters only, please. All info will be treated in confidence and forwarded to Cherrie’s guardian.

Homeseeker: Josh

(Must read: Cat care refs.)

Josh is a young ginger spotted tabby white male cat with lovely amber eyes.

He is very affectionate, calm, and loving. He is not afraid of other cats but is non-aggressive. In fact will try to be friends with the cats he meets.

Of all his paws, Josh only has 1 ginger patch on his left front paw.

Eagerly waiting for his real forever home, Josh is estimated to be about 1 yrs old. He is sterilised and litter-box trained.

More pictures (click to view larger version)

Josh’s story

Josh was first sighted in Area 1 very late last year, he was probably about 8 months old at the time. Scaredy and scrawny, he would run away when approached and appeared occasionally, when we were not prepared to nab him for mojo-robbing.

It was only beginning in February that he allowed contact, but even then he was a bit wary. Finally, on 16 Mar, he came up to us, approaching us voluntarily for the first time. He was limping and his left shoulder/frontleg/paw seemed to be disabled and he could not put any weight on it.

He was brought in to the vet, and sterilised on 17 Mar while having his injured leg x-rayed. Thankfully, he merely had an inflamed wound on the shoulder as suspected. It was probably inflicted on him by one of the alphas as he scrounged for food. He was moved to Foster Mum’s after discharging on 18 Mar as he needed to be fed a 2 week course of antibiotics, and we were not confident of meeting him regularly. Josh has recovered fully.

He has also turned out to be a calm, gentle and loving cat who wants to be friends with everybody. So we’ve decided to try to rehome him instead of releasing him back to Area 1 where he may very well sustain similar injuries again.

To visit Josh
Email us at sephycat at gmail dot com, with your name, contact, and a brief intro of yourself/your family.

Genuine, serious adopters only please.

(Must read: Cat care refs.)

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Click here to see other home-seeking kitties.

Help: Save the pigeons living in Singapore

Unless you’ve been living under Singapore River, there’s no way you are unaware that living among Singaporeans in this cold home of concrete that demands we give and give and give, is another “homeless” animal who has been targetted for the Singapore brand of population and complaint management.

The letters that have seen print argue for both sides of the coin… but it seems like as soon as “potential hazard” or health concerns are trotted out, that’s the end of the argument. Is that valid? There was even a letter that tells of the letter-writer’s father brush with death due to inhalation of dried, power-form pigeon shit. While I feel sorry for the letter-writer’s father, I am concerned at the myopic nature of her call to arms as it were. Yes, pigeon shit caused the problems her father suffered, but the pigeons were just being pigeons, but the true cause? Human neglect. Yet the letter writer does not go after her neighbour for negligence leading to the “perfect storm” that hit her father.

There is too much fear-mongering, what-ifs, laziness, illogic, blame-shifting and complacency in this matter.

Sounds familiar?

Let’s extend our empathy for our homeless kitties’ fellow victims of the Singapore brand of population and complaint management.

Help the pigeons sharing our homeless kitties’ space, check out savepigeons.blogspot.com to find out how.

Get your CNY goodies fix and do a good turn at the same time!

Order Chinese New Year goodies and do a meowing good turn

Make your CNY cookies order today!

Please help the kitties of Blessing Home. Click the cutey pic above or here to view the goodies on offer and ordering details!

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PS There is a Chinese belief it is bad luck (imho it’s bad form too) to go into the new year owing things. This minion has been more than behind in updates to our kitty supporters. Mea Culpa. The tumbling weeds through tec bears witness to the chaos I’m struggling with. I WILL get up to date before the month end. Please bear with me.

Could you bear it if it happened to a human child or your beloved pet?

While reading the papers 2 sundays ago, my eyes were drawn to a tiny article tucked into the inner bottom corner of the right page.

How cruelly ended was this cat’s life!  What a senseless, wanton waste of life!

Tabulously spotted Philly and agouti Rheilly

But it was more than grief and outrage I felt. I was also deeply disturbed. Because this cat looks very much like our Philly.

It boggles the mind.

Philly trying to get a grip

Why would anyone even contemplate such a sick thing? The poor kitty was strangled to death with a rafia string just behind a block of HDB flats. The rafia string had cut 1″ deep into its throat, probably causing poor kitty a very slow painful death. How could such a painful death be unnoticed when the poor cat was struggling for a long while in the midst of densely populated human habitats?

Rheilly: So scary!

Could a human child have died the same death unnoticed?

Can you imagine the same happening to your beloved kitty?

It could happen to any cat. This kitty isn’t the first or the only cat who met a cruel end by any stretch of the imagination.

