Latest rescue: Ziggy

Update 7 May: Ziggy passed away at around 11am.


Ziggy was rescued near our foster home, right here in Ubi. An interesting story!

Ziggy at 5 weeks old

Last week, Andy and I heard baby kitten meowing sounds in the vicinity of our foster home late at night, but could not trace where the sounds were coming from. The next night, while we were running errands in Ubi central, we met two boys with a scampering little Ziggy. We then heard from them the account of what happened that brought them to find this little lost kitten.

One of the boys lives in Blk 304 and he saw a girl the night before dump a box below his block. He asked the girl what it was, if it was rubbish, and the girl said yes. He then found out there were two kittens inside. One was taken away by someone else eventually, leaving him and his friend with Ziggy. The boys felt the girl who dumped the kittens was really irresponsible, but they didn't know what to do. They brought the kitten to the central area of Ubi and that was where we met them, near one of the cigarette shops.

We took Ziggy home to shower, groom and feed. Upon checking Ziggy we realise we can't yet tell if Ziggy is male or female. Teeth development put Ziggy at 4 weeks old (now 5 weeks). We dewormed Ziggy and bottle fed milk with supplements. At four weeks Ziggy should be able to learn to eat but it took a few days to wean him/her off the bottle. From the moment we started feeding Ziggy, the purring and kneading ensued, and Ziggy is one kitten that really, really likes hugs.

Treated us as human (foster) parents from day 1

We placed Ziggy in the ICU pen with the heating mat cranked up as there was evidence of mild hypothermia. Ziggy is also rather small for now 5 weeks old.

Small small Ziggy

But Ziggy is awfully cute with lovely features. Also, apart from the hypothermia and just a tinge of teary eyes, there weren't any health problems, and Ziggy is now healthy.

Long tail with slight kink

White fur on chest

Ziggy is still unable to drink water very well on own, and needs to eat moistened kibbles i.e. soft food. Also still on supplements to boost its immunity. Meanwhile, while learning to progress to eating solid food and drinking on own, Ziggy is one big attention seeker!

Very into hugs

Cannot do without being centre of attention!

We hope to be able to sex Ziggy accurately soon and progress eating and drinking skills to be more independent so that Ziggy is adoption-ready. Meanwhile, within 2 days Ziggy had already learned to use the litter box. Just slow on the eating and drinking front. Patience, and soon Ziggy will be on our Adoption Alert with the rest!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme    
Give food and litter at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish 

Next TNR project - Sungei Kadut Industrial Estate. Sterilisation sponsored by @CatWelfareSG !

Map of Sungei Kadut

The need at Sungei Kadut for sterilisation of its stray cat colony has been a highlight in the cat rescue industry for awhile now, and after reconnaissance done by our new second Sterilisation Volunteer, Ash, we finally have a clearer picture of what the colony's behaviour and demographics are like.

The appeal for this colony initially came through Cat Welfare Society so they have given us free sterilisation slots for 10 cats of this colony. We would only need to pay for transport, trapping and boarding!

This are pictures of the building near where the cats are situated. Ash spoke to the building manager who said that they did not mind the cats and had no intention of removing them.

Factory building

Here are the cats that were found there. There are some kittens that are mature for neutering, and cat count yielded 10.

Cats appear from 5 to 6 pm onwards

They remain around the area after dark

Some are more skittish

Kitten mature for neutering

Siblings

We need to get 10 cats to Clinic for Pets by 10:30am on Friday morning in order to qualify for the free slots, else we would have to pay for their ops using our Sterilisation Fund. This means we have to trap them on Thursday. We will be there at 5pm.

Will be tweeting from the location and reporting here after the TNR!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7   
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme    
Give food and litter at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish 

Pat and Shane adopted last night!

Wine and Seven's adopter from last year, came back to adopt from us again! And guess who came along for the visit!

That's Wine! Now named Crystal

The last time we met Crystal and Diamond (Seven) was when they had just been neutered at the clinic. We hear Crystal is the queen of the house now!

Here is Fiza's mom with Pat and Shane.

We sense a lot of love here... aww

And a group picture. One human brother and one kitty brother not included in this family photo!

Heralding Pat and Shane like in The Lion King!

We love repeat adopters! Now Fiza's family of 4, has 4 kitties. Kitty love for all!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7  
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme   
Give food and litter at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish 

Old Airport TNR report

We initally wanted to trap two colonies that night - this Old Airport one, and the one at Haig Road. But upon another recce, it turns out that the Haig Road colony is bigger than initial cat count, so we decided to conduct TNR on just the Old Airport site, and Haig Road another round.

The Old Airport colony is small, and we were unfortunately hindered in our trapping that night because, despite our instructions, the feeder went and fed the cats before we trapped them. This meant we could only trap 2 cats for neutering from this colony. We also brought a stray cat from a nearby Dakota colony along for neutering, for which the feeder there paid for his surgery ($25).

Here are some photos from our trapping:

Some of the already neutered cats

This cat could be carried and placed in carrier easily

Trapping apparatus (and an onlooker!)

Traps are baited with food, hence untimely feeding will foul the process

And here are the cats from that night:

Black/white from Dakota, surgery paid by feeder

Ginger

Tabby

And the bills:

1 castration $25 was reimbursed to us by Dakota feeder

Bill that incl transport. We covered the Dakota cat's boarding

Our next project will be at an industrial estate at Sungei Kadut. Watch our blog for the recce story!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme  
Give food and litter at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish 

Adopt Pat and Shane - petrol station rescues

"Herow. I am Pat."

