OFFICIAL LAUNCH: TNR Project for Condominiums and Private Apartments in Singapore

Stray cats thrive almost anywhere in the urban jungle that is Singapore. That also includes condominiums and private residential apartment estates around the country. Many residential condominium complexes are homes to colonies of stray cats. Without proper management, stray cats will reproduce unchecked and may engage in nuisance behaviors such as fighting, howling, and spraying.

MCST

What is an MCST? Its an abbreviation for Management Corporation Strata Title, the name given to a management group (made up of proprietors/residents/tenants of the said property) that governs any private apartment, HUDC estate or condominium, as constituted under the Land Titles (Strata) Act (Cap 158). The MCST is the condominium town council and they are the go-to people to complain about anything that goes on within the estate. That includes the presence of stray cats. There are four options that apartment, condominium complexes can pursue to manage stray cats: 1) ignore them, 2) trap and remove, 3) institute a feeding ban or 4) trap, neuter and return (TNR)

1) The first option, while clearly no solution at all, is the one that is all too often chosen: ignore it and it will go away. Two cats become twenty in no time and the problem just gets bigger and bigger.

2) The second option, which at first glance may appear to be a solution, has its own shortcomings, one of which is the Vacuum Effect.

3) The third option, enacting a ban on feeding outdoor cats, is also one that condominium MSCTs feel will solve the problem. However, a prohibition on the feeding of stray cats will not guarantee a decrease in the number of cats if there is still a food source available, intentional or otherwise.

The above three options are the ones most employed by condominium/HUDC MCSTs in Singapore. If they actually solved the problem, Singapore would not have its current stray cat overpopulation crisis.

The only workable solution: TNR

The fourth option, Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), is the internationally accepted, effective and humane method of controlling stray cat populations. It is a full management plan in which outdoor stray cats, are humanely trapped and sterilised by veterinarians and evaluated. Healthy adult cats are returned to their familiar habitat, unable to reproduce. The numbers of cats will gradually reduce further as the cats naturally die off. New cats will be fended off by the existing cats, thus reducing the Vacuum Effect.

A comprehensive TNR program, in conjunction with a broad-based education program for residents or tenants, will result in fewer to no births, reduction of nuisance complaints by residents, the alleviation of public health concerns and reduced unnecessary culling.

Love Kuching Project will encourage condominium MCSTs to employ TNR and we have devised a costing plan that compares the cost savings of the TNR versus conventional pest control and culling. We aim to present TNR proposals to condominium MCSTs directly, through explaining both the vacuum effect, and how TNR is a more cost-effective pest control measure.

How You Can Help

Contact us at sterilisation@lovekuchingproject.org with the name of your condominium/HUDC complex, number of stray cats not neutered, name, and contact number of cat feeders (if any). We will thereafter contact the management to conduct TNR.

By pitching directly to condominium MCSTs that you link up with us, we can initiate TNR measures in your condominium or private estate from the top down, and link mediators with them to manage resident complaints. This will change the landscape of TNR in condominiums and private estates in Singapore. Help us make a difference for condo cats.

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Make a financial gift via a deposit to our POSB savings account 188-52652-7. Find out more. Become a monthly giver to help ensure our rescues continue getting their needs met. Feed and provide litter to the cats we foster via our corporate sponsor The Water Dish.  Follow on us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Vacuum Effect with Stray Cats.

A few weeks ago, we were explaining the gist of what TNR is about. In today's post, we will now tell you more about the vacuum effect that happens in stray cat populations after a culling exercise has been carried out to cull cats.

Removing (which means, killing) stray cats from an area/estate is not only cruel – it’s ultimately pointless and futile. Remember the time when Singapore’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) had a cat-culling programme in the early 2000s? It failed terribly. Stray cats are still everywhere. The NEA has now wizened up and begun to admit, albeit to a certain degree, that it has been blindly perpetuating this belief that catch-and-kill works. It does not. 

Scientific evidence indicates that removing stray cat populations only opens up the habitat to an influx of new stray cats, either from neighbouring territories or the offspring of survivors. Each time cats are removed, the population will rebound through a natural phenomenon known as the “vacuum effect,” drawing our communities into a costly, endless cycle of trapping and killing.

