Knowing about Cat Care - your repsonsibility as an owner

Do you constantly find out more about cat care as a cat owner? We do. And we learn something new about caring for cats every day.

There is a plethora of information relating to cat care on the internet, books you can read, and vets to ask. Hence, keeping yourself up to date on cat care is an accessible task you as a cat owner can easily attain.

Even for us who are constantly in the forefront of battling feline illnesses, we still feel we need to know more and keep on learning new things. Some of you may think: ask Love Kuching folks, they would know about (insert cat care query). We are humbled that you should ask us, because we are still learning about cat care every day. For example, things we only just recently learned:

• Syringe-feeding or using droppers to feed orphaned newborn kittens is far less preferable to bottle feeding.
• Vitamins A, C and E have antioxidant properties.
• Cats that are new to the indoor home will benefit from having some soil added to their litter to encourage them to use the box. 
• A very small dismal percentage of pet cats lost are returned to their owners. Hence ID tagging is essential.
• You only need to care for a cats' teeth via brushing on the outside - the abrasive action the cat's tongue has on the teeth on the interior is usually sufficient.

Even us who are supposed 'hardcore' cat people learn new things about cat care every day. There really is so much to learn! So do a Google search, read cat care blogs and websites often, ask your veterinarian questions. A cat owner who knows more, is able to care for cats better, giving cats everywhere a better life. 

update on Manja

Manja has been vehemently rejecting canned food. We were thinking of mixing supplements in her canned food and tried that, but she decided she would rather not eat at all. She far prefers kibbles. So far we have only been able to supplement her with vitamin Bs in tablet form.

Unfortunately now she is beginning to reject pilling too. So we have decided to syringe her liquid vitamins instead - Lysinium Max - and mix with colostrum (for immunity) and fish oil (anti-inflammatory), both useful for living easier with cancer, as well as probiotics for her digestive system. Will flavour the syringed supplements, and the appetite stimulant Periactin, with some fish-flavoured water or baby food so that she will not spit it out, as she is beginning to do with her tablets which probably taste bitter.

She has already gotten used to using the litter box but does not enjoy being out of the pen we set up for her. When taken out, she scrambles back in, even though the cage is not very big. We reckon she is more comfortable inside for now, so we won't force her.

Hydration wise she is drinking water often enough, without coercion.

However lately she has been developing conjunctivitis - teary eyes - which when I checked with Dr Chong may be an infection of some kind. But we both agree antibiotics is out of the question with Manja's compromised immunity and sensitive digestive system.

Right, going to try syringing Manja now! Hope it works.

犬と猫と 人間と (DOGS, CATS AND HUMANS) Documentary Screening by @CatWelfareSG

Documentary Screening & Panel Discussion

Dogs, Cats and Humans: Working Together Against Pet Abandonment
Co-Presented By : Cat Welfare Society and The Arts House
Saturday 30 October 2010
3pm and 8pm
The Arts House
Tickets at $20 each


UPDATE:
Dr Lou Ek Hee, AVA's Assistant Director, Animal Welfare will be joining our esteemed panel, including
Ms Fareena Omar, President of CWS
Mr Ricky Yeo, President of ASD
Mr Jaipal Gill, Assistant Manager Operations of SPCA
Ms Betty Tan, Education Officer of HRSS and
Ms Lynda Goh, Founder of Zeus Comunications.


Tickets are selling fast. Get them soon over the counter, by phone, fax, email or online via The Arts House or http://www.bytes.sg/EventDetails.aspx?EventID=149



犬と猫と 人間と (DOGS, CATS AND HUMANS)
Directed by Motoharu Iida
2009 | Japan | 118 min | Documentary | In Japanese with English subtitles

"Over 300,000 cats and dogs are put to sleep each year in Japan, a shocking figure that director Iida Motoharu discovered when he began to make 犬と猫と 人間と (Dogs, Cats, and Humans). The documentary started when the director received a request from an elderly woman to make a film that would save the lives of abandoned dogs and cats on the streets of Japan, and the resulting product is both alarming and heartwarming.

Filmed over the course of four years, the film took Iida to several facilities where abandoned animals are euthanised, filming interviews with the employees about their unglamorous work. Iida also shows the more positive side of things by visiting a facility where healthy abandoned pets are kept and cared for until they are adopted."

This important film presents a rare and eye-opening look into what happens to unwanted animals. Singapore is not immune to the same cycle of ignorance, abandonment, and euthanasia. The premier screening of film director Iida Motoharu's 犬と猫と 人間と (Dogs, Cats, and Humans) is a platform for us to take a closer look at the pet phenomenon in our own country and the fall-out from it."

