Important Announcement: Our DBS Ideal Bank Account Status

We were at DBS Bank at Parkway Parade today because we have a new committee term coming up — our date of incorporation as a Registered Society is on 26 Dec 2013 — and there will be a change of bank signatories as some committee members step down while others step up.

However we found out that DBS had closed our current account number 027-905975-3 on 18 Dec and cut us a cashier's order of our remaining balance of over $3K. Our last 2 donations were standing instructions of $50 each on 18 Dec, which we received email notifications of.

That said, the DBS teller tried her best to help us and we truly appreciate her assistance. Meanwhile, we are working towards getting a new bank account up and running but this will take between 5 and 8 working days. Please bear with us until that is ready to be announced.

For now, all funds transfer to and from our account — DBS current account 027-905975-3 — will no longer be active. For donors whose standing instructions to our DBS account that are actionable after the 18th of every month, we will not be able to receive your donation via our Love Kuching Project DBS account this month.

Cat angels who would like to make donations over Christmas, you can cut a crossed cheque out to Love Kuching Project and mail it to us: contact Elaine via SMS at 90880675 or email Deborah at fundraising@lovekuchingproject.org to ask for our address. Or you can donate cat food and litter for our current kitties via Polypet.

Please rest assured that we will update everyone with our new account number on all our online social channels and website as soon as we have new bank account details, so that you may reinstate your monthly donations that help us pay our rental.

Donors whose mobile numbers are in our directory will be updated via SMS from Elaine, our president. In the meantime, all donors can contact Elaine via SMS or phonecall at 90880675 for further information. We sincerely regret all the inconvenience that this bank matter has caused all of you. Your support is important to us.

Sharing Love, Sharing Knowledge

This article was originally written for The Mews and is republished with permission. 

On Sunday, 8 October 2017, close to 30 cat lovers from all over Singapore attended the first Love Kuching Project Masterclass session on feline emergency and first aid, wound care, injuries and trauma. This session was conducted by our Love Kuching Project (LKP) volunteers and veterinarian at The Garden Slug café. 

These cat lovers, some of whom had already signed up as fosterers under the newly launched Rescue Central, were keen to gain learn and share their own experiences with fellow cat caregivers. 

For eight years, LKP volunteers have been helping to care for chronically ill or injured community cats that do not need to be hospitalised but still need a lot of clinical care in an indoor environment. Our volunteers, particularly those in the Foster Care team, have been administering care to rescued community cats that require critical, intensive, long-term or palliative care, either to rehabilitate the cats before they return back to their communities, or allow them to live their last days in comfort.


Over the years, LKP has amassed a pool of knowledge in rehabilitation. We were approached by CWS to share our knowledge with fosterers in the Rescue Central initiative. This series of Masterclass sessions, which we have designed, feature theoretical veterinary knowledge and applications necessary in clinical foster care from a layperson standpoint, and discussions of clinical skills necessary in home care, and discussions on both veterinarian-recommended pharmacological treatments alongside simple home remedies LKP has used successfully over the years.

Dr Dawn Chong, a vet who has been working closely with LKP for several years, spoke about signs of a healthy cat before going into details about emergency and first aid for cats that would be useful for cat caregivers. Lifting up Splotch, one of our therapy cats, Dr Chong showed participants where and how to get the cat’s normal heart rate and pulse and watch for its breathing patterns. 

The important danger signs to watch for are weak or no pulse, laboured breathing, discolouration of mucous membranes and pain or masses when feeling a cat’s abdomen. Dr Chong also took participants through how to do cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) when a kitty has lost consciousness, has no pulse or is not breathing. “Bring the cat to the vet immediately when this happens, and do CPR on the way in the cab,” she said. 

“Call the vet in advance and tell them the signs. The clinic can prepare for triage while you’re in the cab,” said Elaine Chiam, co-founder and President of Love Kuching Project.  “So when you get to the clinic, your cat can be rushed into the treatment room right away.” 

Elaine spoke on trauma injuries caused by vehicular and industrial machinery accidents, and falls from height. Sketching out a simple skeletal structure of a cat, she went on to discuss the different injuries and considerations for surgical and non-surgical treatments, how to manage splints if used for the injured cat, and follow-up treatments including acupuncture and physiotherapy.

