Cats and Nonsense

mollymeek (mollymeek) wrote, @ 2009-01-29 19:40:00

Cats and Nonsense

"Cats are not allowed to be kept in HDB flats as they are nomadic in nature and are difficult to be confined within the flats. Due to the nomadic nature of cats, the nuisances caused by cats such as shedding of fur, defecating/urinating in public areas, noise disturbance etc would affect the environment and neighbourliness in our housing estates. In view of this, HDB has the policy of not allowing cats to be kept in HDB flats." (HDB Website)

It's difficult to confine cats in flats. Maybe cats can walk through walls. Molly shall try it later.

But because cats are not allowed in HDB flats, cat lovers have resorted to adopting strays outside the flats. You might not see that many around until their caregivers come with their food and these kitties come from all directions. Isn't this itself going to aggravate any problems like defecating in public areas since these cats can't even be kept in homes where they could be trained to use litter boxes?

What the HDB website says sounds almost self-contradictory. We don't allow cats to be kept in your flats because it's . . . difficult to keep cats in your flats. (OK lor, then I let them stay outside, but that is precisely what you don't want. So I take them in, you say cannot. I let them out, you catch and cull them. Then may I know where they can go? My minister's private housing?)

Which reminds me, is there something special in private housing that keeps cats confined within their owners' property? Like, do cats behave differently in condominiums? If the government doesn't need to care about disputes arising from cats in condominiums (it doesn't need to enact a law that prevents everyone from keeping cats lest neighbors start chopping one another up over cats), then why would the HDB have to care about people keeping cats in public housing? So what if public housing is public housing? It doesn't mean that the HDB has to do something to prevent conflicts between neighbors that might arise from someone's choice of pets. If the gahmen says it is not its business or that it has no right to stop people from keeping cats, who could blame it? (Heck, even the police can say that it's not their business to intervene with certain issues because they are domestic affairs.)

Of course, there is probably this fixation with the need to show that something is being done to promote harmony. But this brings to mind a sacred kind of harmony. So maybe those who cannot touch dogs could complain that there is some kind of discrimination going on since they are deprived of one obvious and very popular choice of pets.

Meowwrrrrrr.