Eet, rescued by reader James, up for adoption

Hello,

I picked up a stray kitten in September 2010 at the void deck of my block. At that point in time, the kitten was very skinny, hungry and in a terrible state. Thereafter, I brought him home and have since nursed him back to health. He is also sterilised and has taken all 3 vaccination jabs. However, my mum has been very unhappy with the arrival of the kitten and I am afraid I will have to hand him over to a nice and warm family.

He is now 8 months old and his name is Eet. He is toilet trained, and he loves to play with strings and balls of paper. Also, he loves to be rubbed under his chin and on his head and he is the most lovable creature although he can be quite playful at times. However, despite him being playful, he doesnt extend his claws to scratch people; he only likes to paw you. I really dont want to give him up but I have no choice.

He is currently being kept in my room together with me and there isnt much space for him to run around. For his own sake, I think a loving family will be great. Thank you so much for your help.

If you are interested to view and adopt Eet, please contact James directly at tchinhoe@gmail.com

TNRM at Bendemeer Road Blk 47 on Monday 27 December

Last night we headed to Bendemeer Blk 47 where there are at least 9 stray cats needing sterilisation. We managed to trap 9 cats; 1 cat that showed up eluded the trap. The cat that eluded us was recently nearly trapped for culling, so he was very fearful of human contact and no longer allows even the feeder Juliana to touch him. There weren't any other cats around, so we got almost the entire stray cat population at this site.

Most of the 9 cats we trapped were female, including one mother cat whose kittens have stopped needing milk, being 2 months old. (Of the 4 kittens, we checked that 2 of them are female, and Juliana will bring them for sterilisation in about 3 months' time.)

Here are the mug shots of the 9 cats-

We will post the expense receipts for the sterilisation when we have been billed. The cats will return to the block tomorrow afternoon.

Forever Homes this Christmas Weekend!

Pedro will be going to his new home tomorrow! Here he is in the picture taken with Azlina's family. They live in a house with no cats (Pedro cheers for that!) and with 3 kids to play with him all the time - Pedro will be thrilled! We are happy for the family and for Pedro darling!

Sepia and her brother Ebony both got adopted today! Valentine and his girlfriend, who will be living in Singapore long-term, were totally charmed by the crazy hyper-active antics of the brother and sister pair. Both of them have cats living with their respective families but none of their own as a couple. We are happy that both Sepia and Ebony went to a forever home together!

Pony went to his forever home today too! Farah and her hubby visited us before, and both were smitten by Pony and his easy-going ragdoll-like personality. Likewise Pony seemed to know these were his new human parents too, immediately abandoning us his foster parents and letting Farah and hubby bring him home.

All families have been reminded that the cats should not be allowed outdoor access to the streets, corridors, off from windows and balconies. We thank them for giving these rescued cats a forever home (and for answering our screening questions!) this Christmastime.

Ivory has been adopted!

We received a phonecall from Pascale's family today. They are formerly from Belgium, and Pascale's husband is running his own business in Singapore now, so they have permanently moved to our sunny island to live with their two teenage children.

Their previous cat, was quite old, so they left him back with family in Europe, and decided to adopt a cat in Singapore. The family visited us and they chose Ivory, the little cheeky Singapura-lookalike boy with white ankle socks on his fore-paws.

We asked if Ivory would have a chance to ever go to Europe! But no, the family will be living permanently in Singapore. They live in an apartment but will not be allowing window or door access to Ivory, and we have also warned them that cats with outdoor access in Singapore are in danger of being culled.

Pascale is a stay-at-home mom so she will be the primary caregiver of Ivory. We are happy for the family and for Ivory boy!

November's Sterilisation Receipts

The first receipt is sterilisation of Dusky and Orion who have since been rehomed.

The second receipt is of the 9 cats in Upper Boon Keng, completing our total of 34 cats sterilised at Blk 15 of this site. Below is the cost of transport and boarding and trapping included within as charged by Acodia -

Both receipts are being submitted to CWS for reimbursement back to our Sterilisation Fund.

Adopted!

Dusky is going to her new home on Sunday!