The vacuum effect is a phenomenon scientifically recognized worldwide, across all types of animal species. Here is an example of the urban fox culling programme in the United Kingdom, which has also, obviously, failed. 

Well-documented among biologists, the vacuum effect describes what happens when even a portion of an animal population is permanently removed from its home range. Sooner or later, the empty habitat attracts other members of the species from neighbouring areas, who move in to take advantage of the same resources that attracted the first group (like shelter and food). Killing or removing the original population does nothing to eliminate these resources; it only creates a “vacuum” that will inevitably draw in other animals living nearby.

This vacuum effect happens in every estate where catch-and-kill programmes are practiced. Cats are removed from the premises, and residents feel relief, but four-five months later, surprise! New Wild Cat Spotted!

Some irresponsible resident in the estate might abandon a pet cat or, seeing that the area is now vacant, a cat or a few cats see the opportunity to expand their territories. We have to remember cats are territorial creatures. And there is nothing we, as human beings can do. We share this planet with other living things as well.

Love Kuching Project is appealing to residents of condominiums, HUDC and private apartments to work with us so we can advocate to your respective MCSTs about the Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) programme that we regularly carry out in order to control stray cat populations around Singapore.

Make a financial gift via a deposit to our POSB savings account 188-52652-7. Find out more. Become a monthly giver to help ensure our rescues continue getting their needs met. Feed and provide litter to the cats we foster via our corporate sponsor The Water Dish.  Follow on us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

New adopters' discount code for pet supplies purchased on The Water Dish [@thewaterdish]

Update: Adopters' code promotion ceased operation w.e.f. 14 July 2014.

This year, our corporate sponsor The Water Dish, online pet supplies delivery has rolled out a permanent discount system for Love Kuching's new adopters, using an online discount code. Yes, permanent! That means that as a new adopter, you can use it more than for just your first purchase, which was our previous discount scheme for adopters.

How to get your TWD 10% discount code after you adopt from us:

Upon adoption, email Maxine at maxine@thewaterdish.com.sg with your email address as filled in our Adopters Agreement.
When verified, you will get a discount code.
Use the same email address to log in to The Water Dish website at www.thewaterdish.com.sg to place your orders each time, and at checkout, enter your discount code to apply the 10% discount to your cart.

Together with The Water Dish, we hope your adoption experience with us will be even more pleasant and fulfilling!

[ATTN: Donors] Opening of the new financial year #lkp2014

Edited 6 Jan 2014 to reflect payments for 2013 expenses 0n or after 1 Jan 2014

We haven't gotten our official date of incorporation from Registry of Societies yet, but we are starting the financial year according to the calendar year as of now.

In 2013 many of you have given to various Funds, but some of the Funds (especially Operations and Sterilisation) have seen more expenditure than income, and are in the red. (In total for 2013 we have 5 Funds: Boarding, Veterinary, Stray Cat, Sterilisation, Operations).

 

For a clean start therefore, we are using the total balance of cash in bank and petty cash and dividing it equally across the 5 Funds. Stray Cat Fund is being renamed as Emergency Response Fund. We will share more about the ER Fund in a later post.

Bank Balance as at 1 Jan 2014: $1581.85

Petty Cash Balance as at 1 Jan 2014: $649.00

Total Balance less payments cleared after 1 Jan 2014: $1842.09
Opening Balance per Fund (Boarding, Veterinary, ER, Sterilisation, Operations) =$368.42

As per normal, Operations Fund should not have spending more than 30% of total expenditure. Even though we had to move some of your donations slated for other Funds to start the new year with each fund at the same balance, rest assured that when it comes to Operations expenses such as advertisments, transport and volunteer management, they will not ever exceed 30% of total expenses for a financial year.