Lydiana Ramli, manager of LKP’s Foster Care team, talked about different types of wounds, various treatments for these wounds and daily wound care routines. Taking questions from participants on what could be applied to wounded cats during the question and answer session, Lydiana warned that some common personal care products used on humans could be poisonous to cats. She showed items which LKP has in our cattery, including a stethoscope (“can buy from Mustafa!”), saline solution, gauze, and so on which can be purchased easily at local pharmacies.

Closing the Masterclass session were interactive questions and answers, and a hands-on experience with two therapy cats, Gizmo and Splotch, where participants could check the vital parameters taught during the training.

Next in the series of Love Kuching Project Masterclasses will be a class on infectious diseases and immunodeficiency, as well as many common illnesses in cats. Community cat caregivers, and cat lovers who want to learn how to foster rescued cats and kittens, please keep an eye out by following us on social media (see below for links!).

Donate to our cause by making a deposit to our Love Kuching Project DBS Current Account 027-907655-0 or via credit card.
Donate food or litter to us at charity rates via Polypet
Please email fundraising [at] lovekuchingproject.org after giving.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Cat Therapy

"Feline therapy is a step further in sharing this love with those that need it most." -Elaine Chiam, President of Love Kuching Project

Article originally written for The Mews, cross-posted with permission.

The Love Kuching Project Outreach team conducts cat therapy sessions for seniors in nursing homes, students, as well as children and young adults with special needs.

Through activities such as grooming, patting, playing or simply by their presence, therapy cats provide relaxation, emotional comfort and assist in physical healing.

Seniors, for example, are encouraged to pick a toy and play with the cats or groom them so as to aid their mobility. Special needs students gain social skills during their interaction with the cats and our volunteers. 

It is scientifically proven that having cats as companion can elevate poor emotional moods. The calm natures of our therapy cats also help promote the love for cats in general, replacing that fear and misconception towards felines with acceptance. 

It is scientifically proven that having cats as companion can elevate poor emotional moods.

We currently work together with these organizations - Ren Ci Nursing Homes (Moulmein & Bukit Batok), Thye Hua Kwan Home for the Disabled (Eunos), MINDS: Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore & Rainbow Centre (Margaret Drive)

“We first started developing our feline therapy programme in 2013, because we wanted a structured programme that was based on research,” says Elaine Chiam, President of Love Kuching Project. “We all already know about the love we have for and from the cats we have in our own lives, but building our therapy programme based on what cat behaviour research has already uncovered, made this programme a good fit for the VWOs that we reach out to. Feline therapy is a step further in sharing this love with those that need it most. As we minister this love to humans through therapy cats, we also educate in a way that hasn’t already been done. This way, we fill a need in the education work of Singapore’s cat welfare sector, sharing knowledge of cat behaviour, dispelling myths, and promoting adoption.”

If you would like to be part of this enriching team, please email us at outreach@lovekuchingproject.org.

Donate to our cause by making a deposit to our Love Kuching Project DBS Current Account 027-907655-0 or via credit card.
Donate food or litter to us at charity rates via Polypet
Please email fundraising [at] lovekuchingproject.org after giving.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

#lovecatsgivelove by joining us as a volunteer!

"I needed something to call my own, I was dedicating too much time to just professional practice and school and needed something more personal to feel more fulfilled." Jialin, HR Volunteer and Foster Care Volunteer

#lovecatsgivelove

All of us at LKP want you to join us in giving love back because we love cats - through becoming a volunteer with portfolio just like us! We have a volunteer family here that we feel really connected to and want to tell you all about it so you would consider taking that step just like we all did.

In this blog post, we will share with you: what we are looking for, the teams in which we are organised within LKP, the portfolios we take up and a simple description of them, and how you can apply to become a volunteer.

We also have an informal recruitment open house on Sunday 29 October at 4pm, before one of our volunteer parties, held at our place in Joo Chiat (yes, see kitties!) especially for those of you interested in joining us as a volunteer. We have never done this before, so yes it is a big step for us too. Because we are a small and closed-admission shelter, we only ever have visits from volunteers, as well as donors and rescuers if they make an appointment - we only have 390sq ft of space including the human bathroom!

