The Electric New Paper :
Cats are purr-fect pets, yes, even in HDB flats
By Joanna Hughes
07 March 2006
OH, no, you’re thinking: Yet another animal column from Joanna Hughes.
Please believe that I meant it when I vowed not long ago not to write another word about pets, large or small, for at least six months.
But then, someone wrote in to The New Paper asking HDB to revise their ban on cats and HDB wrote back.
And I just can’t let this one go.
‘We wish to explain that cats are not allowed to be kept in HDB flats as they are nomadic in nature and it is difficult to confine them to flats. Cats can shed fur, dirty public places, make noise and cause disturbance.’
The reply was from Mrs Foo-Ho Yoke Ming, the HDB’s Deputy Director (Branch Operations).
First of all, cats are peculiarly attached to places, according to books on cat behaviour.
Cats have travelled thousands of miles to return to their homes. In my block alone, a young cat abandoned by her elderly owner when his family put him in a home still waits outside some two years later.
Cats like to be inside, if they are neutered and their needs (food, clean water and clean litter) are met. Unsterilised cats will respond to nature’s most urgent imperative, but a simple, painless and relatively inexpensive operation can take care of that.
My cats have always been house cats and I challenge anyone to show me happier, healthier cats.
As for shedding fur, surely a vacuum cleaner or a dust mop will take care of that at home. Although admittedly, they also shed fur in public places.
On that subject, the biggest shedders I have ever met after dogs are women, as anyone who has seen the sinks in a ladies’ loo can testify.
Do cats pee in lifts like humans? I had a colleague who had to pick her way daily past a pile of human faeces left on the stairs leading to her flat.
Cats at least bury their poo. I have yet to see a cat deposit a child’s used and dirty
Cats lick themselves frequently and do not smell, unlike many fellow travellers on the MRT.
Yes, a territorial cat fight can cause a few minutes of yowling, but compare that to tipsy lovers’ quarrel, an all-night mahjong game, a boisterous karaoke session or even a void deck full of possibly illegal gamblers.
Now that I think about it, maybe the biggest problems in HDB estates walk on two legs.
I don’t want to make this another Eastern vs Western values issue, but in the West, most apartments allow cats but not dogs.
Or if they do allow dogs, the owners must pay a higher security deposit. Dogs mate and squabble over territory. They shed and poo and pee, inside and out. They chew walls and tear up doors. They will howl when lonely.
And many of the more active breeds, like the small terriers, are almost impossible to confine happily in a small flat.
Why not try out a policy that allows cats in HDB flats provided the owner can provide proof of sterilisation and micro-chipping, plus a pledge to keep the cat indoors?
Or even demonstrate that he or she knows cat care basics, like the importance of a clean litter box and proper veterinary care.
A licence can cover the costs that such checks would incur. And let cat lovers enjoy the same healthy benefits of pet ownership - legally.