Here is Aishah with Dusky -

Dusky hasn't allowed any stranger human to hug her in a long time. We are so happy to see this sight of the two of them bonding. Aishah holds Dusky in a very close embrace, which makes Dusky feel safe.

Dusky did spend a lot of time running away and hiding during Aishah's visit, but while she was hiding near the refrigerator, she allowed Aishah to stroke her! Amazing! Aishah and her family is the perfect fit for Dusky. Aishah has another kitten, Butter, around Dusky's age, scheduled for sterilisation at the end of this month, and Dusky would bond well with her - Dusky is a very cat-oriented cat, and her previous best friends - Cassie and Orion were as close to her age as Butter is now. Butter was also an intraverted cat when Aishah and family first adopted her, but opened up as she fell in love with her human family. We can so imagine them bonding as new BFFs. This family sounds like a perfect fit for Dusky!

Aishah wants to be around for the whole day when she takes Dusky home as she is the primary caregiver, especially since she knows Dusky is very shy and timid in new settings, hence she will bring her home on the weekend.

Update on Pedro - ready for adoption!

Pedro is a pure-breed classic tabby Bengal (F3 or F4) that was abandoned by his owner, a French expatriate from Bukit Panjang who left him behind when he left Singapore. His neighbour, Sonny and family, fostered him but at the time, Pedro had severe socialisation problems, stress and had skin problems - fur loss, cat acne - so Sonny brought him over to our foster home so we could rehabilitate Pedro and find him a forever home.

So we set about rehabilitating Pedro.

First, he suffered bald patches around his scruff area and on his tail. We treated his bald patches with peroxide and Baneocin antiseptics, and subsequently povidone iodine. We supplemented his food with fish oil (omega 3) to restore healthy skin and coat.

For his cat acne, we started him on Bactroban, an antibiotic topical cream, then went on to use Combiderm, which was both antibiotic and steroidal, because his cat acne - prevalent in ears and on chin - were itchy. We also cleaned his ears with pyrethins ear mite solution regularly to prevent wax build-up, and put him on Revolution, to rule out the possibility of ear mites or ticks.

To combat this myriad of skin problems, we bought him Pyoben medicated shampoo - benzoyl peroxide shampoo - good for skin problems - and showered him regularly with it to aid in his healing.

His cat acne has receded a lot. So far only a few remain in his ears that are quite persistent. Cat acne is usually as a result of stress, so we have put him on antioxidant supplements (Vitamins A, C and E) as a counter measure. His new owner will be given the tub of Combiderm that he has been using to continue the treatment of his cat acne in his ears. Our vet also suggests laser surgery of some kind to burn off the acne which can be a quicker solution, albeit costlier.

For Pedro's socialisation, we trained him like we would a dog, as Pedro, like most Bengals, has a very canine personality. When he first came, he started growling and picking fights at every cat in the house. We gave him his own pen to feel safe in, and allowed him to come out for play and interaction with humans under supervision. Whenever he started meow-growling or adopting a fighting stance with any cat, we chided him with a loud NO and placed him back in the pen as his punishment. As time passed, he gradually reduced his bullying. Today, he no longer bullies the cats as much, and has become much more docile.

He also at first did not allow us to carry him and would attack and bite us. Now, he nips like how a kitten does out of love. When he nips too hard, we also chide him with a loud no and return him back to his pen. We allow him to come to us instead of us to him, and he has become very affectionate, allowing us to hug him more and more often. He absolutely enjoys rubbing up against people and being stroked.

Pedro is extremely social with humans of all ages, from child to senior, and craves for human attention a lot. He enjoys visitors very much. He likes to talk as well, and responds to toys - though he prefers a variety of toys as he gets bored easily. He responds to cat nip toys and can find the nip whereever it is hidden!

Pedro needs a home with an experienced cat owner; families would be great for him as he loves human attention and is good with children, and he needs lots of play time and affection. He would be best suited for a single-cat household as he does not want nor need feline company and does not socialise very well with cats.

However, if you would like to adopt Pedro and already have a cat, you can still be eligible to adopt him if you are able to spend the time and effort in socialising him to your cat, which would take a while. Until now, Pedro still does not want to play with our foster kittens, and is terrified of our own 4 cats; so do reconsider if you already own a cat. 