Remember Bedok South, then Old Airport Road, followed by Jurong East, and Pasir Ris, Choa Chu Kang?

Teddy: Philly annoys the hell out of me EVERY SINGLE DAY, but even I wouldn't wish this on him

I am still boggled by the attitudes of those who claim to love cats, then leave their “beloved pets” to roam outside 24/7 unsupervised, exposed to the dangers of animal abuse, road accidents, pest control roundup and AVA culling, poisoning, injuries and sickness from scuffles with other cats, and unwanted pregnancies (conveniently discarding the unapproved young lives that result from their cavalier attitude towards responsibility). Would these people allow their children to live the same risks?

This isn’t just a cat who died. He had caregivers, he had a name.

His name is Pui Pui. And he did not die an easy death.

Bloody signs of Pui Pui's last moments of life

Pui Pui's blood seeped into the ground as he struggled for his life

Thanks to Pawpledge, Pui Pui is not a nameless cat to be forgotten. Nor will his death be just another statistic in Singapore’s annual average of 700 reported (and rising) animal abuse cases if Singaporeans CARE. Pawpledge has sketched a chilling but not unsalvageable reality of the dangers Pui Pui and the cats in the area live in. Sterilisation, and TNRM of course figures prominently. Please help if you can.

Joey: I really really don't like Philly but no cat (or dog) deserves to die so horribly

Animal abuse takes every form. Already, between the AVA and SPCA, 21,000 dogs and cats are put to death annually. And official policies or officious support and subsidies of certain behaviours isn’t anything NOT wrong. Not when the real core root, the cause and effect are not even bothered with.

Bam Bam: I'm the resident evil... I can't bear to look!

Are the issues complex? Sure, any issue involving people evolve complexity. But are they uncomprehensible? I don’t think so – if a foreigner who read a short, simple but true rendition of the plight of Singapore’s community aka homeless cats can go on to write it in his own words, no one needs high qualifications from officially sanctioned university brand names nor be called Mr Minister or Mr MP to claim authority and weight on the issues, not when they’re plagued with the head in the sand syndrome.

Philly: So sad, that really looks like me
Rheilly: Anyone who wants to mess with you has to go through me first

As for Philly, and the rest of the slackers, I am glad they are safe. But please, let’s keep our eyes out for the voiceless ones who are only striving to eke out a living on the harsh streets of Singapore

Say it!

The situation for Singapore’s community cats and cat caregivers is anything but rosy. But we’re not unique in our situation. For example, in the state of California, the perceived American forerunner of of animal welfare, Alley Cat Allies successfully called on residents to help repeal a bill that would have been detrimental to the work that caregivers were doing and to the cats themselves.

What does this say? That bad things can happen anywhere. And also that they can be pushed back. Here in Singapore, we may have a tougher time of it… due to inertia in the Singapore leadership and bureaucracy, but the people on the street, the ones who roll up their sleeves and DO SOMETHING, have a part to play too. Nothing is going to happen if we don’t do something, as in take measures that is required of the situation, for example speak up.

Efforts to get HDB to review its unreasonable ban against cats are still leaving advocates gnashing teeth and nursing headaches. But ACRES‘s role in the successful effort to up the penalties for wildlife smuggling shows it may not all be lost causes we champion.

So what can we do? Dawn says it all:

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Speak up – and in a timely fashion

There was some confusion about which rail operative was involved, and it seems that it was not SMRT identified, as the letter writer originally stated, but SBS Transit. Full disclosure : I have a relative who works for SBS Transit – but my opinion on the subject remains the same.

It’s good to hear from this letter that SBS transit acknowledged that they made a mistake in the handling of this case, and that they will be meeting with the SPCA to work out a proper way of handling this situation. Apparently they mentioned having rescued some dogs from the station in the past. Even if there was already a protocol in place as the letter stated, it is certainly good to have a refresher, and to remind the staff (who clearly didn’t know about it). It’s also heartening to hear that they haven’t found a dead cat on the tracks. I spoke to someone who told me that there are apparently a lot of ventilation holes in the tunnels – hopefully the cat was able to escape out of one of them.

On another thought, this brought into mind the story that I first read via calsifer’s blog the other day.

I’m so sorry to hear about this case, and about the cat that wasn’t saved but it does also bring to mind several issues. The writer in the MRT case wrote in and demanded accountability – and she did get it.

On the other hand, the aunties in the case mentioned above, didn’t, for whatever reason. I can understand they might be frightened or scared but that doesn’t help them or the cats. Neither does bringing the case up long after it happened.

