There was a complaint about defecation on the common corridor. Bought vinegar and mothballs and met with Penny to check it out. We spoke to the residents, a cleaner, a feeder and a caregiver.

As suspected, the cause of the defecation is a free-roaming home cat. The owner denies it saying that the community cats come up to fight with her cat. But in any case keeping their cat in the house would solve the problem of the community cats coming up. According to the cleaner there is no defecation on any of the other staircases or at the void deck, just this one staircase which serves two units on each floor. the defecation is always on the 2nd or 3rd floor.

We cleaned the poo and the complainant was eager to try the mothballs and vinegar. She even asked us to place more mothballs near the neighbours door... she will explain to them.  She will also call us if the problem persists.

We saw quite a number of tipped ears while waiting for the feeders. There are responsible feeders and caregivers in this area.

The cat-cafe has been set up at the slope behind the bin center. As the structure is quite heavy and bulky, we had it delivered straight to the intended location and set it up...while approval is still pending. Penny will inform the TC officer and hopefully there will be no objection. 

The first two cats of the blk *95 family have been sterilised today. The cat with urinary problem vomited after taking the herbal medicine... but he was able to pass urine yesterday and according to the owner the urine was clear of blood. Hope they will continue to syringe glucose -water to clear the infection and stop giving him the poor quality dry food.

A resident at the Novena Condo complained about defecation at the swimming pool area and cats sitting on the chairs, so the management wants to remove the cats. Hope the feeder can discourage the cats from going to that area... using vinegar, water-spray, etc.. and get some residents to speak up against the removal.

Not my area but I heard about a complaint to Town Council regarding cats on the 2nd floor, so I went to take a look. I had no problem identifying the right unit with wire-meshed gate.

Yes, they have cats... 21 (including the latest batch of kittens). No, they are not sterilised... financial problems. They told me that all the cats are kept inside except for two... one of them being the rather skinny male cat that I saw downstairs. The corridor looked quite clean, no smell. I told them about the SPCA voucher scheme and they seemed eager to go. Me and Penny can also try to spare some vouchers for them next month and lend carriers. Also gave them the contact  for better and cheaper food after they told me they get  F and W brands from supermaket and can food at $1.90 a can.

They rejected my suggestion to put the kittens up for adoption. Nope, they want to keep them all!

Went searching for the injured cat but unsuccessfully. Feeders and cleaners in the area have been informed. It's been many days now and the cat has still not been found.

Yesterday night the cleaner told me that his friend saw the injured cat at the playground in front of blk 220 the day before.

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singaporeseen/viewContent.jsp?id=17590

After the search, already close to midnight, I met with Penny to see a Malay family supposed to have 20 cats. They planned to abandon them all because of the new grandchild. We talked to them about getting the cats sterilised and Penny will help to bring the pregnant female to the vet on Monday.

The lady counted the cats while we were there and then said that she had only 8 cats. Strange that she didn't know how many cats... we suspect that some have  already been abandoned.

There was a tiny kitten with signs of flu or could it be eye irritation due to fleas? All I had with me was the antibiotic powder, so we put some on the skin sores. The kitten's mother  and some of the other cats also have skin problems... fleas and probably mites too. We told her to get the flea spray but she says she can't afford the $30.-. She is also too busy to bring the cats for sterilization…

We were very tired and frustrated when we left... We have to do everything for her and in the end she may still throw the cats downstairs. There is no caregiver in that area so pest control will round them up..sterilised or not.

To top it off, someone complained to the MP about cats climbing on top of cars at the multi-storey car park next to the CC. The complainant was not identified !!!

I am still trying to verify with TC...so far have not been able to contact Ms Veron or Andrew.

The agreement was to give us until end of this month! AVA will call me if the cats come in and we will try our best to claim them back. I was told by AVA that lately more cats are being rounded up and that it will be very, very difficult to claim any unsterilised cat back.

We still don't know exactly which two cats have been caught, but there were no unsterilised ones left at this bin center.

Sponsors have come up with a total of $550.- to get 10 of the cats sterilised quickly...and 10 more were done with the help of SPCA. None of the many families we spoke to wants the cats to be killed...

Are the TC officers afraid because this complainant, who wanted to call in the police because Penny mentioned "Race" when talking about abandonment, would complain to the MP if TC didn't remove the cats?