Pedro is now 8 months of age, is sterilised (no papers nor tipped ear), and is on Solid Gold Indigo Moon and Addiction Brushtail foods. He is litter trained (unlike some Bengals which cannot be litter trained) and is keen on drinking water, so he can be fed a dry or dry with wet diet, as we do.

If you are keen on adopting Pedro, please contact us with answers to our Adopters' Questionnaire (Elaine - 90880675 - elaine@lovekuchingproject.org / Andy - 81277072 - andy@lovekuchingproject.org ). Do note that Pedro being a pedigree and at risk of being adopted and then resold by profiteers, his adoption fee will be at $60 (pedigree kitten rate). Once your family / household has passed the screening and is agreeable to our Adoption Agreement we can set up a time for you to visit us at our foster home.

Cat Treats - Snack21 Herring Steaks

Recently we tried out a new cat treat since our favourite Angel's Sashimi Salmon treats were out of stock. This one is quite a winner!

Snack21 Herring Steaks is pure dehydrated herring, no artificial additives, just like Angel's Salmon treats. It also comes in Whiting and Salmon fish formulas, at $3.30 a packet.

We like the fact that the treat not only can be used to encourage good behaviour in our cats (and the foster cats too, can't deny them of our cats' stash of goodies!), it also is bigger than kibble size, which encourages chewing and thus keeping their teeth clean.

As you can see it is about twice the size of a kibble. For cats that don't chew their kibble - some do, some don't - adding these treats to their food will encourage them to chew.

Do remember to keep the treats safely stashed - we left it on our counter top and some cat tried to tear into the packaging! Yes, it is that yummy.

TNRM project at Bendemeer Road Blk 47

We will be conducting a sterilisation for the stray cat colony at this site on 27 December, Monday evening at 7:30pm.

We first heard of this need at Bendemeer Blk 47 via reader Lilian, that the cat feeder has no finances to sterilise the entire colony at a go. So last night we went down to the site to do a reconnaissance and touch base with the feeder, Juliana. Unfortunately, we missed her feeding time so we couldn't snap pictures of 5 of the cats out of the 9 unsterilised ones at this block.

One of the cats at this block is still nursing, and will only stop having to nurse her kittens when they turn 8 weeks of age, hence the sterilisation can only be done at the end of the month as the kittens are about 6 weeks old now. These are the 4 kittens. Unfortunate that we have no space to rescue them for rehoming. They hang out with their mother outside some shopfronts.

Over at another block, near a substation, we spotted another colony of unsterilised cats, feeder unknown. We may have to consider doing that area too, funds allowing aside from the logistics. Meanwhile, we will sterilise this colony at Blk 47 Bendemeer Road first this month, as we currently have just enough in our Sterilisation Fund to conduct one round of TNRM since at least 5 of these 9 cats are female.

A good thing about this site is that the cats mainly hang out in sheltered areas, so December weather should not be much of a deterrent on our trapping on the 27th. We have instructed Juliana not to feed them on the day itself - both morning and evening. Fingers crossed that we get all 9 cat sterilised!

Ally

Orphan kittens always have such a hard time battling illnesses. Both Ally and Emmy had developed symptoms of cat flu' and Ally's other sibling, Emmy, passed away on Saturday 4th December, from a severe upper respiratory tract infection, causing bloody mucus. Medicine - Danzen, anti-inflammatory - was administered upon our vet's advice but Emmy still didn't make it.

Meanwhile, Ally continues on Vibravet antibiotics. She was also given Chlorpheniramine (anti-histamine) and Bromhexine (anti-mucolytic) as well as put on a herbal remedy consisting of licorice, echinecea, mullein and elderberry extracts. We helped her clear her nose by sucking the mucus out. Her symptoms improved greatly. Her mucus stopped flowing, so we took her off the anti-mucolytic and antihistamine, continuing on the antibiotics and herbal remedy.