We want those of you considering volunteering with us to come and take a look, get the big picture and the details, before committing to a relationship with us and the cats we love. Our boss Elaine, as well as a few other volunteers, will give you "the grand tour" and answer your questions, no matter how many. Afterwards, you are also invited to join us for our volunteer party at the rooftop at 6pm - meet the people you may be working alongside, feel the vibe, eat some free food. You can register your interest for the open house (and get our secret address) by sending an email - see info below.
(Note: this blog post is not a recruitment post for ad hoc volunteering - you can join us for that anytime you are able through filling in this form.)

What we are looking for in a volunteer
Someone who is:

• Open to learning new stuff
• Seeking personal growth and meaning through volunteering
• Works well in teams
• Cares about humans, too - not just cats
• Able to commit to the schedule requirements (as per the portfolio you are applying for)

Yep, that's mostly it! Apart from some of the portfolios below that state required technical or professional skills and knowledge, what we really care about can really be distilled down to attitude and availability. We are willing to teach you all we know.

Our Teams and Portfolios
We are currently arranged into 8 teams and are recruiting for all of them. Each team may have more than one portfolio. The teams and portfolios are described below.

The Foster Care Team is primarily looking for Foster Care Volunteers to commit to a once-weekly shift at nights from Monday to Saturday and afternoons for Sundays, on a fixed day every week. There is also a day shift from Monday to Saturday, for administering medication. The day shift Foster Care Volunteers also: top up cat food if necessary, do basic cleaning of the cattery, and clear poop from litterboxes. Day shifts are weekly on at least one day from Monday to Saturday. 

Foster Care Volunteers are bread-and-butter of Love Kuching Project; they look after the sick or injured stray cats or kittens in the cattery by providing their clinical treatments and medications, nutrition and supplements, cleanliness needs of their cat suites and litterboxes. These skills and knowledge bases will require initial training sessions, and continual learning and development.

The Rescue Team follows up with the Rescue Requests that the public submits to us via our website, which feeds to the team's Slack channels. The processes for managing Rescue Requests are carried out on tech platforms such as Trello which, like Slack, is available both on mobile and desktop. 

Rescue Volunteers need to contact these rescuers as and when they can after viewing the Rescue Requests; the liaison work is done remotely during free times the volunteers are able. Liaison with the rescuers is for finding out more details about the cats, ascertain whether the cases are the kind we take in, and if not, advise the rescuers on other options. Sometimes the cats need to put on a waiting list first, but either way, Rescue Volunteers will assist in the admission process to our cattery, as well as the discharge if applicable, at times convenient for both the volunteer and the rescuer, such as after work hours or on weekends as and when needed. 

The team is also looking for ERF Volunteers: our Emergency Rescue Fund (ERF) is available for rescuers who cannot afford to pay for the vet fees, but are able to foster the stray cat in their own home after the vet visit, or there is someone available from our Foster Network. ERF Volunteers meet the rescuers at our partner vet - The Animal Clinic at Telok Kurau - and decide on the diagnostic tests and treatment options, as presented by the vet. You will need to be free during opening hours of the clinic: Mondays to Fridays morning till night, Saturday till 5pm, preferably also during some daytime slots in the week in case of emergency cases. You should have some basic understanding of veterinary care for cats, that will be necessary for deciding how to spend the donors' funds to yield the greatest benefit for the cat without any unnecessary costs that do not add value to the care of the cat.

"I want to do whatever I can to help as many cats as I can for as long as I can." Esther, Assistant Foster Care Manager (Admin)

The Outreach Team handles our animal-assisted activity i.e. cat therapy programme where we bring the love of cats to humans that need it. The team requires Outreach Volunteers who have schedules allowing free weekday timeslots for cat therapy sessions, as many VWOs and organisations often require our service during weekdays and not just weekends, where we already have support of ad hoc volunteers. The team also showcases the therapy cats during pet events that LKP gets invited to, and these are often on weekends. You need not have your own cat to be assessed for suitability for therapy, nor even have a cat at all (yet!) as you can assist in handling kittens awaiting adoption at our cattery - we need a minimum 1:1 ratio of humans to cats during therapy sessions.

