Adopt - cats that need a new home because their owner diagnosed with cancer

Tim and Tam, both sterilised 1 year old male cats were owned by deaf and dumb owners at Tampines St 22 since they were kittens. Most of the time they lived in a cage and released for an hour a day within the house. Recently the wife was diagnosed with cancer and the family has decided to put up the cats, Tim and Tam, for adoption.

Tim and Tam are temporarily being housed in a cage by one of my neighbours until they find a suitable home.

These cats are domesticated, litter trained and like to play when they are released from the cage. We hope that Tim and Tam will find a good home where they no longer will have to live their entire lives in a cage.

To arrange a visit to adopt both Tim and Tam, please contact me, Philemon at Tel No: 9022 3363.

Regards
Philemon

Philemon is the caregiver in Tampines who recently appealed to find a good home for previously-abused street cat Good Boy. Good Boy is also still available for adoption.

latest update on our foster cats

Kirin, Sapporo and Orion are gonna complete their Vibravet antibiotics soon! - last dose tomorrow.

Here are some pics of them, the boisterous lot -

Orion, the super active boy who is now beginning to purr more when we approach him

Sapporo, the gentle boy whose conjunctivitis is improving much

Kirin, the manja-pot who seems to love the camera this much!

Lassie, is now plump and has learned to eat more and more canned food, and now even moistened kibbles! We are now limiting her milk intake to once a day, fortified with vitamins, lysine, probiotics and colostrum to make sure her mild bout of flu' stays at bay. So far so good! She is getting more active and when the Kirin and brothers get well she can start to hang out with them, she is so bored being quarantined away from the other cats because they have the flu'. We try to let her out sometimes but are wary that she may catch the flu' from Orion et al, and sanitise our hands and the foster lounge like crazy, since she is still young and may fall ill easily.

Lassie in her pen complete with litter tray which she knows how to use, pillow and toys, and her dish of food

Cassie was just given her 12-weeks-old deworming dose yesterday and she seems to be doing fine - no post-deworming diarrhoea like the last time. She has now safely passed into the safe age - kittens below 12 weeks of age have a mortality rate of 20-40%. She is always in cahoots with Dusky and of on adventures with her. Dusky has finally stopped her pooing-in-weird-corners of the house since we set up a new litter box for her, and she even deigned to try out our cats' litter box too, which means she is getting over the need to have to do her business in private. We have lots of adopters asking about her, and one is coming on Tuesday to see her. Many have enquired about Dusky, but either failed at the initial screening or did not bond with her when they met. Either way, for now they have each other's companionship and lately have even begun roughhousing with Scooter.

Helga is still not eating - 4th day in a row she has been fasting. Bringing her to the vet tomorrow first thing in the morning.

Questionnaire for interested adopters

There are requirements in order for a successful adoption to take place, and before we invite you to our foster home for a visit with the cats for adoption, we have a number of questions that need answers from you first, as part of our getting to know a little bit more about you, the prospective adopter.

We care about who you are because we care about the cats.

When you contact us do prepare for the following questions, and if you can furnish the answers to us upfront, it will make the initial process of the adoption much easier for us and you.

1. Your age - you need to be above 18 years of age to sign the adoption agreement which you should read before answering this questionnaire.
2. Your occupation. Please state also your working hours.
3. How many other members in the household - friends and family members.
4. Whether or not the other members in the household are in agreement with the adoption decision. If you live with family members or housemates, they should be present during the adoption visit.
5. Who the primary caregiver of the cat will be in your household. For instance, who will be in charge of feeding all the meals, clearing the litter, paying for veterinary expenses and pet supplies, bringing the cat to the vet in cases of emergency etc. That person must be present during the adoption visit and should be the one signing the adoption agreement.
6. Whether you have or had any cats, and other pets. Do share the history of current or previous pets. Please state if your cats are neutered and indoor-only.
7. Your type of accomodation - flat, apartment, condo, landed.
8. Is your house cat-safe? This means that all open windows need to be meshed or blocked, and closed windows must remain closed. Photo evidence needs to be shown of meshed windows when you visit our foster home. Read more here regarding window requirements. Also, the cat needs to be a strictly indoor cat, so access to outside is strictly prohibited, hence any access to outside the house e.g. via the main gate, fences, balconies must be blocked as well. Preparing your house to be cat-safe needs to be done prior to the visit to our foster home.
9. If you are an overseas expatriate working in Singapore, we need to know concrete plans of what happens to the cat if you should return to your home country or go to other countries to work or study. We also need to know your residency status and length of stay in Singapore.