However, late last night, her nose started running again, so she is back on Bromhexine. Because of her runny nose, she hasn't been drinking much since 12 midnight, and finds it hard to breathe. We have to now feed her small frequent doses of milk instead of 4 hourly, since she drinks very little each time. Checked her lungs, they sound clear, the fluids are around her nose and throat areas, so her breathing difficulty is likely because of her nose being blocked. So we are back on sucking out her mucus from her nose, and diffusing eucalyptus with clary sage essential oils in the foster lounge to help her breathe better. She started to pale a little, so we  supplemented her milk with liquid CoQ10 which has helped, as well as some glucose. She is still alert and active, and is being kept warm.

Ally is actually a smoke (shaded) silver coloured cat. She has huge eyes and tabby markings on her hind legs. Unfortunately she doesn't look too good in these pictures, taken today when her symptoms worsened -

Now that Ally's flu' has turned critical again we are naturally very worried for her. We will keep up the intensive care for her and hope her condition turns around.

Guess who got adopted on Sunday!

Orion has found a forever home! After our post appealing to the need for adopters to choose intraverted cats, Sapporo's adopter decided to take Orion home as well to reunite the brothers. Sapporo is very attached to his owner Ezann - when she went home to Japan leaving him with a friend for a few days, he grew all lonesome and emo! Sweet boy that he is. We are happy for the family and both cats!

"Yay ANOTHER kitty!"

Ezann is trying her best - Thank You! - to find an adopter for Dusky, who has since recovered for her post sterilisation abscess and completed her antibiotics. We appreciate the compassion and effort a lot.

Our Christmas Wishlist for Love Kuching Foster Home

It's the holiday season and some of you might be thinking generously of us at Love Kuching - thank you for your thought on behalf of the cats! Here is a wishlist of gift suggestions that would improve the work we do as well as the well-being of the cats we foster. They are little extras and frills that would make a difference in our care and work for the cats in our Love Kuching foster home.

Undercover Mouse cat toy for multiple cats - the foster cats often find our collection of toys insufficient, often turning to human things that mightn't be ideal to play with instead. For use in the foster lounge, encouraging independent play and to keep them from getting into other kinds of mischief.

Aromatherapy diffuser, electric - we often diffuse essential oils in the foster lounge for specific ailments, such as chamomile for digestion problems or appetite stimulation, eucalyptus and clary sage for respiratory problems, lavender for aggression and insecurity. With an electric diffuser we can keep the essential oils diffused for the cats throughout day and night, also without worrying about fire hazards by using a traditional burner. Gift already on its way to us! Thank you!

Instant camera - for taking instant photographs of adopters with their adopted cat to give as a memento, as well as to pin on a board to display in our foster lounge that will encourage and inspire other prospective adopters, and remind us humans why pet adoption is so meaningful.

Classical or ambient music CDs to rotate with the Music Cats Love CD that we play in the foster lounge to provide security and calm to the foster cats. Just for extra variety and to enhance the indoor environment for the cats.

And if you would like to give practical essentials, you can consider donating food bundles via The Water Dish, or cleaning supplies: paper towels, baby wipes, bleach, disinfectant, dishwashing liquid, plastic bags - seemingly mundane things that we use a lot of in the foster home in keeping the environment clean, sanitary, comfortable and safe for the cats.

Have a great holiday season ahead!

Update on the Marsiling orphan kittens

They are now 2 weeks old!

Alas, Nelly died from before her eyes were opened, likely of cardiomyopathy and more as she turned blue towards the last hours before she faded and stopped drinking. We mourn that we lost her but we keep on fighting on for the other 2.

Emmy, likely a boy

Emmy is very small in size and also became quite weak. Her eyes were showing the third eye lid, she is dehydrated, and she had teary eyes yesterday to which we applied Terramycin. We have been adding glucose to their KMR milk recently alongside supplements of Lysinium Max, probiotics and colostrum to boost her blood sugar level. Emmy's weakness has receded somewhat; suckling more now, the third eye lid beginning to abate, and we have been feeding him 2 hourly instead of 4 hourly because he drinks little each feed compared to Ally. It is still touch and go for this young one. But he remains dehydrated, so will be putting him on rehydration fluid.

Meanwhile Ally is doing well, drinking greedily, and vocal and active. She is a healthy size for her age. She has been keeping Emmy warm by cuddling up with him alongside their hot water bottle. Hooray for siblings!