We are also looking to expand the Outreach team next year by adding another programme that also involves using the love of cats to benefit humans. We don't have all the finer details yet, but it is about mentoring and facilitating service-learning in young people doing a volunteer attachment with LKP. You can either assist in helping to research and develop this new programme, administrating it with the partner organisations and the volunteers involved, or be one of the mentors - for which you should preferably have a weekday daytime slot available weekly. Enquire more about this through emailing Elaine at elaine@lovekuchingproject.org.


The Operations Team, or soon to be renamed as the FLOAT team next year encompassing the following portfolios: Facilities Management, Legal, Operations, Accounting and Admin, and Tech.

Two of the portfolios are new:

Facilities Management Volunteers are required to be in charge of the maintenance of our cattery's general facilities (e.g. aircon, air purifier filters, plumbing, fridge, fish tank and so on) through scheduling or even doing hands-on servicing and repairs. You will need to be at the cattery when vendors/contractors you schedule maintainence work for are on site, as well as for the ad hoc repair work. You should be pretty handy with maintaining indoor residential facilities and appliances.

The Legal portfolio is not about pro bono legal services, but you should know how to research statutes online and draft up simple agreements. We need this portfolio because we are ramping up our corporate governance in preparation for moving from registered society to registered charity status in 2019. This work is mostly remote, with some team meetings scheduled based on team members' availability.

Existing portfolios the team is recruiting for:

Accounting Volunteers, who need basic knowledge of financial statements such as income and expenditure. Familiarity with IRAS regulations on registered societies and charities will be a plus. You will be using the accounting software Xero. The work is a combination of remote work and work from the cattery where the files are.

Admin Volunteers are people who deal with filing, paperwork - both actual and virtual paper, processes that keep us "business-as-usual" You may also need to help input data to help the Accounting Volunteers as well as assist in administration of operational processes with the Tech Volunteers. This as well as the filing work requires time spent at the cattery once every 2 weeks at a time and day you are able to make it.

Tech Volunteers, for helping us move completely onto tech platforms, beyond just email and Slack assistance. This is to improve productivity in every team and among teams. This enables volunteers to do their job more easily, with less frustration but greater result, especially since time is extra-scarce for a volunteer-workforce. This work is mostly remote, with some team meetings scheduled according to every attendees' convenience.

The HR Team (that's us putting up this blog post!) is named "Human Resources" instead of "Volunteer Management" which is more commonly used in voluntary organisations, because we value the humans in LKP as much as the cats we serve, and see them as more than just volunteers - they are family to us. The HR team's purpose is to build and protect our LKP family culture, because it is unique and special for us. HR Volunteers take care of recruitment of volunteers, and integration of new volunteers; performance management to help volunteers know what they are doing well, very well, or need to improve in; learning and development administration support for all the teams; and care for the humans in LKP through organising events for the volunteers, giving volunteers appreciation gifts, encouraging self-care and care for one another through our #volliecare Slack channel and soon to come, a newsletter. We are looking for people with all kinds of strengths and skills, but the priority is that you have to love cat lovers as much as you love cats. Work is mostly done remotely, with occasional team meetings that are scheduled according to the team members' availability. We also have a nice boss, by the way...

"The vibe is different here... people are engaged, involved... open, relatable, fun and not intimidating."  Joh Ju, Events Manager

The Events Management Team plans, manages and carries out all external events in our calendar. These events include those that are solely planned by LKP, e.g. Tea With Cats at the cattery; pet events that we get invited to, where we have a booth to showcase our therapy cats and do some fundraising; also events in which we collaborate with other organisations. The Events Management Volunteer in charge of a specific event in the calendar needs to anchor the conceptualisation of the event theme and programme and plan for all aspects of the event, such that the other team members know how to assist the lead volunteer. Other aspects include: liaison with vendors and sourcing for corporate sponsors if applicable, coordinating with Marketing for the social media campaign for the event, preparing the logistics necessary. You also need to take charge of the transport of logistics to and from the event location if it is not held at LKP, ensure venue set up and be the point person for liaison with vendors, external organisers and other partners, and with LKP volunteers who may be helping out during the event itself. These events are normally held during weekends. You should have some experience with events management, either through your work or in your previous volunteering and CCA experiences.