You can discuss your answers to these 9 questions over the phone or email - Elaine at 90880675 or elaine@lovekuchingproject.org.

After the questionnaire is submitted to us and approved, we will set up a date and time together with you and give you our address to come visit the cats. Visits to our foster home are by appointment only.


Also do take note that our adoption fees are non-negotiable and is payable by cash upfront only. Official receipts will be issued upon payment of the adoption fees which go to our Love Kuching bank account.

Spruce and Spring passed away in the early morning while we were asleep. Could not revive them by the time we woke up.

Netto passed away at 0330hrs, 11 Sept 2010.

He passed away in my arms as I was doing CPR on him for the fourth time since earlier in the evening.

My hands shook as I kept pumping his little heart, feeling for his pulse, taking a metal spoon to his mouth to check for breathing, doing artificial respiration on him.

updates on the rehabilitating kitties

Helga hasn't been eating for the past two days, though she is drinking water regardless. Tried to tempt her with her favourite baby food but she still deciding to fast.

Kirin, Sapporo and Orion are getting better and better by the day! Orion no longer needs Ilium Opticin for his eyes. All are still on a course of Vibravet antibiotics. They eat and drink a lot and are very active.

Lassie not long after she arrived at our foster home started sneezing, and developed teary eyes, likely due to the sudden loss in immunity from mother's milk. Immediately we started to apply Ilium Opticin on her eyes, grooming away the eye discharge. She recovered immediately without needing any oral medication - simply supplements of Lysinium Max and colostrum. She has learned to use the litter tray, and has learned to eat canned food on her own, though we still give her the bottle about 3-4 times a day.

Spring, Spruce and Netto are in more critical condition. Their core body temperatures are not stabilising at a normal level and they have been drinking very little at each of their 2-hourly feedings. They are still actively meowing, have peed and pooed but their appetites are not increasing and their bodies still feel cold to the touch. We have been keeping them warm by placing a reheatable pillow in their pen, covering it with a fleece blanket, and now have also placed their pen under a lamp. Their milk is also supplemented with Lysinium Max, colostrum and probiotics and we can only hope for the best with our intervention.

The healthiest kitties are the ones still available for adoption - Cassie and Dusky, both of them have built up such strong immunities that they haven't caught the flu' from Kirin and brothers.

three 1-day-old kittens found in dumpster in Joo Chiat

Alan who runs a shop at Joo Chiat area was having his lunch today and then heard meowing from a nearby dumpster, the big green kind. He investigated and found 3 newborn kittens inside.

The dumpster was quite empty of trash, so the abandoned kittens were easily fished out from it. They were wet, so it is likely they were just freshly born. He brought them home to nurse them and spread the word around for help. We contacted Alan just now and he brought the 3 kittens to us.

They were very much alive and actively meowing, which was a good sign. But their bodies were extremely cold. I placed a heated pillow inside their pen and we just fed them milk fortified with probiotics, a couple of drops of lysine and vitamins, and colostrum, to make up for the loss in antibodies from mother's milk.

They are obviously abandoned by a human, and likely borne of an un-neutered female house cat in the vicinity as all the strays there have been neutered. There was no nursing female cat nearby either that could have been the mother. It is the last day of spring-cleaning season today too, so their case is very likely of abandonment.

We have penned them in a separate carrier covered with a blanket with a reheatable pillow to slowly increase their core body temperatures.

The kittens are too small to sex accurately for now. One of them is white and tabby, possibly the only female and we have named it Spring. Another has reddish tabby markings, and we have named it Netto. The last one has more black and silvery tabby markings and we have named it Spruce. We will update on their progress as they grow up, and hopefully, survive all manner of illness which attacks kittens that go without their mother's milk. When they have been weaned and litter trained in about 3-6 weeks time they will be ready for adoption. Let's hope they pull through.

abandoned kitten rescued from a void deck in Lor Ah Soo

This is Lassie, a 3 week old girl who was found by Catherine's mother and neighbour residing in Lorong Ah Soo. She was found alone, with no mother in sight, and still unable to eat solid food on her own. Before she came to us, Catherine told us she was 12cm in size, so we could guess her age and gauge the space needed to foster Lassie - our large carrier will fit nicely as a makeshift pen for Lassie since the kitten pen is a quarantine area for the sickies Sapporo, Orion and Kirin.