The point is this – if a situation like this happens, someone has to ask for accountability, and it has to be the person whom it happened to. Imagine if the writer at the MRT station had told a friend about it, and asked that friend to write in, months or years after the fact. All of us responded especially to the situation because it had happened to the writer herself – and she was able to give specific details of what happened, and when. It also added an urgency to the case because obviously it mattered so much to her, that she wrote in right away, when the details were still fresh in her mind. It also adds credibility because she came forward herself and identified herself.

On the other hand, this case in AVA, sad as it is, made me wonder – why didn’t the people involve come forward? Also, why didn’t they do so sooner?

If the women were frightened for their own (and their cats’) sakes, then their cat was already killed – honestly, what could be worse? The worst thing had already happened.

If the issue was that they felt that it didn’t matter anymore – and it obviously does still matter to these aunties because they are still scarred by the event – then it could very well matter to the next cats which are caught. If the AVA staffer is still there, then it could well happen to the next person whose cats are caught. At the very least, what seems to be from the (admittedly second or third hand) account, a seemingly arbitrary decision could have been queried.

Right now, it’s hard to see what can be done. It’s like the many times we hear of people complain of animal abuse – but that they can’t ‘do anything’ and so they tell their friends who then try to go to the police. Obviously this can’t be done because the police need an actual eyewitness – and it’s clear to see why. Any news passed down second or third hand will get distorted – ever played ‘broken telephone’?

If someone’s home is broken into, I doubt most people would not file a report, or go to the police. Then why the difference with cats? I can understand that this might be the case with the general public – but I’m sure to most of us, a cat’s life is more important than any property. We have to put aside this fear or reluctance to speak up. We have already seen that there are many caregivers and people concerned about cats who are willing to back witnesses up and give them support in terms of letters and phone calls. There is a community that will support caregivers – and we’ve seen that time and again.

At the end of the day, if we don’t speak up for the cats, then who will?

Posted by Dawn at 10:09 AM comments

We really really do need to learn to speak up. It may not work all the time, but if we keep at it, sooner or later, something has to click. For us minions, our perennial frustrations is in convincing caregivers in the town to band together and work with each other and present a united front to the power-that-be. If you are in a cooperative group, treasure it.

Kitten in mrt station incident: Officious response

A follow-up to the kitten in Dohby Ghaut NEL station incident (or Bureaucracy, boxes, beer. Blech).

From the TODAY Voices section. At least the NEL spin doctors have the grace to acknowledge the mistakes on their part.

‘Proper procedure was not followed’

But there was no evidence that the cat had been hit
Letter from Tammy Tan, vice-president (Corporate Communications), SBS Transit
Updated 09:05 AM Oct 07, 2009

WE REFER to “MRT staff at Dhoby Ghaut ignored pleas; had no regard for animal welfare” by Ms Risa Okamoto Mardjuki (Today Online, Oct 4).

It is rare for animals to enter our stations, but when they do, our staff have been told to spare no effort in ensuring their safety whilst not compromising on the safety of our passengers.

The Standard Operating Procedure in such cases is for station staff to seek assistance from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals (SPCA) and to watch over the animal as the SPCA makes its way to our premises. This has been the way we have handled similar cases in the past when dogs strayed into our station.

Unfortunately, the proper procedure was not followed in this instance. Our station staff first erred by calling the pest control company instead of the SPCA.

An error of judgment was also made when the staff tried to lure the cat into a non-public passageway which is located behind the emergency door. The manner in which this was done was also wrong. Certainly a stick and a garbage bag should not have been used.

To make matters worse, the cat unexpectedly leapt up the wall into a small opening located just beside the emergency door and landed on the tracks instead.

Since the incident occurred on Oct 2, we have conducted several sweeps of our tracks and found no evidence that the cat had been hit by our trains.

We have also been trying to look for it in our tunnels to try and bring it back up to street level and to safety, but we have not been able to spot it. We will continue to keep a lookout for the cat, but we believe that it has since escaped and is now safe.

We wish to offer our sincerest apologies to Ms Mardjuki and all animal lovers for the way in which we have handled this situation. It was not our intention to bring harm to the cat.

We have since learnt from this episode and will be fine-tuning our procedures to ensure that stray animals are better dealt with in future. We will be seeking assistance from the SPCA and our staff will be trained on the proper ways to deal with such situations so that the animals’ welfare is not compromised and our passengers’ safety is assured.

The question of course, is do they walk the talk?