We are also looking for a team manager for the EM team, as our current moves to a different portfolio next year. This is our first time recruiting for a managerial portfolio externally. You will be expected to perform the job of an Events Manager Volunteer in part, as well as be in charge of team management. All the volunteer managers are part of our Vanguard team, which is the support network and platform for leadership development. Vanguard meetings take place on the first Saturday of every month. 


The Fundraising Team handles the posting of fundraising appeals online, engagement with donors (saying "Thank you cat angel!") and is the liaison for merchandise partners that wish to donate to us. These are our three main income streams that we have developed alongside the LKP brand, with online appeals yielding the highest return. We want to scale up our efforts in these three areas, but it depends on how many Fundraising Volunteers we have, as the work is fundamentally people-centred. You will need to do writing of online appeals to post via blog and social media, manage fundraising campaigns, write and send out thank you emails, texts, and cards to our donors alongside their receipt (not tax-deductible) if they request it, as well as acknowledge receipt of their gifts. For merchandise partnerships, you will have to assist in reposting the merchants' campaigns for us onto our own social media channels. The work is mostly remote.

The Marketing Team has two portfolios: Content Creation, and Multimedia Production, and the team serves to manage the LKP brand. Content Creation Volunteers do so by writing blog, web and social media stories, and are also involved in engagement with our existing online audience, and in growing this audience. You need to be good at writing, and work is a combination of remote work as well as attending events and programmes for 'live' social media reporting. Multimedia Production Volunteers need to be proficient in one of the following mediums: design for both print and web, videography, and photography. You will be required to create works for various campaigns, which is a also a combination of both remote work and attendance at events, programmes or being at the cattery. For both portfolios, as Marketing Volunteers you will be from time to time designated as Campaign Manager for various projects and events both within the team and in collaboration with other teams. 

Just one more: this portfolio is not tagged to any team, but to Division-level Management  (but these senior bosses are still volunteers just like the rest of LKP). It is the Executive Assistant portfolio, and we are looking for one or hopefully two more. (Our first Executive Assitant is now a manager of the Rescue Team, partly due to the direct coaching that will take place through spending a lot of time working closely with the big boss.) One Executive Assistant will be assisting the next head of the Executive Division (which comprises of HR, Events Management, Fundraising and Marketing teams) with effect from next year. The second Executive Assistant would be supporting the head of the Operations Division (Foster Care, Rescue, Outreach and FLOAT teams) next year, who is also the president and boss of the bosses, adding up her number of Executive Assistant to two if you are the right one! This role is tricky as it has a fast paced learning curve, and you will often be juggling many tasks at a time. 

One of the responsibilities will be to act as communication liaison: to be the point of contact between the division managers, team managers, and volunteers and manage information flow. You will also have to help manage the bosses’ schedules and arrange team meetings or individual sessions on their behalf. When they are unavailable, the Executive Assistant represents the Division Managers in a gatekeeper role, creating win-win situations for volunteers and managers, providing direct access to the Division Managers' limited time. 

Another is to be the supporting role in inter-team and project teams that the Division Managers will be involved in, by managing important information for and from these teams, researching and organising the information to help in decision-making and strategic direction. You will need to handle matters expeditiously and proactively, and follow-through on projects to successful completion, often with deadline pressures. 

You are required to be good at administrative skills in order to execute tasks for the senior bosses, which tend to involve many variables. For the portfolio of Executive Assistant tagged to the LKP President, you will need to work alongside the existing Executive Assistant, which may require some meetings, otherwise there will usually be just meetings with your direct boss and meetings, events or programmes your direct boss is involved in. These will usually be outside of normal working hours as all would be also volunteer like you. There will be occasional meetings with external organisations that may occur during weekday daytime, though you will not be obliged to attend them if school/work clashes. All other work is remote. 

