TNRM reconnaissance at Lavender

Colony of 9 un-neutered cats behind Lavender MRT

We received word that there was a group of un-neutered cats in Lavender that needed sterilisation as the elderly cat feeder is unable to neuter all the cats at one go. Our Sterilisation Volunteer LY went down to take a look at the situation and touch base with the feeder.

4 cats were found at this construction debris site -

There is one more cat here but he eluded the camera - he is a black cat with a handicapped leg, unable to walk. His sibling was also the same, unable to walk, and was killed in a car accident.

Nearby shophouses - sighted 3 unsterilised cats and 1 kitten. 

One of the cats, a white one, was hiding under a car and refused to come out for a picture. The cats here are quite scared of humans. The cat feeder will have to halt feeding for 2 days before we do trapping else getting them for neutering will be very difficult.

There is a hoarded up gated area nearby where 4 un-neutered cats reside, 2 came out from behind the gates - 

Across the road from these gates, another unsterilised cat was spotted - 

This brings the cat colony count to about 12 cats, if the 4 cats that eluded the cameras are untrappable, that still leaves 8 cats to neuter. There is also a roaming sterilised cat around here that will need an ear-tip (he was neutered by a caregiver from long ago).


How you can help:


In order for us to carry out this TNRM project in May, we need your help. We are low on our Sterilisation Fund after carrying out our last TNRM project in Eunos Crescent. To neuter these 12 cats in the outlined map area above, assuming an equal male-female ratio, we need another $600 more. For the colony of 8 cats residing nearby at the supermarket, we will need another $450 more.

We need your help. No amount is too small. To make a financial contribution for the TNRM of these Lavender cats, please make a bank transfer to our Love Kuching account POSB Savings 188-52652-7 and contact Elaine 90880675 / elaine@lovekuchingproject.org to indicate that your contribution is for our Sterilisation Fund.

Thank you for making the welfare of these cats possible.



NB: For the injured black cat with walking issue, he may need veterinary attention. If you specifically would like us to oversee his veterinary attention and are willing to help cover the cost, we can bring him for a vet consult. If no funds are available we will be neutering him and putting him back on the street.

TNRM at Eunos Crescent concluded

We concluded our TNRM project of 4 rounds in Eunos Crescent last Thursday 14 April. 5 cats were trapped at Blk 1, but 1 cat was already neutered. All cats have been returned and neutering went smoothly.

It was hard to trap that night because there was already a lot of killer litter food scraps being strewn from windows just before we arrived. Also, 3 tom cats were very elusive about entering the traps, and these 3 males are the only cats left that are not neutered in this colony. Here are the cats that we did manage to trap -

Turns out this cat is already tipped eared

White/tabby

Black

Tabby

Black

We also sent Mary Lou for her neutering surgery as her 2 months of nursing had concluded. She was returned to her original location of Bendemeer Blk 45 substation.

Mary Lou, happy to be rid of us finally!

Thus our Sterilisation Fund has been almost completely spent on neutering about 29 cats in Eunos Crescent alone these past few weeks. Our next project may come from your feedback, let us know if you see a cat colony that needs help! We are also getting our Sterilisation Volunteer LY to investigate a case in Lavender which we will report on once the reconnaissance is carried out.

Joey back up for adoption!

Joey has recovered from her bacterial skin infection from 2 weeks ago and is a-okay now, looking for a forever home!

Joey was rescued when she was 3 weeks old from a rubbish bin in Jurong West, together with her siblings. She was fostered by a mother cat in our custody then, Mary Lou, thereafter weaned and litter trained. Her sister Junie was the runt and did not recover from a hookworm infection even after they were dewormed, and her brother Wes was adopted this month.

2 weeks ago, Joey was found to have a skin problem on her abdomen and was brought to the vet. It was diagnosed as a bacterial skin infection that was caused by conjoining factors of her - then - slightly weaker immunity and from the other kittens in the pen play-biting her. Joey went on a course of antibiotics and topical skin treatment, as well as supplements of vitamins and colostrum to aid healing and boost her immunity. She was also separated from the other kittens, and she steadily put on weight, became healthier, and her skin started to keep improving.

Today, Joey went back to the vet for a check up and her first booster jab. She has been declared healthy and recovered and received her first vaccination!

Joey is a very sweet-natured girl - she purrs when being cuddled, doesn't ask for too much attention, has a quiet meow when asking for food, is very likable by other kittens, and gets along with adult cats. She enjoys playing on her own or with other cats, or just lounging at her favourite spot which for now is the carpeted base of our kitten scratching post. She is very smart - the minute we let her free-roam, she knew where to eat and drink from at our cats' feeding station, and which litter box to use - she enjoys using the hooded one in our foster lounge meant for free-roaming foster cats like her!

Joey is now 9 weeks old, dewormed, and on a diet of Taste of the Wild.

To adopt Joey, read here or see right side bar under 'How to adopt' to know about our adoption process.


Photos in the adoption posting courtesy of Furry Photos.

Little 'ah-beng' Jay - updated

Update 22 April: Jay has returned to our foster home. It turns out his first adopter's flatmate wasn't as understanding as she initially claimed to be and got upset with Jay after he play-scratched her (Jay's claws are not long at all). Joleen decided that Jay ought to live in a household with better humans as she could not resolve the issue with her flatmate who asked Joleen to get Jay to move out. He is fine and has no stress symptoms from the ordeal.

Jay, who arrived at our foster home on Sunday, has already been adopted! He will be going to his new human parent Joleen's house in Yishun tomorrow.

Joleen's old family cat who passed away a year ago when she was living with her parents and relatives looks a lot like Jay. Joleen currently lives on her own with an approving and cooperative flat-mate, and works from home - good for attention-seeking Jay who loves human interaction.

We are happy that Joleen and Jay have found each other!

Sunday's new arrival, Jay

Jay was found abandoned at a void deck in Hougang, all by himself. One of our donors, Catherine, found him and fostered him for a day before bringing him to us. She showered him and fed a very hungry Jay canned food.

Jay is a handsome semi-longhaired white and blue male kitten, about 10 weeks of age. He is healthy, was vaccinated today, vet-cleared of illness. He has also been dewormed and has no parasites.

Jay

For the past few days, we taught Jay to socialise with other kittens - he was initially very alpha, hissing at every cat, only liking humans - which leads us to feel he is an abandoned house kitten. Now he gets along with his pen mates, has learned to drink water and eat dry food on its own, and has learned to use the litter box well.

He is a very vocal, very affectionate kitten. He loves to meow at humans for attention and enjoys sleeping next to us and giving us nose kisses. He has also learned to get along with adult cats and learned to share his food with other cats.

Being semi-longhaired, we think he knows he has pedigree lineage - he poses very well for pictures and enjoys being brushed during grooming.

Sly charmer, this boy!

"I has good posture, is royal cat!"

Nice puffy blue tail

More pictures of Jay taken on 17 May 2011 here. 

If you would like to adopt Jay, kindly see here on how to adopt or see right side bar under 'How to adopt' for information on our adoption process.

Bamboo was adopted last Friday!

The vocal, sociable, human-loving tabby boy found his forever home with Michael and Rosanna last Friday!

Bamboo's new parents are originally from Philippines, and are getting married this June 24th! They currently are renting a condo and have landlord's approval of pets.

We are happy that Bamboo now has a forever family!

Q1 2011 Financial Statement

Notes to the January to March 2011 Financial Statement:

1. Our largest source of income is still through donations from our stakeholders. 
2. We kept a very tight marginal reserve last quarter - income less expenses - which is risky should there be any emergency veterinary expenses required. We appeal to you our stakeholders to financially contribute to our Veterinary Fund to allow us to keep a larger veterinary expense reserve for any emergencies, so that we do not ever have to make a choice between treatment and euthanasia when cats can tangibly benefit from veterinary treatment. 
3. We did not receive any bank interests in Q1 2011.
4. Cat Welfare Society Sterilisation Reimbursements remain a vital source of income for our Sterilisation Fund. We appeal to the public to donate regularly to the sole cat welfare advocacy group in Singapore for them to continue reimbursing caregivers and members for sterilisation of stray cats. As of 2010 the operational profit of CWS is in a deficit (see this PDF page 23 for their income statement) and your generous financial support for CWS will benefit not only the stray cats we sterilise, but stray cats nationwide.
5. Our largest direct expense on cats (our beneficiaries) is still on sterilisation of stray cats. This will continue to be the trend as sterilisation costs for cats will continue to outweigh other per cat expenses such as boarding.
6. Our Boarding Expenses were reduced by donations-in-kind from the public after our appeal was published.
7. Our Operation Expenses ratio to total funds spent has gone up to 18.5% compared to 4.7% from 2010 FY. This is mostly due to an emergency Singapore Power utilities subsidy from a donor for the sum of $400 as we experienced a power and water supply cut in Q1 in our foster home in Ubi. We also purchased a second annual membership for Cat Welfare Society so as to increase our CWS sterilisation reimbursement cap by another $500 per month. For every donation that comes towards the representatives (Chiam Elaine and Andy Koh), all are recorded in our official Love Kuching financial statements for complete financial transparency. 18.5% for operational expenses i.e. expenses not used on our beneficiaries still falls within the charitable organisation mandate of no more than 30% on operational expenses.
8. For a more detailed (with dates, description of items purchased) financial statement please feel free to write to Elaine at elaine@lovekuchingproject.org to request.