We did not manage to recruit a steady Accounts Volunteer till the end of last year, and thus reporting was limited to a sporadic nature. We deeply regret this, because financial transparency has always been a strong belief of ours from when we were founded in 2009. The daily runnings of our rescue work started to overwhelm us and it became increasingly difficult to publish proper financial reports.
This year however, our new Accounts Volunteer, Soya, will change all that and give all of you cat angels an even more transparent look into our spending. Donation protocols will also see an improvement, as will the reporting of the balances for each Fund, to guide us even more precisely in our fundraising measures. We will have a new bank account soon once ROS incorporation is completed, but the existing one will remain until we can transit donors' standing instructions smoothly to the new account.

Every year we raise the bar in working to love cats better, 2014 is no different. To all the cat angels: THANK YOU. For joining us in our work, for believing in us, for saying things like, "Use the funds as you see fit, where the need is," showing us you believe in our financial prudence. We are humbled by your trust, and hope 2014 will strengthen your belief in us as we love the cats in our lives and neighbourhoods.

The latest update on Dumpling, one-eyed glue trap kitten from Square 2

Dumpling in her cat suite, hiding in a shoebox

If you follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, you would know by know that Dumpling recently had a minor surgery to drain a head abscess. Here is more about her condition that caused the abscess.

Head abscess from 2 weeks ago

Before Dumpling suddenly developed a head abscess, she had been having a prolonged bout of flu'. Her empty eye socket was always tearing and she was already on her second course of antibiotics. She also had ear mites that took a while to clear up despite Revolution and pyrethins ear cleaner, but that was a minor problem compared to her other ailments.

When she was brought to the vet for the abscess, the vet had to put her under general anaesthesia to lance and drain it. The head abscess developed due to deformed sinuses, and it also tends to recur. Recurrence means constant surgeries and it means a lot of pain for her.

The vet had to lance and drain the abscess

Dumpling became quite fearful and thus not keen on human contact after this surgery. She is okay with being medicated but will hiss first, always. She has been on Azmira fear flower essence ever since, which helps a lot.

She is now on another course of antibiotics, to ease both the flu' and to help her abscess heal and not get infected. There isn't even a scar now, so what was left for us to do was to research on her condition and to see whether the abscess recurs.

We asked our vet Dr Chong on her case, to find out what is the probability of recurrence, and the relationship between her chronic flu' and the sinus infection. This is because if Dumpling will forever have both flu' and recurring sinus abscesses requiring repeated surgeries, it may be more humane to euthanise her.

Based on what Dr Chong shared with us, it is likely that the chronic flu' led to the inflamed sinuses, as a respiratory tract infection tends to move upwards. The abscess may not recur in all such cases. In some kittens, there may be loss of the spongy soft bones in the nasal tract that directs air flow, but usually such cases will lead to merely chronic flu', not necessarily recurring head abscesses. This is a good prognosis, because if after some observation, Dumpling does not have another head abscess, she still stands a chance of being rehomed, and definitely be pain-free and feel carefree.

For now, it means she rests, gets socialised more, completes her antibiotics, and we wait and see if her flu' clears up and if the abscess recurs.

This girl also recently developed some kind of pyoderma on her back, and it is also being treated right now with topical medications. Which thankfully she does not scratch or lick.

She has no end to her travails! For now, anyway. We're going to try our best to make sure her life gets better. She doesn't want to eat canned food with supplements, so we don't force them on her. We will keep checking in with our vet to make sure we give her treatment that will help.

If or until her condition stabilises, she won't be available for adoption. This is because she is a high commitment kitten that will have a high rate of return or abandonment if adopted now. Therefore, she will be staying with us for quite a while. If you would like to help out with her veterinary costs, you can make a one-time contribution to our account under the Veterinary Fund, at POSB savings 188-52652-7, and thereafter text Elaine at 9088o675 to indicate your intent is for veterinary expenses we incur for the cats. 

Make a financial gift via a deposit to our POSB savings account 188-52652-7. Find out more.  
Become a monthly giver to help ensure our rescues continue getting their needs met.  
Feed and provide litter to the cats we foster via our corporate sponsor The Water Dish.   
Follow on us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

#tbt #throwbackthursday C is for 'Celebrity'

So we went for this awesome Cat Welfare Society lock+store adoption drive in October this year, and brought some of the adoptable cats we had then to the event. A week later, somecat that had become rather famous among many Love Kuching fans, got adopted.