"I am very happy where I am with my boss, the LKP volunteers I have met, and the cats." Deborah, Executive Assistant to Elaine, President

Interested?
To apply for any one or more of the above portfolios, write an email to our President at elaine@lovekuchingproject.org with the following information:

• Self-intro: Are you working, or studying, or both? What is your area of work/study? Do you have experience with pets or volunteering, and how were those experiences? Tell us all about who you are, we want to know you!
• Strengths: What are you good at? These can be both technical or professional skills or innate strengths that may or may not seem related to the portfolio you are applying for. We believe that everyone has their own unique combination of strengths. Describe them to us.
• Interests: Which portfolio/s are you interested in? And tell us why, too. Apart from the LKP portfolios described above, tell us about other things that interest you too. These may be what you are interested in learning, or area you wish to grow in personally or professionally, or simply your hobbies.
• Passions: Why volunteering, why LKP, and why now? What drives you? What do you believe in? How does LKP's work relate to your own personal beliefs? What are your personal thoughts regarding animal welfare and social causes? In LKP, we believe that the portfolio you take on, whether it exists already or needs to be created for you, should be something you are deeply passionate about doing.
• Schedule/availability: Are you able to commit to volunteering in the portfolio you are interested in, in terms of your time? We do not want your volunteer work to overshadow your health and your family and loved ones, but LKP commitment comes closely below those priorities.
• Portfolio-specific requirements (if any), that you fulfill.

After the initial email conversation, you may be required to do an online video chat via Google Hangouts/Skype.

If you wish to come for this Sunday's recruitment open house, indicate your interest in the email too!

Oh by the way, tell all your cat-loving cats about this. We gotta catch 'em all. Share! Retweet! Favourite! Repost! Thank you! 💛🐱🎁🐱

Donate to our cause by making a deposit to our Love Kuching Project DBS Current Account 027-907655-0 or via credit card.
Donate food or litter to us at charity rates via Polypet
Please email fundraising [at] lovekuchingproject.org after giving.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

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Debut: Three Kittens from Kallang

Our latest three debutants were discovered, motherless, in the carpark of Kallang theatre when they were just five days old in end May. Their rescuer kept them warm and passed them to our foster care volunteer on the same day, who hand-raised them at home until the cattery’s kitten suite freed up in September. You’ve seen glimpses of them at our events, you may even have held them or given them a stroke or two. Now they are ready to meet the world and join their forever families!

Ida

Ida is very affectionate and just wants to cuddle up on your face. Of the three, she is the most dependent on human contact, and when she wishes to be picked up and cuddled, she will tell you so very loudly. She loves having her face cupped in your hands while you rub her cheeks gently, and will purr endlessly when you do that. This little debutante really knows the spa life is where it’s at.

Ida’s favourite sort of toy is the kind she can kick around and chase on the floor. She once leapt off some furniture onto the top of a door and had to ask for help getting down, then did it all over again. That said, she is generally well-behaved, which (for a kitten) is saying a lot!

She took some time to get used to the cattery, but Poe helped her along by smacking her once or twice, which shook the foster-homesickness right out of her. Ida gets along well with older cats as she submits easily. She would do well in a household with doting humans who can give her the attention she craves.

Edith

Edith was the first of her litter to toddle beyond her fosterer’s room while her siblings were still stumbling around in the early phases of kittenhood. Her curiosity has certainly led to things being knocked over and kittens being stuck in small spaces! Edith would do well with a playmate to indulge her playfighting habit and keep her out of trouble. This cheeky adventurer had a funny habit of running away with the kitchen sponge and her fosterer had to hide it in various spots to thwart her sponge thievery.

But Edith knows how to love as hard as she plays. Like her sister, she loves to snuggle. Her signature move which makes all the humans swoon is kneading and suckling in your shirt, then softly meowing at you and curling up to sleep under your chin with her purr motor running. She is aware of her charms and will be generously unfazed if you bury your face in her soft tummy fur. 

Edith's charm and moxie is sure to turn the most skeptical of housemates into cat lovers. Just make sure to give her plenty of playtime and hide your kitchen sponges and you'll be rewarded with a purring scarf with a Zorro mask. Very fetching.