Join our panel discussion and let's work together against pet abandonment. We thank the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Action for Singapore Dogs, House Rabbit Society of Singapore and Zeus Communications for participating as our esteemed panellists.

#MeowMonday - another TNRM & kitten-rescue - at Blk 15 Upper Boon Keng

It was a great night! The weather was clear, breezy, haze-free. The feeder Lia did not feed the cats till after the trapping, as instructed, and the cats were all nice and hungry and loitering out of the bushes when we arrived. We managed to trap 9 cats for sterilisation, bringing the total tipped-ear cat population here to 25!

Damy and Wendy hard at work transferring the cats from the humane traps into the carriers for transport.

After doing a quick tipped-ear cat-count tonight - we sterilised 8 last week, and 8 in March - we determined there are at least 10 more cats left to neuter. Which means we have to schedule another round. We are now trying to raise funds for our Sterilisation Fund to conduct another round early November. (See how to give to our Sterilisation Fund here.) If we manage to trap the remaining 10, that will bring the total number of cats sterilised at this colony to 35!

We also managed to trap the outdoor-access British Shorthair male cat, which we had to without the owners' knowledge because they are uncooperative about neutering the cat and keeping him at home. He has officially become a stray cat; the owners had communicated to the feeder Lia that they can't keep him at home anymore.

Here are the mug-shots of the 9 cats we trapped tonight, who will be neutered tomorrow and released back on Wednesday.

Unexpectedly, we also rescued 2 kittens. One of them, Blinky, a black kitten (too young to sex but suspected female) who was abandoned by the mother cat for two days already, and was hypothermic when we found her. She is now warm and able to eat Natural Balance Chicken canned food, estimated to be 3 weeks old. Extremely vocal. Does not want to drink from the bottle much, but suckled a bit of kitten milk with Lysinium Max and colostrum. All her siblings have died. We hope she pulls through; Andy and I both feel that if we were to not rescue her, she definitely won't have a chance, but if we tried to rehabilitate her, she might survive.

The other one, Sealy, is about 6 weeks old and of the litter of 4 we only have space to house 1 more, so we rescued the one most likely to get re-homed (concept of triage, since we have limited space). Sealy is a male seal-point British Shorthair kitten, likely borne of a Burmese mother and the British Shorthair male cat we trapped tonight.

Blinky, now able to eat canned food

Sealy, just had a defleaing shower

We just fed the kittens, de-fleaed them, and dewormed Sealy. For now we have housed them together in a large carrier with a litter box, which Sealy already knows how to use. They will be ready for adoption once Dusky, Sapporo, Orion and Kirin get re-homed or neutered-and-released.

It's #Caturday - Let's find Kirin a forever home!

Kirin is one of four kittens rescued from a pest-control company in Ubi that trapped him and other kittens, housing them in a cage together in their pesticides storage room. He had cat flu' when he first came to us but after a course of antibiotics and medication is now totally recovered and looking for a forever home.

Kirin is a classic tabby male kitten, 16 weeks old with a mid-length tail.


He is a super-affectionate cat that loves to cover humans with kisses, groom and knead on us. He purrs like crazy, loves tummy rubs, hugs and being kissed back. He always has an innocent face whenever we scold him for something as if he really didn't mean to jump on the tabletops etc. when we house-train him. He bonds well with humans and cats alike.Apart from nose-kissing, his second favourite activity is running around with the other cats. He is not that much of a climber or jumper but he is full of kitten energy nonetheless! He is very handsome and extremely photogenic - if you can get him to stop kissing the camera!


Kirin is dewormed, litter-trained and on Taste of the Wild.


If you are keen on adopting Kirin, do see right side bar on adoption information and contact details.

Adopt Orion!

Orion is one of four kittens rescued from a pest-control company in Ubi. He is a white with black male kitten with a long black tail, now about 16 weeks old.

He is the smartest of his brothers! During his house-training, he responds to discipline well and obeys the house-rules, knowing what 'No' means. He is a mega purring machine, very affectionate but not overly needy - is totally cool if left on his own. He enjoys playing both alone and with other cats, and is quite close to Dusky who is also an obedient cat. We love him for being so smart and knowing what things in the house are not supposed to be toys like wires and stove tops. He is the most independent of the litter and will do well even in a single-cat household.

Dewormed, litter trained and eating Taste of the Wild.