He came to us with a construction site injury

Yup, the half-toe-gone handsome-cat, at the time of arrival 6 months old, named Cooky:

Cooky was a cat that relaxed a lot even as a kitten

Got photographed when he grew older, portrait by Furry Photos

We thought all hope had gone, because although Cooky was an awesome foster cat who did well with visitors and even excursions, and loved to sit like a beached whale, bully his peers from time to time, and had great sleeping postures, he just didn't have the luck, till he met his would-be dads, Julian and Ryan.

When his dad and cat carrier came for him

Julian with Cooky

Cooky was about to meet his older brother, Pepper, but when he went to his forever home, he had more important things to do:

Sleep, we must.

Oh yes he likes baskets in his new home

He also still likes sleeping in the basin. That too didn't change. His dads let him do it! So much love.

Older boy Pepper was the sweet and gentle brother and after his initial displeasure with Cooky, eventually warmed up to him. But Cooky realised Pepper was easy to bully, so he dominated the household as soon as he could! Pepper even tried to groom Cooky once and got smacked by naughty Cooky. Cooky never dared to do that to his elders here, not even gentle Sealy the Kitten IC... maybe Pepper is too sweet a boy!

His dads love them both of course, and Cooky's new toy became his favourite:

If you cannot view this video, click here.

We hope you like today's Throwback Thursday post! Keep them coming, you say? Sure, help us share the love on the adoptable kitties on the right side bar okay, so we can keep these wonderful forever-love stories going!

Make a financial gift via a deposit to our POSB savings account 188-52652-7. Find out more.  
Become a monthly giver to help ensure our rescues continue getting their needs met.  
Feed and provide litter to the cats we foster via our corporate sponsor The Water Dish.   
Follow on us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

#tbt #throwbackthursday When 2 best friends got adopted together

On 2nd August 2012 a lovely couple brought a handsome boy recovering from an eye infection to our foster home after emailing us his story, with this photo:

Guess who!

Then the following month in the same year, some kitten stepped on burning joss paper on the ground, and came to us for veterinary and foster care too.

Looking poor-thing!

They got well, waited more than a year for a forever home, became best friends, and on 28th September 2013, at our #loveagain adoption event, got adopted together by Rodney and Karen.

It was an amazing adoption because, Ebi, a very, very shy boy, warmed up to his new mommy that night, something he never did to anyone so easily before. Karen believes best friends should be adopted together, so Sunkist went along to his forever home too! How awesome are such adopters.

Obligatory goodbye shot before the boys left

Contrastingly, Ebi (now Cubby) warmed up sooner than Sunkist (now Sunny) and became affectionate boys to their new parents.

Ebi 2 days after getting adopted

Sunkist eventually made himself at home

Holly being inspected

Unfortunately, of late, all of them haven't been getting along with one another. A lot of fighting has been going on, and eventually their dad called us for advice on how to resolve the conflict before somecat got seriously hurt from the daily scuffling. We advised them to get Feliway, and homeopathic remedies such as Pet Alive Pet Calm, Pet Alive Aggression Formula and Rescue Remedy, and then followed up with them, because the last thing we want is exasperated heartbroken furparents having to rehome their cats because of manageable cat behaviour problems.

We are launching Cat Behaviour Management consults for cat households next year, making it easier on cat owners with unacceptable cat behaviours, and thus reducing abandonment of cats - behaviour problems are a huge reason why cats get surrendered to shelters. More soon when we fine-tune how we can do this for you if you need help, in the meantime, always feel free to drop us a comment, text, email, if you need some advice. First rule of thumb for cat behaviour problems? A visit to the vet to rule out physiological problems. Always. 

Make a financial gift via a deposit to our POSB savings account 188-52652-7. Find out more.  
Become a monthly giver to help ensure our rescues continue getting their needs met.  
Feed and provide litter to the cats we foster via our corporate sponsor The Water Dish.   
Follow on us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Holiday break from 22nd Dec to 3rd Jan

We will be closing our foster home to visits from play/clean volunteers and donors for the above dates! Only exception is for adopters who have applied for adoption, as December tends to see more kitties finding homes. And as you know, apart from our regular volunteers with portfolios, donors, play/clean volunteers, and adopters, we don't have the resources to manage regular visitors.