Miles

Our final debutant is technically a kitten but has been described as “a tiny old man.” He likes looking out the window, rolling around in sunbeams, and curling up next to or on near someone’s butt. He’s very chill…except when you get between him and his food. Miles loves his food. Once, Miles sniffed out an unattended packet of sample kibble and he munched through a cloth bag and plastic packaging just to get to it.

The most independent of the bunch, Miles will wander over for a cuddle or snooze and walk away when he’s done with laptime. But when his kitten side emerges, his favourite toys are feather toys that he can jump to chase. This mellow fellow with an old soul would do well in a laidback household where he can get an equal balance of personal time, playtime, and snuggletime.

All three love being cuddled and held, and have been socialised to get along with other cats. They have good appetites and will sometimes follow humans around for a bit of attention or to see what you're up to. Other times, they will be found sleeping in a pile of gently breathing kitten bellies. If you’re really lucky, once in a while all three will squeeze onto your lap and gaze at you while you talk, looking for all the world like they only have eyes for you.

These debutants are looking for forever families who will love and care for them as they grow into the cats they were meant to become. They have been dewormed and vaccinated and are well-socialised for home life.

Interested adopters should read and follow our adoption guidelines. If Diana thinks you could be a good fit, she will arrange an audience between you and the debutant/s so you can check each other out. (As we are all volunteers with day jobs on top of shelter work, we ask for your patience if we take a few days to respond.)

Can’t adopt? Please consider donating and sharing our donation appeals. As a tiny non-profit shelter, we rely on donations and volunteers in order to keep rescuing and rehabilitating community cats that need help. Rent and medical bills are high and any amount helps. You can also send us canned food or pine litter through Polypet.

You can also volunteer with us! Sign up for a one-time play/clean shift, or email humans [at] lovekuchingproject.org for more on volunteering with one of our teams.

Donate to our cause by making a deposit to our Love Kuching Project DBS Current Account 027-907655-0 or via credit card. Please email fundraising [at] lovekuchingproject.org after giving.
Donate food or litter to us at charity rates via Polypet.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Rescue Central Masterclasses by Love Kuching Project

An orphaned kitten, now known as  Benji, gets his claws clipped at the shelter. 

As Singapore’s pioneer in rehabilitation of community cats who require critical, long-term or intensive care in an indoor environment, Love Kuching Project has been asked to mentor and train the volunteers of CWS Rescue Central’s Fosterer Registry.

Starting from September 2017, Love Kuching Project will run a series of masterclasses several times a year to help CWS fosterers provide a higher level of care for their injured or ill community cats.

A veteran CWS Fosterer shares her wisdom with the crowd at the Rescue Central introduction session

“We’re really thrilled that Love Kuching Project is stepping forward to help our fosterers,” says Veron Lau, Cat Welfare Society. “Over the years that we’ve collaborated with the team of volunteers at Love Kuching Project, we have seen them grow from a small outfit focusing on the cats of Ubi into an experienced rescue organisation that goes beyond providing intensive care for needy community cats. We believe that our fosterers will have much to gain from these masterclasses by Love Kuching Project.”

Volunteers demonstrate how to scruff Bo, who was a feisty long-term resident at our shelter and who received daily doses of subcutaneous fluids for his kidney failure.

Among the topics that Love Kuching Project will run are emergency, trauma and wound care, infectious disease and immunodeficiencies, as well as various illnesses that commonly affect cats. All the sessions will be taught in layperson point of view and will include discussions about the application of veterinarian-recommended pharmacological treatments, herbal and nutraceutical supplements and may even include presentations by practicing vets.

Volunteers nebulising Ah Pai, a lovely senior cat with upper respiratory illness who had come to our shelter for palliative care

“Love Kuching Project is really all about love – we have gone from rescue, rehabilitate to therapy work and education,” says Elaine Chiam, Chief Executive Officer, Love Kuching Project. We are seeing a change in the climate of care for community cats in Singapore and are proud to empower people with knowledge and skills to better care for their beloved stray cats. This is important as we all build an inclusive community for cats and people in Singapore.”

Volunteers administer meds through the bars of a cage to a feral community cat who had been admitted to recover from a bite wound

Moving ahead, Love Kuching Project hopes to turn these masterclasses into a comprehensive course involving workshops, on-the-job training sessions within their cattery and assessment of the fosterers.