As we review our last quarter and plans for 2011 we have come together on a decision to launch a new sub-fund under our Operations Fund. At present, our Operations Fund consists of:

• Seed Fund - for publicity and fund-raising expenses.
• Transport Fund - for transport to and from locations such as pet supply stores, veterinary clinics, TNRM sites.
• Other operational expenses such as stationery, and in the last quarter, utilities.

With the introduction of more volunteers in 2011 and the mandate we have set ourselves to further improve our work in 2011 we have decided to launch a new sub-fund under Operations, known as the Volunteer Fund.

This decision did not come easily - we consulted privately with our regular donors and discussed the pros and cons in detail. As volunteers, our work is pro bono, i.e. we do not earn any income from any work relating to Love Kuching. However, in the long run, in order to achieve our goals for 2011 and ahead, we will need to consider 2 expenses that are directly for humans, that is, our volunteers, in order for us to continue our trajectory without setback.

Our volunteers consist of our two founders Elaine and Andy and our volunteers with portfolio - Sterilisation Volunteers, and Communications Volunteers (to be fully integrated within the year). At present, Elaine is working for Love Kuching almost full-time (oftentimes at the expense of her freelance work which is income-generating). The 2 expenses that will come out of the Volunteer Fund will be in the 2 forms of (1) volunteer appreciation - gifts or reimbursements for meals and transport; (2) honorariums. Volunteer appreciation will apply for Andy, Elaine and volunteers with portfolio. Honorariums will apply to Elaine who is contributing her executive and administrative skills to Love Kuching's operations. The exact amounts of these 2 expenses will depend on donor response to the Volunteer Fund which we can publish once the baseline of funds has been established. The usual charity sector volunteer reimbursements are at $5 per day per volunteer on days that the volunteers are active. All volunteer expenses will have the relevant paperwork and be recorded in our financial statements.

We were hesitant to launch the Volunteer Fund at first because the Singaporean climate towards paying staff or volunteers in the charity sector is highly risk-averse unlike in other countries, where it is highly recommended to pay non-profit workers in order to achieve greater financial transparency. But we as Singaporeans ourselves understand this risk-averse attitude in charitable giving hence our own initial hesitance. There are cases nationwide of solitary cat caregivers who pilfer funds secretly for their own use, claiming to donors that the funds are for buying cat food or for veterinary or sterilisation expenses of stray cats. In order for us to make it meaningful and secure for our stakeholders regarding expenses on volunteers, we have to make it above board and financially transparent, hence the launch of the Volunteer Fund. We did a straw poll to garner donors' attitudes towards it and the response has been very supportive, indicative that our stakeholders truly appreciate the sweat equity that has been placed into Love Kuching Project by the volunteers.

Love Kuching Project is here to stay and raise the bar for cat rescue year on year. Every initiative that we launch and you support reinforces our mission that we will continue to love the cats in our lives and neighbourhoods. A big thank-you to all the 'cat-angels' as we affectionately term our donors, and to the The Water Dish our corporate sponsor, for helping us come this far and bringing us further in our journey in Love Kuching Project!

Sterilisation KPIs - 2010 vs Q1 2011

Our last KPI report on 2010 was regarding boarding rescue cats and adoption rates. Now we present to you our KPI report on 2010's stray cat sterilisation and those numbers in the first 3 months of 2011.

