Wasted my effort installing wire-mesh at the kitchen window of blk  *21 family... they keep opening the un-meshed side too. The poor kitten has a litter tray but there was now litter or even newspaper in it... just an empty plastic bowl. No surprise he preferred the kitchen sink to do his business...sigh! At least they keep him indoors now.

After I took the kitten home, the new female tabby appeared. I let her eat first and then tried to put her in the carrier... but she struggled and ran off, also saw another newbie... siamese-mix...

Twirly is eating well now, and no more vomitting...hope he will put on some weight soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He doesn't look so bad...not dehydrated. One of the feeders in the area is syringe -feeding him. Bell-Boy is trying to make friends. Hope he will stay around to be tipped once he starts eating on his own.

Penny has 7 pregnant cats to be sterilised...from outside her feeding area. Two were done yesterday with the help of a sponsor and 2 more went today under SPCA voucher. She has enough vouchers left for the rest.

Another caregiver 'R' has a very difficult time. Almost all of her 40 cats/kittens came down with flu. Most of them have now either recovered or are recovering except for one with some breathing difficulties. Penny and myself passed her what we had on medication. Penny also sponsored a visit to the vet for the most sick cat... still, we had to keep nagging her to go.

 

Spotted a new female tabby in area 1 and Sylvia found a terrified ginger-white cat at area 3. Just like Fern...refusing food and water. Will go down later and try to syringe-feed.

Also found another mother cat with 2 kittens at a coffee shop next to the construction site where the other cat family with the white-and-black kittens lives.

The 2 kittens are also about 3 month old, one ginger-white and one tabby. Will be feeding them every day and hope that Penny can foster them if some of her kittens get adopted.

The new skinny boy at area one, named him Twirly, vomits sometimes. He is now at the same block every day, so I will start him on antibiotics tonight. Yesterday he ate quite a bit...  but if there is more vomiting or refusal to eat then he also will have to go to the vet.

There is another sick cat at area 2... a black-and-white coffee-shop cat. She has become very thin and has poor appetite. I went down last night because the Auntie told me that she won't eat.The cat didn't touch the dry food which she usually likes but she ate half a can of  kitten food. Gave some cans to the Auntie...

While feeding Twirly, I saw a middle-aged Chinese lady letting her dog run on the void deck and following him with a sheet of paper. She picked up the poo but left a big puddle of pee in the middle of the void deck...I cleaned up some of it with newspaper.  At  the next block there is dog poo in the middle of the walkway. Will the cats get blamed for this?

 

There were several enquiries about the 3 kittens...but no one seemed suitable. Not a good sign when the first question is "Are they for free?" or another one told me that her cat went missing but she is still not willing to wire-mesh the gate...

Now the question is whether to give the kitten to a person who seems responsible and will keep the kitten indoors but refuses to mesh the windows. As Penny put it "90% of adopters do not want to wire-mesh".

Another caregiver said that she would rather put the kittens back on the streets. I am not so sure that this would be best... there are just too many dangers. The average life-span of a community cat is 2 years!

I saw another mother and 3 kittens (now left only 2) hiding at a construction site in an area with no caregiver. The kittens are about 3 months old  and white with black patches. All I can do is feed them....

 

 

 

 

I went to town for a free student haircut with a fellow caregiver today...  to relax and be pampered for 2 hours...or so I thought. Ended up spending the whole time on the phone...my friend had to give the instructions on what to do with my hair because I was more concerned about getting a cat back from AVA. 

A few days ago another caregiver IK had messaged me that the town council  said there were complaints about caterwauling and too many cats at the bin center of this area: http://meowies.multiply.com/journal/item/299/A_bad_estate

She checked the area and agreed to sterilise the cats after one of the feeders (the owner of the hairdressing salon) offered to pay for the vet fees. She sent an email to inform TC.

Today IK smsed that the pest control came this morning. Luckily the hairdresser  had noticed and managed to get the cat released. The caregiver called her property officer, who denied having called in the pest control ! Saying that they are only trying to trap one black cat which defecates on the common corridor.

AVA confirmed that they had an unsterilised cat from that area. The cat was caught by the TC's Pest Control service yesterday.

I advised IK to go down to AVA... I had learned my lesson on betrayal the hard way.  Penny also went down to assist and support... while I spoke to the property manager, who first told me the same story about trying to trap only that particular black cat until I confronted him with the fact that the trapped non-black cat is at AVA right now. Then he said there was a complaint and he had to be fair. Okay, so the complainant (who sent some emails without even giving his address to tc) is promptly served. The caregiver, also a resident of that area, is not even told the truth that the cats are being trapped.. Is that a way to treat people who spent much time and money to control the cat population in a humane way.  When I requested for  a letter to be sent to AVA the TC manager even suggested "to let this one go". I said " No Way!"  IK said the same thing when I told her.

In the end  the cat was micro-chipped at AVA because of miscomunication between Penny and myself... I had assumed she would request for TC letter.   IK had to pay $80 before the cat was handed over to her. She will get him sterilised tomorrow  with the help of SPCA voucher from Penny and then release him in a safer area. She will still make arrangements to get the remaining cats sterilised.

 

 

 

 

 

Fern had vomited out what I syringed this morning... maybe I gave her too much. She is still dehydrated. I will have to bring her to the vet if there is no improvement soon. Had also started her on antibiotics.