TC denied having activated pest control...and the cats did not turn up at AVA.  The Pest Control company employed by TC is Clean Solutions.  I suspect they have relocated the 2 cats...

A mother cat from Tampines is being held at AVA for more than a week now because TC refuse to issue a letter to the caregiver who wants to sterilise the cat and board her at a cattery. All her kittens have already died at AVA.

Can someone please tell me why there is a need for such a letter in the first place when the caregiver is willing to home the cat in a cattery and is paying for all the expenses?

More closer to home, the Town Council Manager informed Penny that the (sterilised) cats will still be rounded up after end of this month because there is a complaint from a resident at Blk 172 about too many cats and that they are making noise. She refused to reveal which unit the complaint came from.

So all the families that we spoke to at Blk 165, which is even closer to the bin center must be deaf....because we asked them and they said there was no noise! Also it doesn't matter that none of the residents we spoke to wanted the cats to be killed.

All that matters is that that the one complainant and one property officer want them removed. I wonder if the complainant is actually aware that the cats will be killed and that there is a better and humane way of controlling the cat population... probably not!

There are around 10 cats at the bin center now, 2 have been removed. A caregiver has adopted the one that had one eye removed. Another cat gave birth at a caregiver's home, while waiting to be sterilised and she is now nursing her 6 kittens there untill they are ready to be adopted.

We actually came to know about this problem because a resident feeder named Caren contacted me... but in the end she was not willing to do anything at all. Penny then took over as it is quite close to her area... then another 2 caregivers and some sponsors came in. I am quite encouraged by such community spirit... what a shame to have such an unsupportive TC.

Altogether about 20 over cats have been done, those at the bin center as well as those from nearby blocks.

However the property officer still insists that there must not be more than 5 cats at the bin center by end of next week. Otherwise the Pest Control will be called in to round them up .

Helped Penny to do a survey today, in 2 hours we covered about half of the block closest to the bin center. 23 families did not want the cats removed, and none of them had any complaints. 2 people were indifferent and one family wanted some of the cats removed as they were scared of them…but even they did not want them killed.  Frankly I was surprised that there was not a single complaint about caterwauling, cat fights…I mean we only started sterilizing 2 weeks ago!

Penny will talk to the property manager and show him the result of our survey.

Why must these sterilised cats (there are now about 10 at the bin center) be removed, when the overwhelming majority of residents does not want them to be removed…just because one family has a phobia?

The bin center is not even close to the first block and there is lots of greenery surrounding it...including a quite steep hill with overgrown grass…. more than enough space for 10 cats to play and hide away from human beings.

…and again it’s actually about home cats let out to roam in the common corridor.

I am getting very tired of having to deal with such people! Both complainants and cat owners!

One complainant is having a sensitive, irritable nose and objects to having a cat on his corridor. Wonder what he is going to do about people with dogs walking by…can they also be removed? Then there are the cat owners who seem to care well for their pets and then tell me they are going to either abandon them at Changi or send them to SPCA because wire mesh would not look nice…and anyway they are actually not their cats. They only took them in 3 years ago when they were kittens because they pitied them.

Then I get a call from the complainant at 11pm…Are you available 24 hrs? Can I call you at 2 or 3 am if the cats make noise?

This is the block where the RC had earlier conducted a survey...and the result was that the majority did not want the cats removed.

Now there are no more cats at this block but the complainant claims that the 2 black cats and another calico follow her up to the lift, seeming interested in her plastic bag.

Perhaps they mistook her for a feeder? All 3 cats are actually very shy and keep away from strangers. According to Silvia these cats don’t go to *77 at all. I see the calico occasionally going to the bin center next to *77 and she won’t even let me come close to feed her. It’s hard to believe what the complainant said and that they wont leave her alone even if she stomps her foot.

When I suggested carrying a bottle of water to splash the cat…she didn’t want to be so violent. Isn’t getting the cats killed even more violent?

When I spoke with the complainant it turned out that actually she had no problems with the community cats at her block. She had complained about her neighbour's cats… one of them ran into her flat once…but then she also wanted to drop the matter as she and the neighbour are on good terms.

I had talked to that family before about getting their 4 cats sterilised some time ago…but they were still not done. The cats are well taken care of, no feeding on the corridor, no smell no defecation. Will help them to get the female sterilised next week using my last voucher.

From what I noticed, the cats stay mostly indoors even though the door is open. The family agreed to put back the wire mesh, which they had removed recently and stored at the corridor. 