[Adopt] 5 kittens in a basket

By Halima

Once again, we seem to have more than a handful of kittens with us at the cattery or with fosterers and 5 of them are ready for adoption!

Let’s meet them!

The 3 P(ea)s in a Pod - Poppy, Pudding and Puddles

Three tiny black kittens were found covered in grass and mud after a downpour, near Tan Tock Seng. They were probably just a few days old seeing how their eyes are still closed and they had no teeth just yet.

As they needed to be fed every two hours and continuous care, they were taken in by one of our regular fosterer till they are weaned and their immune system is stronger.

Once they were weaned, and could eat wet food independently, they were brought back to the cattery to be socialized.

[clockwise] Poppy, Pudding and Puddles all owning the chair at the cattery.

Puddles and Pudding are snuuglebugs and would love a cuddle or two.

Poppy is the more adventures of the trio, and also first to get to the food!

Me love playtime!

[Poppy] Being a meowdel is hard work, I am starting to feel sleepy. [Pudding] Eyes bright, chin up, man i look good!

Their stay at the cattery wasn’t always smooth sailing with Pudding and Puddles contracting an infection and needing a short stay at the vet.

After that, they started sporting cuts at the eye area which we suspect came from roughousing with the other kitten at the cattery, Damai.

With regular care and medication, the cuts soon healed up and we were so excited at the thought of them heading to their forever homes. However, we found diarrhoea in their litter boxes!

Kittens who grew up without their mother’s milk have weaker immune system and this makes them susceptible to sickness.

After all the ups and downs, they are all in the pink of health now. Having been dewormed and vaccinated, they finally received the green light for adoption!

Next up, Damai!

Damai came to us when he was approximately a month old presenting with a flat rib cage, which worried the volunteers as they were not quite sure how to handle him.

Adopt me……*stares deep into your soul*

But, Damai doesn’t seem to be too bothered by this and is as high energy as any kitten can be. He is also a cuddlebug who has a very loud purr and will fall asleep in your arms too!

Time for a kittynap to recharge those batteries zzZzZzzzZZ!

But it isn’t long till he is up and about on his next big adventure.

Unfortunately, Damai also contracted the same infection as Puddles and Pudding and while he was at the vet, charmed them too.

You can’t run away from me!

He is now well and back to his speedster self, dashing around the cattery and playing with the other kittens.

If you are looking for a high energy cuddle bug, Damai might just be the one for you.

You know you love me!

Last but definitely not the least, we have Oscar from City Square Mall.

Can you please take my best side?

He was found without a mother and due to his young age, he too had to stay with fosterers.

We advocate fostering for young kittens as in the crucial first months of their lives, home-fostered kittens get more care and aren't housed near our other sick cats also have better chances of growing up healthy.

After he was all grown up, he came over to stay at the cattery and to be socialized.

I think Imma just stay up here for a bit, the floor is too full of crazy kittens.

While he loves humans, and would climb onto your shoulders and nuzzle your hair, he wasn’t too keen on being around other kittens and would hiss at them.

Hold me, hug me, feed me, love me…….

Now he generally gets along with the kittens but sometimes he prefers to ignore them.

Who are you?! (Oscar meeting his new cage-mate, PJ)

If you’re interested in adopting any of the kittens, please read the info on the adoption page carefully. Send your responses to the questionnaire and indicate which kitten/s you are interested in visiting to Diana at adopt@lovekuchingproject.org. She will screen your responses and contact you for a visit if you are suitable.

Can’t adopt? Please consider donating and sharing our donation appeals. As a tiny, not-for-profit shelter, we rely on donations and volunteers in order to keep rescuing and rehabilitating community cats that need help. Rent and medical bills are high and any amount helps.

You can also volunteer with us! We need more volunteers in marketing, outreach and events, and our main work, foster care (weekly shifts doing shelter maintenance and clinical care for the cats). If you want to help with outreach (i.e. cat therapy!), email outreach@lovekuchingproject.org. If you can't commit to regular volunteering but still want to help, try the ad hoc clean/play shifts.

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