 

 

 

 

Will she be able to survive like  this little fern on the wall?

If only the people who had done this to her could see her suffering feel her fear...

Fern has become very thin. How may times I have walked all  the corridors in search for her... but still couldn't find her... days without food.

Now she seems to have settled in one place, hiding behind flowerpots .... just too frightened to stay downstairs.

Fern still refuses to eat but she lets me syringe-feed her.

 

 

The calico went again up to the 7th floor. This time she went into the flat and hid under the bed... she came out when I called her. Brought her back downstairs to the same corner and she ate some dry food... refused to eat the Fussy Cat tuna. She looks thin...

Also saw the other two abandonees again and fed them. One is a Russian Blue type probably a male as he has some scars, his eyes are watery... maybe flu. The other one is a young cat or older kitten, very pretty, large circular patterns  and white paws... but malnourished. There is also a new Persian-x around... must be a home cat as he is never hungry... will be difficult to trap him for sterilisation.

Saw a tame female on my way to area 2. when I felt her tummy to see if she is pregnant or nursing kittens, I felt a broken rib... must be an old injury as there was no pain.

I have no more vouchers for this month as Penny needed my last two for two pregnant cats from an area with no caregiver, one of them suspected to be a home cat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This body is Not me

                                        

 

This body is not me.

I am not limited by this body.

I am life without boundaries.

I have never been born and I have never died.

 

Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars,

manifestations from my wondrous true mind.

Since before time, I have been free.

 

Birth and death are only doors through which we pass,

Sacred thresholds on our journey.

Say good-bye, to meet again soon.

We meet today.

We will meet again tomorrow.

Birth and death are a game of hide- and seek.

So laugh with me,

hold my hand,

let us say good-bye,

We will meet at the source every moment.

We meet each other in all forms of life.

 

 

~By Thich Nhat Hanh,

 

 Chanting and Recitations from Plum Village. Page 188.

 

 

I had arranged with the son of the Chinese family staying on the second floor to wire mesh the window facing the corridor, the mother had approved. When I came with the mesh today the father refused and threatened to throw the kitten if it causes so much trouble. In the end he allowed me to fix the mesh to the kitchen window instead.

Saw two more new abandonees ...they came out to finish the left-overs after the community cats had their fill. I left some food behind for them...both are very shy.

Now listening to the Heart Sutra my mind is at peace and I breathe easily...

 

 

 

 

Trapped the two remaining kittens today, Champ seems already very comfortable while Charles is still a little nervous.

 

 

 

Dumped at *23 Area 1. She is too scared to move and did not touch the wet food and ate only a few pieces of kibble.

 

She has been very recently sterilised, tipped and tattooed. Her saggy tummy and the length of the stitches suggest that she was pregnant. She also has a skin problem….

 

I called Penny… Yes, the pregnant cat that she brought for sterilization for the Malay family was white and with some patches and had a long tail. See here

 

We will pay a visit later.

 

 

 

my first thought was 'fish bone". I went home to get a carrier.

Brought her to the vet this morning and 4 fish bones were removed from her throat. How much pain she must have suffered... all because of such irresponsible lazy feeders who will throw fish with bones for the cats to eat. I have put up notices at the area.

I made a mistake by letting her out on the balcony as she is usually quite friendly. Luckily Mohan was in the area and could help me get her back into the carrier this morning.

 

 

Measured one of the bones...it was 2.5cm long.

I will probably release her back tomorrow, because she does not like to be confined. The vet gave long-lasting antibiotic injections.

 

 

 

Yesterday, night while returning home to get a carrier for Beauty, I met a Chinese lady staying at blk *22 Area 1.

She was searching for an injured kitten (limping and eye injury), which her son saw earlier at blk *21. We couldn't’t find it.

 

Then today I received sms from R that she saw a sick kitten at blk *22. R mentioned that the kitten also has flu symptoms. I quickly called the Chinese lady and also went there with a carrier. She was very relieved to have finally found the kitten and will bring it to the vet.

She is also thinking of keeping it.

 

 

More pictures in Chester's photo album

 

 

This is one of the 3 Novena Kittens, named him Chester. Lilly helped me catch this one today.  I will come back for his 2 brothers on Tuesday. They have nice temperament and are pretty, all with long straight tails. This one is ginger, and there is one more ginger boy but with more stripes and the other one is black-and-white.

This little boy is still a bit scared.  I lured him out of the bushes and up a tree trunk using the feather toy, then Lilly grabbed him. He put up some struggle but Lilly didn't let go... then the travelling by bus followed by a short bicycle ride during heavy thunderstorm.

He has already used the litter-box... no training needed :)

I will take some better photos and then try to get them adopted.

 

 

Dawn in her favourite place... the kitchen sink!

Orange Boy sharpening his claws.

 

 

 

 

Once a beautiful little green oasis

of grass and palm trees

 

Now replaced by cement!

 

 

 

http://groups.msn.com/SingaporeCats/sporenews.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=15430

 

Hope the Bishan cat-caregivers can take some positive action before the dogs are killed by AVA.

A few nights of shooting Supersoakers and clanging pots and pans will probably stop the killing of the cats and the dogs.

After Momo was killed I went down several nights to look for the pack of stray dogs... but I never saw them. They must have moved on.

Look for non-kill solutions. Is the live of "our" cats more precious because we have spend time and money on them? Furthermore calling for "removal" of the dogs can backfire...