The only reason why we will be closing from 22nd Dec to 3rd Jan is simple: we need a holiday break, especially since we need to recharge for 2014, a big year for us! ;)

You folks have fun for the holidays too, and stay away from that choking hazard that is tinsel!

Volunteers Holiday Party highlights! And finally, all about #LKP2014

So we had a volunteers party yesterday night, accompanied by 2 members of our soon to be formed Committee for registration purposes. We had loads of fun!

Gathering of likeminded, committed volunteers

We can has presents!

And vegan cake!

General catty madness all round.

We have been much busy preparing for the new year, simply because we want to better love the cats in our lives and neighbourhoods. Andy and Elaine identified gaps in the cat rescue industry and brainstormed how Love Kuching and our corporate sponsor The Water Dish can help fill those gaps. All we are is a group of cat lovers that want to help others be better cat lovers, and create new cat lovers too! Last night, the plans we were going to launch in 2014 was shared to all the Volunteers with portfolios at our holiday party. Executive Assistant Yi Shu has a written a quick summary of what else was shared for #LKP2014:

"Firstly, Love Kuching Project has applied to register under Registry of Societies - with a central executive committee of 10 members who'll hold voting rights on things happening in the organisation. The application hasn't been approved, yet... *crosses fingers* and we hope it goes through soon!

"Secondly, we'll be having two new outreach programmes, one of which will focus on cat therapy for the elderly in 2014 - managed by our outreach people Camellia and Nicole! Further details will be announced shortly - with a call for volunteers, I guess!

"The second outreach programme due to launch in 2014 will be on cat behaviour. We're no Jackson Galaxy - but since many people have come to Love Kuching for tips on cat care and cat behaviour, we thought we'll do proper consultations for people and cats who have problematic cat behaviour. We won't be charging fees, but we'll ask people to donate. This will help stop people from unnecessarily putting down cats or abandoning problem cats on to the streets. Again, further details will be announced!

"Thirdly, we'll be restructuring and instituting process and protocol into our Stray Cat Fund (which will be renamed as well). Cat Welfare's Special Appeals is having not so easy a time garnering funds for many open appeals for cats in need, and there are no funds in Singapore that will help cat rescuers who have the means to foster sick cats but don't have the cash flow to pay, so this will certainly be much needed. I will be in charge of managing the process of dispensing funds as well as liaising with rescuers on a per-case basis. We'll announce further details as soon as we can!

"Finally, we are extending Trap Neuter Release programs to condominium estates by liaising with estate management companies and offering TNR as a humane alternative to culling for control of the cat population. Ash, our Sterilisation Volunteer, will be in charge of this project, as will his counterpart Liyin. Nice."

By Ng Yi Shu, Executive Assistant.

Make a financial gift via a deposit to our POSB savings account 188-52652-7. Find out more.  
Become a monthly giver to help ensure our rescues continue getting their needs met.  
Feed and provide litter to the cats we foster via our corporate sponsor The Water Dish.   
Follow on us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

The full story: Tux, stray cat from Holland Village area with mast cell tumour

What is a mast cell tumour? It is a nodular growth that is sometimes cancerous: 1 in 3 of such tumours are malignant, and either way, the treatment to stem the growth of such tumours is through steroids. If possible, such tumours should be excised, along with the surrounding tissue. The growth itself doesn't cause pain to the cat, unless internal organs are affected. The skin around the MCT may develop ulcers.

For Tux's case, surgical removal is not possible because it cannot be fully excised without removing half his face, and MCTs when not removed completely, will cause the cancer to spread even more. Hence, the best treatment is to manage the growth, any ulcers that develop on the surface, make sure he maintains a good standard of welfare.