Catherine brought Lassie to us this evening straight from her mother's place. She was given a quick shower and flea-check and found to be healthy.

Lassie is likely an abandoned kitten from an unwanted pregnancy by an un-neutered female house cat - it is dumping season after all, where households spring-clean their unwanted goods. Lassie is healthy, plump and obviously has been on mother's milk before she was placed at the void deck.

We fed Lassie some milk with a bottle, fortified with colostrum, two drops of Lysinium max and some probiotics, important because now she no longer has her mother's milk immunity and being this age, is very likely to fall ill suddenly. She suckled hungrily. But while she is interested in the canned food I placed in a dish for her, she is not ready to learn how to eat yet. Nonetheless we will keep introducing food for her as at 3-weeks-old she can already be partially weaned. We also placed a litter tray for her so we can slowly ease her into litter-training.

Here are some pics of Lassie after being bottle-fed -

Lassie will have to go through weaning and litter training before she can be ready to be re-homed. Hopefully by then the kitten pen tenants will have fully recovered from their flu' and she can hang out with them, and learn kitten ways from them.

4 rescued kittens from Ubi Techpark

This evening we went to rescue 4 male kittens aged 8-10 weeks old from a pest control shop along Ubi Ave 2, that kept the young kittens in a cage at the back of the shop as they did not want to send them to SPCA or AVA to be put to sleep at a young age. The pest control shop kept the 4 of them penned in a small cage at their storeroom where the pesticides were kept and fed them. They had brought one of them to the vet but all 4 of them are still showing signs of cat flu'.

They were discovered when Ubi Techpark cat-zone patron went to conduct a TNRM there last month. At the time we had no space to pen the litter of kittens discovered, and when our kitten pen was free we immediately met up with Liana to pick up the kittens.

All 4 kittens are stricken with cat flu' and their younger pen mates from a different mother have died. The 4 remaining ones we brought to our foster home for rehabilitation - we have showered them and checked them for fleas (none), administered Vibravet antibiotics and applied Ilium Opticin to their teary eyes. We then fed them Nutripe (tuna formula to entice them to eat) and Solid Gold Indigo Moon kibbles, fortified with Lysinium Max (lysine + vitamin B) and colostrum for immunity.

The 4 of them got used to their new, bigger pen at our house easily, and started playing with toys and climbing the various levels of the pen, and ate immediately when their food was served.

The kittens are all male, 2 of them are black-silver tabby with both classic tabby and mackeral/spotted tabby markings. 1 is a black and white, and the other a tabby and white. 

We had a visit from Michael and Pauline this evening, and while they initially wanted to adopt Dusky, they eventually bonded with one of the silver-black tabbies, and have already named him Asahi. We shared the medication information that Asahi was on and they will be bringing Asahi to the vet (The Animal Clinic @ Sunset Way) tomorrow so that Asahi can continue to be rehabilitated from the flu' at their home.

We are thankful to Michael and Pauline for having such compassion in willing to take care of a sick kitten like Asahi.

And here are the other kittens whom we have named after Japanese beers just like their sibling Asahi -

Orion

Kirin (behind) and Sapporo

They will continue be on antibiotics and eye medication, and when recovered from their flu' they will be dewormed. So far they seem inclined to use the litter box and are not very fussy eaters. We will update our blog with their progress.

house-training and socialising Cassie

As you know Cassie is rather shy but now that we have fewer foster cats to care for we have been spending more time with her.

We managed to coax her out of the kitten play to free-roam, eat at our cats' feeding station, encouraging her to roam the whole house. It took patience and lots of "Good girl Cassie" and strokes and cuddles, but she finally learned to eat from our cats' bowl of Taste of the Wild kibbles, and drink from our cats' water fountain.

When not horsing around with Dusky - which they do like crazy, where Dusky takes the lead on adventures around the house - Cassie will lounge around the living room.

She has become so much less shy now, she is an amazing girl. When we cuddle her, she purrs non-stop as if telling us, "Don't let me go... I need love."

Her health is now in great condition after her rehabilitation. Cassie needs an owner who is patient with her shyness - with patience and coaxing, she will grow up to be even more confident than she is now. She is a total lap-cat, can sit on our laps and loves hugs, cuddles and kisses a real lot, so an equally affectionate owner will be great for her. To adopt Cassie, do read right side bar for adoption information and contact details.

She is a 3 month old calico with a bob-tail (exactly like the Japanese bob-tail) and pink nose-leather.