"Hurro, I'm Shane!"

These 2 cuties came to our foster home at 3+ weeks of age. They were rescued from a petrol station. Story was that a motorist there found the kittens inside his vehicle (van or pick-up), probably because a mother cat gave birth inside it. No mother in sight, only these two kittens. The motorist dumped the kittens out of his vehicle at the road side near the exit of the petrol station. Rescuers picked them up and nursed them for a day before bringing them to us.

"Me just got a bath. A bit cold cold."

"Can snuggle with pillows?"

At the time, both Pat and Shane were still on a only milk diet. We weaned them, and now they are able to eat dry kibble on its own, and drink water on their own too. They were litter trained, which they learned easily in a day.

Pat being curious!

Shane during a grooming session

Pat is tabby and white with a mid-length tail, and Shane is red tabby with white with a long tail. Both of them love to climb, meow with humans, and they get along with older cats. Because they are still small, they feel safer roaming a small space than the whole home.

Pat coming out of hiding

Shane communicating with Braveheart

Both kittens are healthy and now independent enough to be re-homed! They have been dewormed, no fleas or mites, no symptoms of illness, litter-trained. At the time of this post, they are 5 weeks of age. Their eyes haven't completely changed colour yet and they are too young to get vaccinated at this time.

Pat's penetrating gaze

Shane also knows how to stare at you till you fall in love!

If you would like to adopt either Pat or Shane or both, see right sidebar under 'How to adopt' or click here to go through our adoption process.

"Really? We can haz human parents?"

"Good cat humans please adopt us!"

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7  
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme    
Give food and litter at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish 

The Story of Salmon the Red Tabby Kitty

 "Am a really shy boy. Mew."

Salmon came to our foster home with his brother and his sister a while back. They were rescued from a busy intersection at Grange Road where their own mother had already died in a traffic accident.

Unfortunately, all three of them were feral. This meant that, if they couldn't be socialised as domestic pets, the humane solution was that they would have to be neutered and released. Thus began our socialisation process.

We fed them calming supplements like St John's Wort, tryptophan; we used aromatherapy to calm them. We did a lot of cat-whispering - essentially just talking and posturing in cat language. We gave them hugs and used touch therapy. At first they were very violent and us humans got injured badly by their bites and scratches. Then we got to a point where they would merely hiss at us and back off whenever we approached. After that, the socialisation progress came to a standstill. Only Salmon seemed receptive.

Salmon's brother and sister were neutered and released in Ubi, where there are feeders (there weren't any where they were rescued from), cat-friendly coffeeshops, and most of all, away from a busy intersection. Salmon's sister was especially ecstatic when we released her.

The three of them were extremely healthy with strong immune systems. So when Salmon stayed behind, we introduced him to a friend - Napolean. This was a calculated decision: Napolean had all the traits of a great house cat - vocal, purring, affectionate, loves human contact. Salmon was likely healthy enough to fight whatever flu' viruses Napolean might shed. We monitored Salmon closely - no signs of flu' since introduction, till today, he remains healthy. The best part was, Salmon now is very much like Napolean: friendly, like hugs, purrs in response.

Salmon remains an intraverted kitty. He gets scared of sudden loud noises, and has a great need for security. But he is officially a suitable house cat. Once he gets to know you, he will communicate with you with rubs and purrs! And yes you can hug him!

Shy Salmon with human Elaine

As of this post, Salmon is around 26 weeks old, neutered, vaccinated, litter trained. He is a dark red mackeral tabby with a long tail and Oriental features.

If you would like to adopt Salmon, see right side-bar under 'How to adopt' or read here. 


Photos courtesy of Kevin Lee of Cake Images

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
 Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme  
Give food and litter at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish 

3-legged partially blind cat needs YOUR help.

Appeal for Calipod from Love Kuching Project on Vimeo.

Calipod is a stray cat from the Geylang area who has been missing a leg since birth. She has struggled by coping with having only 3 legs.

Unfortunately, she had an injury to her eye recently. Our volunteer took her to the vet where she had to have surgery and rehabilitation off the streets.


Her veterinary bill came up to $898.57. Her case is on Cat Welfare's Special Appeals section now. 




How you can help:  
 
Make a donation to Cat Welfare Society's account -

Bank: DBS Current Account
Account number: 065 - 013507 - 8
Bank Code: 7171
Branch Code: 065

This should be accompanied by an email to specialappeals@catwelfare.org to inform of the transfer, headed with the title of the appeal as the subject header of the email, and indicating:

Name of donor:
Amount donated:
Transacting bank:
Transaction number:
Date and time of internet/ATM transfer:

All verified donations will be acknowledged by email. Once the required appeal amount is reached, the appeal will be closed.

Please note that any additional amounts or untraceable amounts collected will go to Cat Welfare Society's sterilisation fund.

Do take note that all financial help for Calipod should go into the abovementioned account and not to Love Kuching directly as we have escalated this case to Cat Welfare because of the large sum required to cover Calipod's care.

Any amount will do, no sum is too small. Please help us help Calipod.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7   
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme  
Give food and litter at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish