Complete report on last month's TNR at Selegie

We finally got all our receipts, got a working computer again, so here is the report on the Selegie TNR we did last month.

On the second round of TNR in that area we trapped a total of 7 cats:

7 cats

These cats were mostly from the areas opposite the HDB flats, at commercial buildings just nearby. We also released the cats neutered from the first round on the same day.

Bills from the second round of neutering were a tad higher than usual because the spay/neuter clinic could not operate on all 7 cats and once and those who had to wait needed extra boarding days which cost.

Bill incl. trapping/transport and boarding

Clinic bill #1

Clinic bill #2

So we spent exactly $810 on this Selegie TNR project. We want to do more. What you can do to help:

1. Look out for uncared for colonies of cats that have no one sterilising or feeders who are unable to sterilise the cats. Then contact us and let us know.
2. Support our Sterilisation Fund. Give to our POSB account (savings) 188-52652-7 and SMS Elaine at 90880675 to indicate you have given towards our Sterilisation Fund.

Our TNR efforts help stem the overpopulation of cats in our nation. Sure we can rescue, rehabilitate and rehome kitties, but sterilisation of stray cats to reduce the kitten population boom helps a lot more, and goes straight to the root of the problem. There are only so many homes kittens can go to. So, if you can do either step 1 or 2 of the above, PLEASE DO!

P.S. Glad to have a working computer again. :)

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 

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Cute little Ebi needs a forever home!

| Contender for cutest bicolour kitten ever |

This is Ebi, sitting on a tree branch in Katong Park where Furry Photos did his photo shoot, so that he will look super gorgeous on photographs and make you want to take him home immediately. (He is wearing a leash in the photos.)

The cute faces of Ebi

Ebi's classic "I'm pitiful!" look...

We did a caption contest for Ebi's photoshoot and here is the winning entry! 

Submitted by Charmaine

Ebi is now about 4 months old. He first came to us with a burn on his leg. After his burn wound had healed, and he went through his vaccinations, he then came down with diarrhoea. The vet did a fecal exam and found there to be no bacterial infection, so we treated him for his runny poo till he got better. And hooray he is now a-okay!

Vet checked, he's healthy now!

Active and curious

Ebi is now about 4 months old, male black and white kitten with a mid-length tail. He is litter-trained, vaccinated and de-wormed. He is able to eat both dry and wet food and drink water on his own.

Ebi's bicoloured markings

Personality-wise he is confident most of the time, daring to make friends with other cats easily even if older ones give him a hissy fit first as is the norm in catty greetings. He charms humans over with his super cute face, "I am so poor thing!" that just makes anyone's heart melt. He is vocal when he needs something, like food, and loves affection, purring away the minute you pick him up. He also listens to us humans when we tell him yes or no, and he is not overly mischievous!

"Mreow!"

(Almost) Always a good boy!

Ebi posing with his friend Sunkist, also for adoption

If you would like to adopt Ebi, please see right side bar under 'How to adopt' or click here to find out how to adopt Ebi.

Please don't let Ebi be homeless!

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 

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We will be back from a short break, very soon. Promise.

Sorry we haven't been around for the past 2 weeks. Human Elaine was in the hospital, and Slinky our Feline Founder fell even more ill than she already was. She has FIV.

We will resume blogging as soon as possible as Elaine needs to recover after returning from hospital also. Meanwhile, here is a little nugget on FIV:

"FIV transmission is mainly through the bloodstream and therefore is primarily passed from cat to cat through bite wounds.That explained why no one else in my cat household caught it because they never bit each other. Cats that live together don't generally bite each other hard enough to break the skin even when in rough play."

This however does not relate to foster cats as truly, because fosters are entering a new environment and with that and stress they may attack other cats. This is why we try to avoid situations where we have to take in a foster cat with FIV.

Thank you all who have gathered in a #pawcircle for Slinky on Facebook and Twitter. On her new meds, Interferon, she is eating better. Currently her weight has already dropped to 2kg only. Her liver and kidney functions are fine.

This is a reminder to all of you who have cats that are 8 years and older, their veterinary visits should be twice yearly from this age onwards. Slinky is still able to move about, use the loo, jump (slowly) and come to us for affection. Not in pain. Regular vet checks will make sure anything wrong will be caught early, not late. 

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 

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Adopt: Sunkist [Photos taken by @furryphotos]

| Sunkist, 6 mths old male neutered red tabby kitten|

Sunkist came to us for rehabilitation after his rescuers found him abandoned in Marsiling with a serious eye infection. He was taken to the vet and hospitalised.

When first rescued

When he came to us his eye was still red. We continued his medication regime. Today his eye is no longer infected, but there is still some residual scarring that is visible up close. He however sees perfectly well and has no need for medication any more.

His scarred eye, close up

As of today, he is 25 weeks old, litter-trained, has all his booster shots done (sponsored by Shela), dewormed, on Revolution, neutered - he sports a slightly tipped ear now, and healthy and vet-checked.

Thinking of mischief?

Sunkist is a very active kitten who is playful and full of energy. He may get into mischief but responds to discipline as all our foster cats do (they have to)! He gets along well with other kittens, especially Ebi, who is also for adoption. He also interacts well with older cats. When he is in the mood he loves hugs too!

Sunkist and Ebi at the end of their photoshoot

He has a mid-length tail, tabby markings are mackarel, and has a white chin.

Tabby markings and white chin features

Here is the entire collection of the photos Furry Photos took of Sunkist at Katong Park last week:

To adopt Sunkist, see right side bar under 'How to adopt' or click here to find out how.

If you cannot adopt, do share the word! Every RT and share makes a difference!

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 

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Selegie TNR round 1 report

On Sunday we went to Selegie to conduct a round of TNR for the stray cat colony there. It was fruitful; we trapped 8 kitties to send to the clinic. We are going again today at 5pm to conduct the 2nd round of trapping for the remaining stray cats there. So look forward to another report after this one!

Sunday's weather was a bit ominous but turned out to be dry when we went there, thankfully. Which meant that the cats weren't all in hiding and were easily trapped.

The cats were gathered around the perimeter of a substation, and as instructed to the feeders, were not fed for the day so were all waiting there instead of hiding.

Back of the substation

Front of the substation, their main feeding point

Quite clean, wouldn't you agree? The feeders are very responsible ones who clear up after feeding. They also help negotiate complaints to the town council regarding cats. Main complaints though, are still as usual about indoor cats that are allowed to roam, disturbing neighbours that live on high floors - not the fault of the stray cats at all.

The feeders used to do the sterilisation, so there are some already tipped-ear cats around. Unfortunately their previous trapper stopped answering their calls when they needed to sterilise more. And so the population kept growing, until they could no longer afford to sterilise them all.

One of the already tipped-ear cats

None of the cats are friendly enough to be touched, and so transporting them to the vet without trapping services is out of the question.

Preparing the traps

Traps laid, cats lured by the food within

A lot of the kitties we trapped were kittens that just hit maturity, so the timing we went was really apt. Here are the 8 cats we trapped. They return to their territory today.

The 8 cats from this first round of TNR

Tabby/white

White/tabby

White/tabby

Tabby/white

Black/white

Tabby/white

Tabby/white

Tabby

There are about 4-6 cats still needing to be sterilised at this spot. Also, about 2-4 across the road:

2-4 cats across the substation, outside a hostel

Cats hiding in the bush outside the hostel

We will be there this evening at 5pm, look out for our updates on Twitter and Instagram on site (@luvkuching) and we will report the total bills for this Selegie TNR project once we have completed. If you would like to give to this TNR project, deposit into our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7, write us an email at elaine@lovekuchingproject.org to state that you wish to give to our Sterilisation Fund. Thank you in advance!

Righto, see you later Selegie cats!

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 

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TNR project: Selegie

In a residential estate spanning 3 blocks off Selegie Road, there lives a colony of stray cats numbering at about 20. Many are not sterilised, and some are already pregnant. When we received the appeal for conducting Trap-Neuter-Return at this area, we therefore had to act quickly.

After a short recce, we found that one of the sub-colonies resides at one of the residential blocks.

Sub-colony at substation

Some of the strays are already neutered, but the caregivers simply do not have enough financial resources to neuter all of the cats fast enough. Reproduction is rampant.

We will be conducting the first round of trapping for sterilisation this Sunday 30 Sept at 6pm. 

It is likely at least 2 rounds will be needed, and we will be able to gauge better after this Sunday with a more in-depth reconnaissance. As of end July 2012 our Sterilisation Fund balance is at S$870.22. We may need your help if we need to conduct more than 2 rounds as we have only sufficient funds to conduct 2 rounds of sterilisation. If so, we will be publishing a fundraising appeal.

We will report the TNR project happenings here and on Twitter so do watch this space.

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 

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Latest arrival: Ebi, rescued from Ubi Techpark by @edmondchua

Ebi came to us on 22 Aug, covered in ash, with a burn wound on his hind leg. Rescued by Edmond, from Ubi Techpark, he was about 8 weeks old by estimate, and really grey in colour when he arrived. Apart from the burn wound on his leg, he also had diarrhoea from worms.

He is rehabilitated to good health now, and is ready for a new home! Here are some of his earlier photos - more will come soon by the end of this week after his Furry Photos photoshoot, we will update when they are ready!

Ebi while waiting at the vet

His leg wound, likely a burn

Getting a chin tickle!

Ebi is a really sweet natured boy kitty. When he first got to our foster home and got 'scolded' by the older kitties, he did not retaliate at all, and eventually won them over with gentleness. He likes to meow when he is hungry, is a teensy bit timid but loves affection by familiar humans, purring away when loved. And he has this adorable 'poor-thing' face that one just cannot help but give into.

He is litter trained, able to eat both wet and dry food. His leg wound has healed, and he no longer has diarrhoea. He is also vaccinated and vet-checked. At the time of this post he is estimated to ba about 12 weeks old, past the threshold where major health problems are likely to occur - which means he is healthy and ready for a new home!

If you can't adopt him, do share this post. You can also consider sponsoring his vaccination (bottom of the list, another one due this coming week).

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 

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burnout

We are really sorry we haven't been online much. We know we pretty much live online through our blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Interacting with all of you is a joy to us. But it has been hard of late, because we are experiencing burnout.

We have read about this syndrome. Being burnt out while working in the animal rescue industry is a common, worrying phenomenon. We never expected it to happen to us, really, but it did.

It started to go downhill when Calipod passed away.

Her tumour had caused the vein that is close to it, to rupture, spurting out blood everywhere. She likely died because of the loss of blood. We could not make it to the 24hour vet in time, deteriorating badly in the cab. CPR was performed and we made it to Calipod's old home in Geylang where she took her last breath.

We miss her.

Burnout syndrome in the animal rescue industry is caused by events like these. Regardless of knowing inside you that you did your best and that death is inevitable, it still saps a bit of life of you.

Apart from Calipod's death, we also are demoralised by the lack of enquiries about adopting the rescue cats on our adoption alert. Our Adoption volunteer, Imran is busy refresshing ads on the cats for adoption but there are simply too many cats and too few adopters calling in.

Inundated instead by emails and calls about rescued cats needed help, needing a space in our foster home, where we have to say no because cats are not being adopted and making space for new ones. Add burnout to the mix, and we really are so fatigued we cannot take in newbies for now. And having to say no to rescue cats is demoralising in itself.

How do we shake ourselves out of this fatigue? The recommended strategy, time out to do something else and explore new experiences. We are trying. Give us some time.

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 

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Blog posts to come...

Blog posts we owe you all catty folks! -

• Report on NUS PEACE Animal Welfare Symposium event!
• Ebi's rescue and rehabilitation; our newest arrival!

We promise you these two stories soon! (Waiting on pictures and such.)

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 

Be Sociable, Share!