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Sunday, December 2, 2018

Love Kuching Project Christmas Wishlist 2018



It’s hard to believe that our last major wishlist was in 2015. This year, we have been touched by even more cat angels and volunteers alike, and for the upcoming holiday season, we would like to humbly ask you to help us with our year-end wishlist!

This year we have three major needs that need to be fulfilled: basic needshousehold kitchen equipment and furniture

We need new household equipment to meet new needs for our cats, and we need new furniture (like shelves, drawers and a new countertop) as our current plastic shelving and storage solutions have been deteriorating.

Let us know if there are any items on this list that you wish to purchase for us! We’ll coordinate and make sure that there isn’t any double orders. If you’d like to mail or courier items to us, we’ll also give you our address. (Unfortunately, we can’t accept surprise gifts, as the cattery isn’t manned 24/7!)


Basic needs


We definitely need wet Addiction and Wellness canned food for our cats! We use up to six cans of Wellness or Addiction each day, and our supplies run low pretty fast.



You can help us purchase Addiction or Wellness at Polypets here

Household and kitchen equipment


We’ll mostly be using these equipment for cat care and food preparation. Some are to replace the items that have broken down, and others are stuff that we now need because our cats need them.

All of these equipment can be found on our Amazon wishlist, here. We’ve listed them below in order of priority, so you know what we need most!

Blender - DONATED


We need a blender to properly mash Hitam’s food. As her throat ulcers begin to deteriorate, we’ll need to begin to blend her food into a puree, so that it goes down smoothly for her. It’ll also help with her pain; the grand dame often feels pain as she eats, and having semi-solid food would help.


The blender will also be useful for future cats who have a similar condition like Hitam, and for cats that need more intensive care. 

Cold Hairdryer - DONATED


Our current hairdryer - which used to have a cold setting - is broken, and only spews out hot air. This makes it difficult for us to shower cats that need cleaning, as the hot air might scald their skin. We learnt that while trying to bathe Pepper (we did keep the hairdryer at a distance, so she didn’t get scalded!)


An ideal replacement hairdryer like the Philips HP8230 would have a cold setting that would allow us to keep our kittens and cats from being scalded by it. 

Aroma diffuser (for the quarantine suite) - DONATED


We need a separate aroma diffuser for the quarantine suite, to soothe the cats within using aromatherapy oils.

We learnt this when Wally, our new quarantine suite resident, first came in to the quarantine suite. Wally was very much a scaredy cat, and was very stressed out by his new environment. 


We had a small aromatherapy diffuser inside from when Tom was in the quarantine suite, but it wasn’t very effective. If we get a new aromatherapy diffuser in the quarantine suite, it will help us with conditions like cat flu, where aromatherapy oils have helped.

We’ll be using the new aromatherapy diffuser as part of our separate air quality control system within the quarantine suite - which brings us to our next ask:

Air purifiers (for the quarantine suite) and air purifier filters - DONATED


Coway replacement filter pack for AP1512HH)
Oregon Scientific CF8410 

Our old air purifier - which had served the cattery for over three years - had broke earlier in October, and our attempts to fix it had failed instead. 

We bought a replacement - the Coway AP1512HH (top rated by Wirecutter) but we’re still using an old Sharp air purifier in the quarantine suite, which, while somewhat effective, does not kill germs. 

Without the air purifier, there is no circulation within the quarantine suite, which can make it very stuffy and very stifling for our quarantine resident, who may have to be there for months. 

Tom spent nearly seven months with us in the Quarantine suite

So we’re looking for a new air purifier. Our pick - the Oregon Scientific CF8410 - has a UVC light that will be able to kill airborne germs in the quarantine suite, which will be effective for cats that have cat flu and other, more potent illnesses. 

We’re also looking for replacement filter pack for the Coway AP1512HH, so we can regularly swap out the filters and the cattery air can be cleaner and better for our cats’ respiratory systems (and our volunteers’ too!) 

An electric kettle with thermoregulation -  DONATED


We’re also looking to have an electric kettle with variable temperature control, to heat up food for the cats. Our canned food comes out at room temperature (or colder) and it would help if we were able to heat it up. While we do have a microwave and an existing kettle, both only serve to bring water to a boil and does not allow for variable temperature control.

We’ve listed the Xiaomi smart electric kettle (above) on our wishlist, but we’re also okay if you purchase other similar kettles, as long as they have temperature settings!

Furniture



The state of our non-kitty furniture today can really be described as bad. The furniture has been with us since before we came to our current location in 2015, and some of them are really breaking down. 

Our main medical shelf (the tall shelf with the calendar on top) is rusting badly:


The plastic drawers are also buckling under the weight of items being stuffed inside (and items being put on top).

We’re hoping to replace them with new furniture from IKEA that would last longer. They’d also reduce the number of hiding spots small kittens and cats will hide under; our current drawers are accessible from the back and kittens have crept in while humans were sorting drawers out before, which makes it dangerous. 

We’ve put up a mock layout of where we want each different piece of furniture to go, below:



How do you purchase these items for us?


Unfortunately, it’s a bit hard for you to purchase IKEA items and send it over to our cattery directly, as shipping fees for IKEA can be quite expensive ($70 for truck delivery). You can either:
  1. Make a direct donation to us via DBS Current Account 027-907655-0 (or PayNow at T13SS0220G). Take down a record of your donation and inform us by email (fundraising@lovekuchingproject.org)
  2. Coordinate with our FLOAT manager (who’s in charge of Facilities Management) to determine when the best time would be to receive truck delivery. You can email him at assist@lovekuchingproject.org.
We’ll send you pictures once we assemble the items you’ve gifted to us. 

We’re looking for the following furniture items:

EKET Cabinet (105x35x72)



This specially customised cabinet costs $390 and will be used to keep key medical equipment (like subcut lines) and Foster Care items like blankets. It’ll be used to secure items that were in the orange cabinet.

If you’d like to purchase this item on our behalf, you can contact our FLOAT manager for the customisation code for the EKET Cabinet (that you can access via the EKET planner). 

BROR shelf (84x40x190)


This customised BROR shelf (which costs $224.50) will replace our current rusting steel medical shelf. The BROR shelf is made of powdered galvanised steel, which adds an additional layer of protection against humidity, and it also allows us to hang items like subcut lines on hooks, as well as store special items on the side. 

If you’d like to purchase this item on our behalf, you can contact our FLOAT manager for the customisation code for the BROR shelf (that you can access via the BROR planner)


The NORDLI chest of three drawers (which costs $165) will be used to contain our needles, over-the-counter pet medication (like Revolution) and our pee pads. 

It’ll be used to replace our three-coloured plastic drawers and secure the items that were inside it. 


We’d like to use the FLYTTA kitchen trolley (which costs $249)  as a replacement for our current medical table, which is made out of pine. 

Even though pine has been a relatively good and durable material so far, we’re concerned that the porous nature of wood will allow fluids like blood to accumulate. While we clean properly and regularly, there’s only so much we can do to keep the current medical table clean.

Thank you so much for looking through our wishlist! Once again, let us know if you want to purchase an item on this wishlist for us — you can reach out to our Fundraising manager, Deborah, by messaging 9770 1894 or emailing fundraising (at) lovekuchingproject.org.

We wish you a happy holiday season!