Story of Bengal-Boy
30th December 2003: Bengal-boy was sterilised this morning. The staff of the clinic said he was a bengal-cross. He was released back into the community.
5th April 2004: Tommie and Bengal have gone missing for the last three days. I hope they were adopted. This is the inescapable impermance of all phenomena in this existence. I will live with the joy that our connection, even if it were only for a few month, will continue into a future time. We will meet again. 
8th April 2004: Last evening, Sharifah told me that clip-ear cats surrended to AVA by Pest Control companies were keep in the holding room for some time. So I gave AVA a call this morning and to my horror, two cats in AVA matched the description of Bengal and Tommie (more certain was Bengal with his distinctive strips). They were caught from around Blk xxx, xxx and xxx. I was told that a Malay family would be going to claim 5 cats from this area. When I arrived at AVA, Pasir Panjang, two youngish elder Malay ladies were waiting there with a young man in his 20s. I identifed Bengal Boy easily. Tommie-boy was kept with two cats in another cage. I wasn’t so sure of Tommie and a staff of AVA had to bring him out to confirm his sex. The Malay family told me that 3 cats have already been brought back to xxx and they had prepared to bring back these two as well until they were told that I would be coming to claim them as well. The ladies said that their daughter was very upset when the cats were missing and she kicked up a row with the officers in the Town Council. I was shown a letter written by the Town Council to CWS that the 5 cats were caught around the blocks indicated above could be released back to the estate “provided they do not become a nuisance”. My guess was that the complaint on which Town Council had acted was not traced to the blocks where the cats were caught! Hence the cats were allowed to be released back to the place where they were found, rather than be microchipped and released to a “private residential address”.
Without the law protecting the cats, they are constantly at the mercy of human beings who do not care a hoot of any cat. Tame sterilised cats are easy “sitting ducks” for the pest control workers to finish their task fast so as to collect $20 per cat.
I wrote to the town council to “thank” them for releasing the cats and to avail myself to their service in meditating any complaints of the cats around my block and the next.
I left some dry food at the usual feeding place at about 6pm. Patchie and Dolly were around. Bengal-boy and Tommie did not appear until I brought down some wet food at about 7.15pm. I fed Bengal and Tommie again at about 10pm. Bengal was sneezing but he was eating.
22nd April 2004 7pm: Bengal still sniffles. I saw him scratching himself more than I would expect of a healthy cat. I saw a small bald patch on his head.
When I reached the car park at Blk xxx at about 9.45pm after the Yoga Class, Bengal and a few other regular cats were at the feeding area. He responded to my call and came to sit beside me on the edge of the drain. I fiddled with the Revolution before I managed to plunged the cap into the vial to break the nozzle. I caught hold of Bengal by his nape and he went into a submissive crouching position, long enough for the whole content of the vial to be squeezed onto the skin.
29th June 2004: 7.45pm: Got him into a carrier after his “makan”. From the backseat of the car, Bengal-boy meowed softly in protest.
8.00pm: Adopter arrived and we set off for xxx. Bengal-boy was quiet from xxx to xxx. 8.30pm: He meowed softly as he was coaxed out of the carrier. He hid beneath the bed.
8.45pm: Adopter sms-ed to say that he came out from beneath the bed and was exploring his new environment.
30th June 2004: Bengal gave a welcome puddle on the bed after controlling for more than 12 hours! The FIP test was very weakly positive. Vet explained that this meant the chance of Bengal having FIP was very remote. So Bengal is not going back to the streets! Hurray!
3rd July 2004: Bengal received his vaccination. 
From: adopter
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 2:06 PM
Hi:)
I’ll pass u some when i get a digicam but no worries yea!! he’s loved by both of us:)
i’ll tell u some funny incidents ya so that u won’t lose contact with him.
Lately, he’s been sleeping on the bed at night and sometimes on top of us. I love him so much until I cannot tahan. He so smart and handsome:P
He pees and shits only when i’m at home..and he makes sure that all the stuff is covered b4 he leaves the litter box.
He likes to sleep on the cabinet by the window and suns himself. And he stops climbing grills now. His favourite pastime is looking down on the street from the window. Did i tell u he likes to kiss us in the morning? When i leave for work I have no worries abt him misbehaving cos he is never naughty.
ok enough abt my baby.
From: ST (another cat-giver)
Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 7:42 PM
I’m so relieved to know that Bengal Boy has been adopted by a good family! I call him Pringles, and he has always been one of my favourites! You see, whenever I go to the other blks, he would follow me. Except when I go to xxx as I do not allow him to cross the road. Apart from that, he follows me around everywhere and more than often my fiance, Jason and I spend hours playing with them in the night. I really miss him very much and must admit that it is truly heart wrenching to see his pix. He truly is a lovely cat, active & playful! We were planning to bring him and some others back home with us once we got our own place in two years, but now he has all our well wishes. It is not easy for me to let him go but part and parcel of life…..sigh
Yes indeed when he returned from AVA, the two (Bengal-boy and Tommie ) had a nasty cold. I fed them cough and cold syrup daily. I was cuddling them both for a good week in the nights till wee hours of the morning as they seemed so insecure and scared. I too attended to that bald spot you mentioned. I really miss him!
Thx for letting me know his whereabouts!
Recently I have had a pretty bad scare! After one of my babies died and seeing Dixie aka Billie-boy (the white with gray patches) & Patchy got sick. They must have taken something poisonous! (Dixie is male but I mistook him for a female but somehow he doesn’t want to respond to any other name.) I wasn’t gonna take it lying down especially when I just lost a cat 2 days piror to that! So I fed him charcoal tablets and it worked! 2 days after, I found Hobbles(Patchy) sick too!!! After 4days of medication, they finally are eating as normal now. Maybe you can inform the other feeders about the remedy of charcoal tablets. The pet shop has confirmed that those we buy at the pharmacy and pet shops are of the same make. After watching many documentary films, I am even more convinced that charcoal is a natural remedy that animals take for posioning and indigestion.
So honestly, some selfish side within is extremely reluctant to part with Dixie. I understand that you are trying to re-homing him. However I recognised the fact that it would be dangerous not to as it will be 2 yrs from now till I get my own place. My parents are totally against the idea of me bring them home. Especially after my dog’s demise as my mom do not wanna go thru it anymore.
From: Diane
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 9:02 AM
He doesn’t struggle when I bathe him. He did when he had his 1st bath in my home but now he’s so obedient and just lets me scrub him clean. He, however, hates it when i scrub his hind legs and his bum…he’s quite anal about me touching that part of his body.
I noticed that Bengal-boy is quite territorial recently tho. Lately, he’s been very vocal abt my landlady’s cats coming into the room. He used to let them but now he swipes them especially when they climb onto the bed to be with me. They also like to use his litter and eat his food u see. So i think, he has tolerated enough.
Here’s his latest photo taken on 24th April 2006 (the feline family has grown!)
