Love Kuching Project @luvkuching by The Water Dish - kitten adoption, rescue, TNR

Geylang food district - TNR round 2!

2012-01-28T10:53:00.001+08:00

Covering the cat colonies of Geylang's food district, lorong by lorong!

We went back to our first site to trap the remaining cats on Wednesday, before moving on to the latest site we wrote about.

Turns out that there were more cats than we counted leftover at the previous site. 3 of them look almost alike, so we must have counted them as 1 cat!

Examining our trap, meow!

These cats were nearer to the coffeeshop than to the gambling den.

Yes, it is the same cat!

Another one being trapped

Here are the 4 cats we trapped at this first location.

White/black

White/silver

Who's still there at the gambling den / coffeeshop? The same mommy cat and kittens we saw.

Mom and kiddo

So then we moved to the next alley.

There, the cats were already waiting and hungry.

Hanging out at coffeeshop tables in the alley

Attracted by us humans with food!

"Where's the food!"

Some are less hidey than others

This kitty was very human friendly

We tried to trap as many females as possible first, but many of them were in hiding at this time of day. Those we saw weren't too keen on strangers, even the feeder uncle couldn't get close to them.

Preparing the traps

So we trapped a mixture of male and female cats.

Tabby/white

Black/white

Black

We will have to return to this site to get the remaining cats neutered.

Lots more to be neutered, here are 2

We will announce the date and time of our next round of TNR here over Twitter!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food and litter at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Awesome office cat Duke @dukeorange supports our Sterilisation Fund for Geylang TNR

2012-01-21T19:10:00.001+08:00

Duke Orange has endorsed our TNR of the Geylang food district stray cats! The kitty celebrity has decided to donate the proceeds from the sale of his 2012 Calendars to our Sterilisation Fund to help us continue our work in this area of Singapore.

A BIG THANK YOU TO DUKE. YOUR KINDNESS IS AMAZING AND KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES. MEOWWW. We love you Duke!

(Click to enlarge)

Duke Orange is really handsome and it will be a feast for everybody’s eyes to look at a new picture of him every month. Spread the awesomeness of Duke Orange! So please support and buy a calendar for yourself and as a gift for others!

The calendar is a desk sized 4 inches by 6 inches, comes with an acrylic stand, costs S$12 inclusive of delivery via regular mail in a padded envelope. If you already have the acrylic stand please indicate to us so, in the email to us (details below), so we can save on shipping and material cost.

$12 is a suggested price by Duke, but you are definitely more than welcome to give more!

How to purchase Duke's 2012 calendar:

Email us at elaine@lovekuchingproject.org CC/ sterilisation@lovekuchingproject.org and CC/ dukeorange.cat@gmail.com
Indicate the number of calendars you wish to purchase, how much you have transferred, and the addresses the calendars should be mailed to.
The bank account that you should transfer your payments to before you email us should be our Love Kuching account POSB savings 188-52652-7.

All funds received from the purchases of Duke's 2012 calendar will go into our Sterilisation Fund. We will publish on our blog the amount raised for our Sterilisation Fund by the sale of the calendars when sales have closed.

Side note: in our 2012 financial statement we will not be recording income received from Duke's calendars as Sales but as Donations as the merchandise sold does not belong to Love Kuching Project. Just a technicality for those of you who are into financial reporting on annual reports!

Not able to purchase? Click on any of the share buttons below this post to spread the word!

Wish to give without buying? Deposit into our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7 and text/email Elaine at 90880675/elaine@lovekuchingproject.org to indicate that you are giving towards our Sterilisation Fund.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

More Geylang food district TNR needed

2012-01-18T17:45:00.000+08:00

Investigation and reconnaissance of the next couple of lorongs in Geylang from our last site shows a great need for TNR for the stray cat colonies there. We need to act on one particular colony, fast.

Once again, to clarify we are not publicly announcing which particular lorong this is because this is a volatile area with high culling risk. Here are some pictures taken during the recce.

We couldn't capture all the cats on photos as it is a very dark alley. Upon manually counting the number of cats, the total was 17 in this alley alone. There is an elderly feeder who feeds the cats food scraps from the coffeeshop he works at nearby, on a nightly basis. He estimates the number of cats should be about 20. This colony is the largest by far in the Geylang food district. There are about 9-14 more cats in the next 2 lorongs which we will need to work on as well, but this colony requires much more immediate action.

About 3 rounds of trapping will be needed for this colony. The soonest we can conduct trapping and neutering would be after the Chinese New Year holiday.

But we need your help. As of now, our Sterilisation Fund stands at only $247.20 which is insufficient to conduct our first round of trapping. This is especially since we will need to neuter the pregnant females first and foremost. (It costs $60 to neuter a pregnant female cat). An estimate of about two-thirds of the cats in this lorong are females, many of them pregnant.

What you can do:
Give financially towards our Sterilisation Fund by depositing to our Love Kuching bank account 188-52652-7 and text/email Elaine at 90880675/elaine@lovekuchingproject.org to inform us that your gift is towards the neutering of these stray cats.