Area1 new cat: Isam lookalike

Yesterday evening, while walking home after work, we saw a new kitty lounging around Isam‘s territory. He looks exactly like Isam, except that he is grey where Isam is a lovely chocolate. As it was late, we can’t tell if he has the same beautiful green eyes as Isam. But he is different from Isam in that he was extraordinarily friendly – he turns tummy up as soon as you call him. He was of course, full-eared with his equipment intact.

Earlier tonight I saw him again, and this time, very surely, he was lounging right outside Isam and Ian‘s “home”. Ian was there but as the alpha was very calm and did not seem to mind him in the least. This time, instead of jumping in quickly to sterilise their new free-ranging pet as we did Indy, we’re going to watch and see if the family sends him for mojo-robbery themselves.

Again, because of the lighting, we can’t be sure, but this new gentleman in town seem to be older than Isam.

Bureaucracy, boxes, beer. Blech

Reading Dawn’s thoughts on the Cat on MRT tracks incident, one has got to wonder why Singapore bureaucracy has this tendency to stick around in the revolving door, and go with the flow to nowhere. Doesn’t it get motion sick at some point? Or rather, how long does the Singapore bureaucracy like to punish itself and those it affect before it does something and drag or throw itself out of it and perhaps give relief to the affected populace?

Dawn says:

“… the staff member may not have felt empowered to do this – or to face the consequences especially when the management may not already be very cat-friendly to begin with. I remember at least one case where I wrote in to offer our help because we were told that the unsterilised cats were usually rounded up and sent to the AVA if there were complaints or if they were found to be a ‘problem’.

So what needs to be done? Clearly what this episode shows is that there should be some manner of procedure or protocol devised so that staff members DO know what do in future. This would ensure that we don’t have to cross our fingers and hope that if this happens again, the staff member knows something about cats.”

It’s like the long long slate of mrt track “intrusions”. Only now are we getting platform screen doors for the doorless above-ground stations.

And consider the train service disruptions which jolt us out of our complacency every so often. The LTA says it takes a serious view of service disruption. But there’s been 92 instances of disruption over a 3 year period, and it’s always the same old same old in the bag of grievances when the letters of complaints flood the media. About how staff don’t seem to know about crowd control, traffic direction, or plain don’t know what they’re supposed to do. About alternatives which are non-existent or cause more “hardship” to the already inconvenienced commuters.

In place is a SOP which received a parliamentarian airing, so why are there still so many unhappy commuters who complain about the same things each time?

Do we dare hold out much hope that a SOP will be set in place to handle kitties in stations, or that it the SOP in place will actually be followed, or even applied correctly?

It’s also the same old same old in the bag of grievances us minions caregivers have about how we and the kitties living in Singapore’s streets are treated.

The powers that be keep relying on the same tired old excuses for keeping status quo.

Curiously, I keep thinking about the latest Tiger Beer ad making the TV rounds when I think about our situation.

Not that I’m stumping for the frothy or want some morose dousing, but it does demonstrate a life lesson (the ad, not the draught), which is saying quite something since beer ads never make much sense (though the Heineken ones I always found most palatable among the hordes).

The ad is no philosophical dissertation for sure. Two guys fighting over the last bottle in the bucket — can’t they just order more? – decided on arm-wrestling, and end up trying to one-up each other, morphing into bigger and stronger opponents which also happen to counter the other guy’s latest incarnation. The winner morphs into a blond hot chick and wins by shorting the circuits of his robotic rival.

No, there is no kitty involved but how cool that instead of being stiff-necked, conventional, and deadboxed into the one-track idea of bigger must be better, the winner takes stock of the situation (while in the very pleasing form of a buff Jungle Man who stares down silverbacks), basically jumped out of the box and threw his then stronger-than-Jungle-Man robotic foe out of orbit with his twist on oneupsmanship. Imagine if he had been lazy and conformed with the flow, and morphed into something stronger than stronger-than-Jungle-Man-robot instead. Bore, broken record, tiresome, credibility depreciation. Vicious cycle.

Whenever I see the ad, I ask myself the million dollar question: why can’t the powers that be do the same when confronted with ideas, facts, or complaints about Singapore ’s cats? Have a tiger or whatever’s their poisons of choice, untie the knots they’re in and LOOK the issues in the eye rather than trotting out and nursing those so-old template responses that don’t do a thing except tighten the knots they’re in, and grind our noses in it. Vicious cycle, anyone?

Maybe this post should be titled “Saatchi & Saatchi for government” instead. [EDIT: Or maybe I don’t want that actually, imagine legislation that decree ad-watching quotas on citizens… ]

Footnote
Remember: if you come across an SOS, whether from a fellow human or a little kitten, don’t just walk away. And drink responsibly.