Further tests not needed because the treatment for whether tumour is malignant or not is the same

Initially, after diagnosed by the vet the rescuer brought Tux to (he was called Batman by another feeder), he returned to the street. However, the growth started to increase in size, perhaps because it was difficult to get him or the feeder to adhere to the medication. He started to become less confident in his social circle, and his younger best friend started to dominate him with some aggression, signs that a cat is starting to fade in his position in the hierarchy due to illness. He also became more lethargic, not moving about much, even when it rained, and he started to get drenched in rain a lot. All in all, indoor intensive foster care seemed more and more necessary.

Tux when he first went back on the streets after diagnosis

On November 27, we brought Tux to our vet, Dr Dawn Chong, as she will now onwards be his primary care vet. He was so agreeable at the vet, even when Dr Chong inspected his tumour and the ulcer/abscess that persists on its surface. We got him a course of prednisolone, the steroid that is used to treat MCT, and instead of the initially recommended gastric medication to be fed alongside, he is now on famotidine, cheaper and just as effective considering he does not present with any gastric discomfort to begin with.

We then got some tests done for Tux to establish a baseline of his health. This cat is not unwilling to show his disapproval when in pain, and he struggled when the vet tried to draw his blood. This boy still has lots of energy! The tests were good, his blood count, organ functions are healthy.

Tux getting blood drawn, not happy!

Knowing he doesn't hide his pain which more feral cats are prone to do, is a good sign, because then we will know when he is suffering and when he is happy. It will help with end of life decisions later on for him. And so far, he is really enjoying his stay at our foster space it seems!

Tux enjoying a belly rub from Foster Care Volunteer Riley

Tux however was very picky with his food and didn't want to eat Addiction Brushtail, which is our standard canned food fed here. He was used to the diet of tuna and such seafood when on the streets. So we tried all kinds of menus for him: panseared fish, boiled chicken, brushtail mixed with some tuna (not too much, tuna is high in mercury, and addictive), and he didn't want to have much to do with any of these. He ate more if his food was sprinkled with crumbed freezedried salmon, but even then, not completely. So we ordered all the healthy fishy foods and tested them on him. Taste tests still on going, and partial results are: he approves of Nutripe Terakihi and Natural Balance Ocean Fish, Nutripe being the cheaper option. We know what to reorder for him now! We don't feed him dry food at the moment because he needs to eat his supplements and medication in his canned food. He is on a variety of supplements suitable for cancer cats, including arginine, and anti-inflammatories such as curcumin, colloidal silver, ashwagandha.

His persistent abscess on his tumour needs medication, and to prevent even further inflammation of it, we are putting him on antibiotics starting today, also because he is having a runny nose (he is not penned together with a flu' cat but he is in the same room as sickies with flu' because we do not have a separate quarantine room. Next time when we expand, we will!) so he would do well with a course of meds that will treat both infections. He will also receive topical medication on his open abscess, primarily irrigating it with saline, and instilling Bactroban antimicrobial ointment. Which is not difficult for us or him, for even bathing him is a treat for the volunteers, he is so calm and okay with everything.

Tux getting groomed by Foster Care Volunteer Diana

The abscess today, after removing some pus

Runny nose (that's not blood by the way, just redness)

How do we know when it is time for Tux to go in a dignified manner? We evaluate his quality of life. His daily functions of eating, drinking, peeing, pooping and walking should be present, and if not, there must be possibility of recovering them. Lack of appetite, or anorexia in cats, is linked to apathy: lack of energy, depressed mood, often as a result of pain. So if emotionally these signs are present and we cannot alleviate them, the lack of emotional welfare is an indicator of poor quality of life. Only when all these indicators of quality of life are gone and unable to return will we enact the euthanasia protocol. (Many times, the cat knows too, and leaves without us having to make this decision.)

For now, he is happy, laidback, enjoying everything we can give him. We hope to be the best stray cat retirement home for him!

We will constantly update on Tux as we do the other foster cats, through our social media channels (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) so go ahead and follow us there to see his progress.

Make a financial gift via a deposit to our POSB savings account 188-52652-7. Find out more.  
Become a monthly giver to help ensure our rescues continue getting their needs met.  
Feed and provide litter to the cats we foster via our corporate sponsor The Water Dish.   
Follow on us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.