outrage

I believe myself to be quite a rational cat lover, as I am not over-zealous in cat welfare to the extent of making human enemies. However, something has come to light in the recent months that we the Ubi cat community feel we cannot shut up about any longer.

Remember Ashraf's kittens? His other un-neutered female cat has also given birth to a litter of three, making his kitten household a number of seven.

When we first viewed the kittens, to be honest, while they had the prettiest thick short fur and playful tendencies, they were actually very skinny.

When asked about the reason why the kittens were underfed, Ashraf said that his mother refused to feed the kittens too much (at that age they were requiring 6 - 10 meals a day) because they shat all over the house - they have no litter box at home. When we asked him to buy one he refused.

We were shocked, but as Ashraf is just a kid, we let it go because it was his mother who was taking care of the cats most of the time.

We lately found out that Ashraf's mother has decided to abandon all seven kittens with their mothers at a market nearby.

I was shocked to hear this, and felt outraged at the amount of irresponsibility of this family. In the first place, the cats only gave birth because they failed to neuter the cats early. In fact, Ashraf has previously asked Cat Welfare Society for funds to neuter his own cats, claiming that he has no money. This is not true, as he is the owner of pedigree cats, and comes from a middle-class family. Plus Cat Welfare funds should be reserved for disadvantaged and homeless cats, not for those who belong to people already. And in the first place if you have limited financial resources, don't adopt more animals than you can afford.

In fact, Ashraf has also spammed Aswat's phone, begging Aswat to foster all these cats for him at the shop, and if they cannot be rehomed, to send them to SPCA on his behalf.

To further accentuate the irresponsibility, Ashraf's begging included using the fact that it is now Ramadan and how God knows he needs Aswat's help.

I am outraged beyond words. While God forgives, He is not your excuse.

This post has been hard to write, as I have been upset to the point where I need to pause frequently, and regain my composure in order to not be vindictive in my choice of words.

I will be inviting SPCA over to his house for a surprise visit. I have also written to the Feline Fanciers of Singapore highlighting Ashraf's treatment of his animals, as he is a clerk at the twice-yearly nationwide cat shows, and also shows some of his pedigree cats. (You know what, one of his cats' names is Muezza.)

As for the kittens, we are trying to re-home them but 7 is a big number and his kittens are already now 2 and 3 months old, and not toilet-trained. It takes a big hearted owner to be able to adopt them because of their plight.

As for you our readers, there are a few things you can do if you feel similarly outraged: Help us to spread the word about these kittens that are facing abandonment and undernourishment - we are trying to do the same.

It is one thing to treat animals less than ideally because of lack of education or finances, and another to intentionally abandon and mistreat them. Pet owners of the former can be educated to better animal care, and to balance their ability to care for their animals with their finances. But people who intentionally ill-treat animals are a different breed altogether, one which I have very little sympathy for.

We have in our neighbourhood met so many animal lovers who may not be very rich or educated, but who are humane enough to educate themselves on how their animals can receive the best care. We have a stray cat feeder in our neighbourhood who feeds the strays Innova Evo cat food, and another who feeds Royal Canin. We met many housewives who care about their families' animals so much, showing so much love and giving them the attention and care they need. It warms the heart to see great pet owners in our neighbourhood, but it totally breaks my heart to witness irresponsible ones in action.