Freda report

It’s been about 3 weeks since Freda was adopted.

She’s doing better than we’d expect as this update on 27 Sep from her mum, SI shows:

Freda’s quite chatty – she’ll walk by you and go meow. She doesn’t want food or anything, she’s just going “Wassup?” She’s quite confident now, and likes to sleep in the living room sofa now, even if no one’s there. She likes to hold little races with herself in the early morning, which are quite fun to watch.

Don’t know if we’re changing the name, as we still haven’t found the right name. She had a little accident on the carpet, but it was all solid poo, and easy to clean and it was time the carpet was sent for cleaning anyway. The carpet was one of those shaggy carpets, so it’s quite easy to see why she’d make that mistake.

She’ll come running up to anyone who comes into the house now, which is nice, cos she used to go into hiding or peer from one corner. I think she’s quite certain that this is her house now, and she thinks it’s her job to be a good hostess and say hello to visitors.

Cheers,
SI

When Freda first got to her new home, she had SI worried as the litterbox was very clean. Later she discovered where Freda had been taking her bio breaks:

We finally discovered where she’s been pee-ing – she’s been using the bathtub, and peeing over the drainage hole! 🙂

She left her poo on the rug though, so we’ve rolled it up to prevent further accidents.

Since Freda did not have access to any drainage holes or bathtubs in the shelter, it must be previous experience that prompted her to denounce the litterbox.

However, the latest on her toilet habits, fresh as of this morning shows she’s also adaptable (she’s back to using the box), and perhaps a bit conservative:

i think my husband gave her a shock when she was peeing at the pipes

she probably thinks “aiyah! Cannot pee here, got peeping toms!”

What a fun, easy-going and understanding family Freda has. It is wonderful that she is now a confident kitty, and her family are great with her.

Really, every kitty just needs a chance.

Timmi will have a home to go back to

Timmi is back at the cattery now. She is looking well, and is much sleeker and with full soft fur with a healthy sheen. The wonders of some tlc and quality food, ala a few months of Wellness at the latest (before that she has been on Natural Balance as we recommended at the time of adoption, and PC remarked the change was significant, even to her, within a short time).

Timmi was sent back on 19 Sep 09, Sat. Her situation is a mix-bag now – she will have a home, just not so soon. The current address of PC’s sister, D, is not cat-safe and does not lend itself to cat-safe proofing which was why Timmi had no alternative home. However, D will be moving to an address which can be, but that is quite a while away, so the plan now is to foster Timmi until D’s new home is ready.

D is actually the one whom Timmi has rapport with so it makes sense that Timmi go to her.

We didn’t manage to visit this weekend since the haze instigated our noses to go on marathon runs. But here are some phots and a vid I did manage last weekend, in commemoration of Timmi’s 1st complete week at the shelter.

She was curious and cautious, somewhat bewildered but quite interactive. She even called out to btmao immediately upon spotting her. We’re still trying to decide if she remembered her old ritual or was just eager for human company.

Timmi’s really making use of her life quota. When we first met her, it was at the shelter’s old address. Foster Mum’s neighbour, SP, who also is into the cat business, had claimed 2 cats from AVA. She had called us earlier while at AVA, asking if any of our community cats were missing as she was told about 2 cats brought in from our Area2. One of them fitted the description of Booties, but the other one we didn’t know at all. But we asked SP to go ahead and help us to claim them both back.

When we went over to SP’s place, we recognised Booties, but the kitty with her was new to us. Snatched from the jaws of death as it were, we brought both Booties and Timmi back to the Area2 carpark that day. Some time later, we did bring Timmi into foster care, in order to look for a home for her. This first part of her story is all here, on her original adoption notice.

Booties had all of 1 enquiry during her 2.5 years in the cattery before she “accidentally” lucked out and was brought home together with Timmi. Timmi’s adoption run of 1.5 years fared a little better than Booties’ did, but it was nothing to shout about. But after sharing the same home for 2 years, Booties and Timmi are now separate, not that there’s much love lost, by all accounts. In fact, Booties seem to be adapting better to PC’s baby and even allows the baby to take her tail.

They had shared some harrowing experiences, and some wonderful memories of home together, these 2 grand ladies of the Area2 carpark. If Timmi is making use of her nine lives, Booties is not far behind in her utilisation rate. However, Booties’ home situation is stable, while Timmi is now in the waiting game again. But at least it’s not quite back to square one – she will be spared an endless wait without answers this time. So chin up, Timmi!