Homeless but not friendless

Homeless but not friendless (The Electric New Paper)
By Joanna Hughes,15 June 2005

THE first time I saw the heavily muscled street cat with the huge, splash-shaped scar on his side, I chased him off with a horse whip.

He had turned an innocent frolic in the alley outside my house into a scene right out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Two pampered, naive house cats out for an airing went flying by the window, followed closely by 10kg of snarling tom.

The tom, though, had picked my alley as the new home for himself and his extended family – wife, son (definitely), another son (paternity in doubt) and daughter. I clutched my tender tabbies – no Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fat they – but no amount of whip-waving was going to dislodge this grizzled survivor.

One rainy night, I saw the tom and No 1 Son under a small overhang. Nothing is more miserable than a cat in the rain. Pity stirred, I produced some cat biscuits and a beautiful relationship was born.

Pops, as he shortly became known, responded to food, warily at first, but then confidently enough for me to nab him and take him to be neutered.

As he lay unconscious, I got a good look at him. Imagine Morpheus from The Matrix as a cat, with scars that told a story of inhumane treatment – and survival.

‘He must be really strong to have survived the hot oil or water that scalded his side,’ the vet said.

Pops’ wife took longer to catch, long enough for her to produce two litters. But Pops turned from being the terror of the neighbourhood to a kindly cat ‘uncle’.

Propping his great bulk against the wall of a nearby restaurant, he greets all admirers. Tourists pose with him for pictures. And I would preach to any who would listen that the humane treatment of animals includes neutering them.

I have neutered more than 16 cats since 2003. They are clean, and eat and drink from bowls, and use a litter box.

In my neighbourhood, the dirtiest creatures are those with two legs, who leave stuff from soiled diapers to drink packets on the covers of rubbish bins.

Our little colony is proof that neutering cats and returning them to their environment works.

Following Sars, the Government has backed away from its support of programmes to return neutered cats to their old haunts.

The Cat Welfare Society (www.catwelfare.org) has alternatives for those who find cats a nuisance and to explain that the neutered cats you know are much better than the toms and yowling females you don’t, but it’s been an uphill slog. If a neutered cat – you can tell from the clipped ear – is captured by AVA, it will be destroyed unless it is bailed out by an ‘owner’.

Unfortunately, no-one owns these cats. In the meantime, we can give them a chance at survival. These cats may not have homes, but they have our hearts. And if you’ve ever seen their eyes, you know they are grateful.

The writer is a media consultant

Cats are not a traffic hazard

The Electric New Paper :

Cats are not a traffic hazard

SEVERAL cat carers who are involved with the community cats in Jalan Pemimpin have sent e-mail messages expressing their distress with the coverage of the traffic situation along this road (‘Cars along Jalan Pemimpin swerve dangerously to dodge cats’, The New Paper on Sunday, 20 Jul).

27 July 2008

SEVERAL cat carers who are involved with the community cats in Jalan Pemimpin have sent e-mail messages expressing their distress with the coverage of the traffic situation along this road (’Cars along Jalan Pemimpin swerve dangerously to dodge cats’, The New Paper on Sunday, 20 Jul). I thought the coverage of the benefits of sterilisation programmes in which cats are neutered and then returned to their community was good (however, it was negated by the ‘catch-a-cat’ programme mentioned by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority). At any rate, no one should be going so quickly down any street that they cannot keep a proper lookout and react to whatever comes into their path. It could be a cat or a child or an old person or someone who has tripped over something in the pathway or a bicyclist. Cats are not a traffic hazard. Inattentive drivers are. And while no one can predict what they can do in any given situation, we must adopt a defensive attitude. Don’t think ‘if’ – think ‘when’. Joanna Hughes

Cats are purr-fect pets, yes, even in HDB flats

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 diaper on the pavement or throw a lit cigarette into a dustbin or park illegally, thus blocking the SCDF from putting out the fire caused by the lit cigarette.

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.