If you are keen on adopting Orion, do see right side bar on adoption information and contact details.

Tonight's TNRM at Blk 15 Upper Boon Keng

We managed to trap 8 cats. The cats will go for their sterilisation tomorrow at Clinic for Pets in the day and be released back at their territory on Saturday.

There are still plenty more. We are scheduling another round next week either Monday or Tuesday evening depending on Damy's availability. If necessary, we may need to conduct a third round early next month if there are more cats that we can manage to trap next week. However, our Sterilisation Fund is only sufficient for 2 rounds at the moment. Will update on whether we will need to do a third round in the first week of November, after we do TNRM again next week. Meanwhile, here are the mug shots of the 8 cats.

Taste of the Wild donation from @thewaterdish !

This month the foster cats are eating yummi-licious Taste of the Wild! Every month The Water Dish sponsors food or boarding supplies for the foster cats and this month we got 15 pounds of Taste of the Wild kibbles!

Thank you The Water Dish!

Manja's visit to the vet today

We brought Manja to see Dr Dawn Chong today for a follow-up visit from her hospitalisation when Iva first rescued her. 

Dr Chong felt Manja's cancerous lumps in her intestines - they really are huge. I felt them myself - they are almost about the size of ping pong balls. Surgery is not a good option because Manja may not survive it. Neither is chemotherapy because it will merely worsen her quality of life and not prolong it much further or push the cancer into remission. So the plan is to give Manja the best till she goes. If she deteriorates to a point where she is in pain and suffering, we will euthanise her to let her go peacefully. Dr Chong advises this is the best course of action in caring for Manja and we are in agreement with her.

So far Manja has been eating but hasn't been drinking that much. Dr Chong advises that if Manja is dehydrated we can give her sub-cutaneous fluids at home or syringe her rehydration fluids. Manja hasn't pooed yet so we don't know if her digestive system is stable but she hasn't vomitted either.

I did mention to Dr Chong that the vet that Manja was diagnosed at, Joyous Vets, suggested doing an ultrasound because an x-ray showed that there was a mass of fluid around Manja's abdomen. Dr Chong suggested that this may not be necessary, as it will merely confirm our diagnosis of Manja's cancer. Hence we did not send her for the ultrasound.

Manja does not need any medication at the moment nor a special diet. Since she eats rather little, a high calorie diet will be suitable and we are currently feeding her Taste of the Wild donated by The Water Dish for this month. We will also be supplementing her diet with canned food so she stays hydrated especially since she drinks rather little - a habit that most stray adult cats tend to have.

Emotionally she is still getting used to being an indoor cat. She scrabbles at the main door sometimes as if she wants to go out, and does not know how to use a litter tray - she peed on our sofa twice. So for now we have placed her in a pen with a litter tray so she gets used to the idea of going to a box. She seems less stressed when in a pen, with food and water that she doesn't have to share with any other cat, and seems to eat and drink more inside the pen. We will eventually still let her free roam as we do not wish to cage her for long and also we actually do not have enough free space in the foster lounge for this additional pen we got for her. She is otherwise quite happy living with us, most of the time relaxing. We are playing the Music Cats Love CD on loop for her too, so she can hear birds chirping and the sound of nature.

She does not need to go to the vet again for a follow up unless she falls very ill.

TNRM recce at Blk 15 Upper Boon Keng

This Thursday 21 October at 8pm we will be conducting another round of TNRM at this site. We went there to check out the situation with this colony tonight, as we had heard that the old cat auntie is no longer feeding there.

When we went tonight, we managed to touch base with the new feeder. She had been present at our last TNRM there and took over the feeding after the old auntie was hospitalised and confined to bed-rest at home. Apparently the old auntie went to hospital because she got scratched by one of the cats there - a free-roaming British Shorthair house cat which the owners refuse to keep indoors and neuter - and the wound got so badly infected it needed surgery. Hence Lia has taken over the feeding of the Block 15 cats, feeding a mix of dry and canned food. She is a really responsible feeder who clears up immediately after feeding nightly.

So far the Town Council has not culled any of the cats in this site and reproduction has slowed down significantly after the TNRM we did in March. We will be neutering as many cats as our Sterilisation Fund can afford to which will probably take 2 rounds at least. The cat population is still innumerable, quite hard to do an exact cat-count. We will also try to neuter the British Shorthair cat, as seen in the first picture below.

We told Lia to feed less food tomorrow night, and she will be joining us on Thursday for the TNRM round.