In 2010, we sterilised a total of 123 stray cats from various estates. That averages to 10.25 cats per month. Going forward in 2011 we put to paper that we want to stretch to double that amount in 2011. This we aim to achieve by the recruitment of Sterilisation Volunteers, and so far we have done so. Our Sterilisation Volunteer LY is currently on holiday but has already undergone OJT at sites such as Bendemeer construction site and Eunos Crescent.

In 2011 for the first quarter we neutered 41 stray cats, 33 cats from March alone with our Sterilisation Volunteer's help as that is when her OJT started. On average this is 13.7 cats per month, which is an increase from last year's KPI, but not double. We did not do any sterilisation in January as it was the month we took time out to regroup for the year 2011. Once we have fully integrated Sterilisation Volunteers we definitely aim to keep up with the increase in numbers of stray cats sterilised and stretch for the double in numbers. If we cannot meet the numbers - it is a good thing, because that means fewer colonies of stray cats are in dire need of TNRM.

We could not have done this without 3 contributing factors:

1. Financial contributions from the public, i.e. you! Given that the bulk of our expenses goes to Sterilisation Expenses this means that we could not have done it without your financial help.
2. Cat Welfare Society's Sterilisation Reimbursements - have you become a member of CWS yet? Don't wait any longer! Your financial contribution makes a difference to cats nationwide!
3. Vigilant members of the community pointing out critical sterilisation needs in cat colonies that we can help out in.

Coming up soon - 2011 Q1 Income and Expenses - with some new initiatives regarding our our various partition funds.

Wes got adopted today!

Wes, the greedy affectionate boy rescued from a rubbish bin in Jurong West, has been adopted today by Jackson who lives in Bedok with his current cat Kiki.

Jackson holding Wes

We recommended Wes to Jackson because he was looking for a kitten companion for Kiki his 6 month old kitten, and Wes loves cat companionship. He also likes human affection but is not overly needy for cuddles and attention - Jackson lives alone and is out at work during the day - so Wes's personality was the most apt. Wes also resembles Jackson's old family cat - now 18 years old - that lives with his parents.

We are so happy that Wes has found a forever home!

Echo from Bukit Panjang

@EdmondChua found Echo, a 4 week old tortoiseshell kitten, last night, with bad cat flu' symptoms. She was alone, no mother in sight, and all the strays in that area of Bukit Panjang are neutered, so we suspect she is either abandoned or from a new stray mother cat in the area that hasn't been spotted yet. Edmond brought her to us today and we have quarantined her in a carrier covered with a blanket to prevent contagion.

Echo's flu' is quite bad, conjunctivitis has affected her right eye and it is being treated with Terramycin antibiotic eye medication and regular cleaning with a moist cotton pad to allow the eye to breathe. She is also on a course of Vibravet antibiotics for flu'. Upon listening to her lungs and breathing there are signs of mucous in her respiratory tract so she will also have to be on Bromhexine anti-mucolytic. We have also put her on a herbal flu' remedy and nutraceutical supplements (lysine, vitamin B and vitamin C), and diffusing eucalyptus essential oil for her in the foster lounge.

Echo, photo courtesy of Furry Photos

It is too soon to tell if her eye will fully recover. She takes her medication well, and still has appetite to eat her food which is a good sign. She is active, vocal and able to use her litter box which means that she still has a fighting chance against the flu'. Will update on her rehabilitation.

Eunos Crescent Blk 1 TNRM round 1 report

On Thursday night, we trapped 9 cats from Blk 1 Eunos Crescent for neutering. All 9 cats have been neutered and returned to the site. The total cost for this round of TNR cost $500.

Our initial cat count of the unsterilised cats in this colony was 16 cats, but the cat count on Thursday night yields definitely more than 16. A second round of TNRM is tentatively scheduled for next Thursday night at the same time 10pm (to be confirmed) and a third round may be necessary to complete sterilisation of the entire colony. 

This area of Eunos Crescent has seen a lot of new cats through abandonment, hence the high population of unsterilised cats. The feeders are itinerant and plentiful at various times; we stopped 2 feeders from feeding the cats that night, sharing with them that we were doing trapping for sterilisation.