Bunny appeared at block *24  area 2 about 2 weeks ago. She is a tall cat with a bobtail. Bunny will be sterilised tomorrow. 

The complainant called again...claiming Floppy slept in front of her door. she didn't actually see her but noticed cat hair on the cloth placed between door and gate to keep the lizards out. Luckily, I remembered those  plastic mats Dawn mentioned in her  blog... she can get 2 of those from Daiso and place them in front of her steps. that should keep the cat away. Actually Sylvia says that the cat no longer goes up to the 9th floor...but perhaps she still does so occasionally.

 

 

 

I lend them my carrier and then the two siblings went on their own to bring one of their two cats to the vet. I just came to know that there had been a complaint about their cats a month ago and they were told to keep the cats in...but they had not done so. Wonder if those officials were from Town Council... sad that they still refuse to work with caregivers. Such families need advise about sterilisation, meshing and sometimes they have financial difficulties. The other cat will be done next month.

Regarding Floppy, the complainant accepted our offer to fix plastic mesh to her gate. Sylvia and myself fixed the mesh yesterday night. She was very pleased...but I think she will still keep her doors and windows closed as she is fearful of lizards entering her home. There were rags and small pillows squeezed tightly between the gate and the wooden door to keep them out. We had also been wondering about the black and yellow tape at the wall leading to her unit. She told us hat the MP on her visit has also questioned her about this...it's to prevent the lizards hiding in the small gap.

I missed 3 calls from the complainant around 10.30 last night, when I called her back she sounded agitated and complained that she just came home and found the cat lying in front of her door. She asked me to “come and take the cat away”.

The feeding on the 9^th floor seems to have stopped but of course the cat won’t change her habit so fast. Sylvia checked at about 11pm and brought Floppy downstairs. When I reached at around midnight she was up again and I also coaxed her to follow me down.

There was no food and the corridor looked very clean except for some red candle wax on the floor. Floppy does not defecate or urinate upstairs. She is also the only community cat at this block.

Though the complainant seems to be a Christian, she has no qualms about terminating the life of this innocent and harmless cat. I wonder, would she be willing to bring Floppy to the vet and to watch her being ‘euthanized’?

A resident complaint about people feeding a stray cat on the 9^th floor.  The “stray” turned out to be a well-loved community cat named Floppy. Sylvia and myself spoke to several residents, one said that Floppy would follow her up to the 7^th floor, another claimed that Floppy would take the lift up on her own.

We found no evidence of feeding and the corridor looked clean. Hope the residents will cooperate and feed downstairs.

I also noticed 2 cats on the 4th floor…and there was a strong urine smell. When I came close they ran into the corner unit. I advised the Malay family to keep the cats inside and also to get them sterilised.

 

There are about 7 – 8 cats there at feeding time, which is not an increase in numbers. It’s about the same as when I started sterilizing.

A resident’s cat is causing problems by defecating at the staircase landings. The feeders were actually aware of this and had cleaned up many times. One of them had previously spoken to the “owner” which ended in quarrelling.

Yesterday night I went with her to speak to the person. He seemed quite hot tempered and shouted at the feeder (who spoke in Malay) to ”shut up” at one time.

He refuses to wire mesh his gate, as it wouldn’t look nice (the windows do not face the common corridor). He says all he can do is to pick up the poo when he sees it…he also remarked that it could be other cats or dogs that defecate at the staircase.

Silvia herself saw the cat urinate there yesterday night.

At the end he agreed to keep the door closed when he is at home…but he said that when he is out his young children would open the door and there is nothing he can do about that. According to the “owner” the cat is already 15 years old. He also has another cat, which is bathroom trained and does not go out.

The feeders will take turns to check morning, afternoon and night and will also sprinkle mothball powder.

Haz will also take a photo/video next time, as proof. …

He started complaining about a year ago about the cats scratching his motorbike, one of those huge machines with a seat that looks like a cat-sized sofa. He seldom uses it, as he also has a car. When I lifted the cover yesterday, I saw little Louis curled up on the ‘sofa’.

I had earlier given him some cat repellent and the problem seemed solved when One-Eye Ginger moved to the next block…unfortunately he has moved back since and more cats have come in (Jade, Louis, Golden Lion and the now adopted Jasper). I have left a bag with mothballs on the seat…hope that works.