The residents of Blks 1 and 2 also tend to throw a lot of killer letter, including food scraps. The car park where the cats congregate is strewn with litter -

Car park of Eunos Crescent Blk 1

During previous TNRM rounds did at this spot by caregiver Lynn in the evenings, a lot of killer litter was thrown at her and Damy during trapping - pork ribs, limes were thrown on their persons and on Damy's van. On Thursday at 10pm there was no killer-littering in progress so we will be doing the next round at the same time slot to avoid human injury.

The cats here are used to eating food scraps thrown by the residents from their windows and from the coffee shop nearby at Blk 1A, so we brought fried chicken alongside Fussie Cat canned food to lure the cats into the traps. The cats don't gather in throngs to eat together so trapping the cats singly was easy.

(Fried chicken was in that paper bag...)

Setting up traps in the car park

Blanket covered trapped cat

Here are the 9 cats we trapped and neutered -

Ginger

Tabby

Calico

Ginger

White/tabby

Tricoloured

Tabby

White with grey

Torbie

Thank you to all who contributed! More cats will be neutered in Eunos Crescent next week!

Bamboo, Berry and Barley

Mary Lou's 3 kittens are 7 weeks old this week! They are super active and love to play and here are some pics and videos of them during a hilariously poor attempt on our part on trying to take their pictures - they are really playful and wouldn't keep still!

The kittens were born in a carrier when their mom Mary Lou was supposed to be sent for neutering from a TNRM project back in February at Bendemeer Blk 45 together with the other cats from her colony. After finding out that Mary Lou was pregnant and had given birth we took the kittens and their mother in from the moment they were born, as kittens should not be separated from their mother. Mary Lou will be neutered and returned to Bendemeer when she stops lactating as she is currently foster-mothering 2 rescues Simone and Rainy.

Bamboo, Berry and Barley are now fully weaned and able to eat dry food on its own, dewormed, litter-trained, have been vet-cleared of illness and are healthy.They did have slight flu' when they were 3 weeks old but it cleared up within days when we put them on topical eye medication, nutraceutical supplements and herbal flu' remedy. Having been on mother's milk they are healthier than orphan kittens.

They are good friends with one another and with their pen-mates Wes and Kit who are also up for adoption.

Update: Bamboo, featured below, has already been adopted.
This is Bamboo, male ticked tabby with mid-length tail. He has a cute brick-red heart-shaped nose, and has light mackerel tabby stripes on his legs.  He is the most vocal of all his siblings, and loves to follow us around, enjoys human companionship a lot. We used to call him Baby Tabby -

Bamboo at 2-3 days old

Bamboo at 7 weeks old

This is Berry, black male with long tail that has a cute kink. His colouring is a rarity - he is fully black with no white spots, a prized virtue in black cats. He loves play-wrestling with other kittens, also loves to meow at us and is very docile. We used to name him Baby Black.

Berry at 2-3 days old with his mom Mary Lou

He is more cooperative with taking pictures but we still had to hold him down to get a good facial shot.

Berry at 7 weeks old

Berry's cute kinked tail

Loves to play with toys (and other kittens)

This is Barley, female black with white kitten, whom we used to call Baby Tux because of her bicolour pattern. She is the smartest of the 3, learned to eat solid food before her siblings did and is thus bigger in size than her brothers. She is a bit more reserved and quieter than her brothers and is more independent - she loves to explore things on her own and gives way to her pen-mates and siblings. Resembles our Sayang (cat mascot on top of the blog page) not just in colouring but in personality!

Barley at 2-3 days old

Barley at 7 weeks old

Mid-length tail with kink at end

Pretty, and very alert! - Intelligent cat!

Thinks she's human - standing on 2 feet!

More pictures of Barley taken on 17 May 2011 here. 

Eventually we called in an expert to capture them on camera, Furry Photos.

Barley, always alert for playtime!

Close up of pretty girl Barley

Berry and his brother Bamboo who has since been adopted

Berry about to pounce

Berry's cute tail

Berry's super glossy coat

All of them are ready for adoption and are now looking for forever homes. If you would like to adopt Bamboo, Berry or Barley read here on how to adopt or see right-side bar under 'How to adopt' to find out which documents you need to read before contacting us and reply us with via email elaine@lovekuchingproject.org or over the phone 90880675.If you can't adopt, do spread the word to help them find loving permanent homes!