Do also click on any of the share buttons below this post to spread the word on this need.

Thank you for helping us help the stray cats of Geylang's food district.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Report on first TNR of the year!

2012-01-15T18:56:00.000+08:00

Geylang's food district, at a small alley where the cats have no feeder - we went there on Wednesday to trap them for neutering.

Hanging out outside a temple cum gambling den

We trapped 8 cats in total. But the spay/neuter clinic vet said one of the cats was not viable for neutering because he had breathing problems; he might die in surgery. He has been returned to the site un-neutered, but thankfully we trapped his surrounding female friends.

Tabby male that could not be neutered

Another cat we did not trap for neutering is a mother cat that is still nursing; likewise, the spay/neuter clinic will not be able to perform the surgery.

Lactating mom

One of her kittens, the rest were very scared

Throughout the trapping process we educated the gambling den folks about the concept of TNR, how neutering the cats will reduce the nuisance factors, and how returning them to their original site was far better than relocating them, because that would create a vacuum effect inviting more new cats to the area. We managed to convince them as far as possible. Some of the passers-by also cooperated during the trapping by not intercepting the cats entering traps, although we did have one passer-by that kicked a trap with a cat within. Geylang does have all kinds of people.

Most of the cats weren't too sociable. Only one was trapped by hand because she was very human-friendly. Likely the sister of the lactating mother cat.

"Hmm human, equals food?"

The cats' main food source comes from scraps thrown out by foreign workers, whose quarters' back doors face the alley. Other than that they don't have much loving human contact.

Back doors to workers' quarters

The human traffic here is quite high consisting of all kinds of characters, including the one that kicked our cat trap. Some are using the alley as a shortcut, some also stop to pray to the deities outside the gambling den.

Cat, at outdoor altar

We count a remaining of 4 cats un-neutered, including the mother cat, excluding the sick male tabby. But these cats have a very varied roaming area and would probably move off even further now that the neutered cats have been returned to the site.

Instead, we are in the midst of investigating other cat colonies reported at the same food district of Geylang, the odd lorongs.

This round of TNR cost us $390. Our Sterilisation Fund currently stands at $582.20 before we pay the bill. This leaves us with insufficient funds to carry out our next TNR at the other odd lorongs of Geylang. Do consider our Sterilisation Fund in your giving. To give, deposit to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7 and text/email Elaine at 90880675/elaine@lovekuchingproject.org to indicate that your gift is towards our Sterilisation Fund.

Meanwhile, here are the mugshots of the 7 cats we neutered.

Tabby

Black

Silver shaded

Tabby/white

Great start, thanks to our volunteer @wisheswithwings. We look forward to more projects that would make a difference for stray cats in 2012.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

2012: Investing in cat rescue work

2012-01-08T21:20:00.002+08:00

It's a new year! Every year, we strive to be better at what we do, to be better at loving the cats in our lives and neighbourhoods.

This year, we want to begin with a first of a series of January posts sharing with all of you our vision and direction for 2012.

We based our direction for 2012 on an analysis of our core strengths and weaknesses. Using this matrix map for non-profits -

- we distributed our activities to identify which quadrant they belong to.

Today we want to share with you an activity that lies in the Heart quadrant. Being a Heart means the activity makes a big impact, but also spends a lot, and does not make a profit. Our main Heart is our cat rescue work in fostering rescued cats. Fostering and rehabilitating rescued cats expends both our Boarding Fund and our Veterinary Fund. Adoption fees and Sponsorships do not cover the expenses fully, but only partially.

In order to keep our foster care work sustainable, we need to reduce our costs. However, we do not believe in reducing the quality of care that we provide our rescued kittens just to cut costs. We are one of the few cattery environments that enhances foster care with supplements, effective alternative remedies, home and professional veterinary care and vaccinations, and quality food. We continue to deepen our knowledge in home veterinary care, and in managing contagion. We interact with and house-train kittens that are for adoption, providing sound advice to adopters on the kittens' personalities.

Upon brainstorming, we have outlined a few ways we can reduce our expenses on foster care. Here they are, and how you can help us with them.

Lower our financial expenses by giving more The Water Dish bundles of food (and soon to come, litter) for us. The Water Dish stockpiles the orders and delivers them to us in bulk, so we do not have to worry about food expiring. There can never be too much food or litter!
Lower our delivery expenses on supplements and essential oils from iHerb. To be prudent, last year we purchased our stock in small quantities, otherwise we would come up short on our Boarding Fund for other boarding expenses. In order for us to purchase in bulk so as to lower delivery expenses, we need more cash reserves in our Boarding Fund. We need your financial gifts to beef up our Boarding Fund to help us do that.
Lower our financial expenses by giving donations-in-kind of boarding supplies. If we can eliminate using cash reserves from our Boarding Fund to buy boarding environment essentials, we can further reduce our costs. Boarding essentials you can give include:

Jeypine hospital grade disinfectant or Dettol
Bleach (generic)
Kiwi Kleen multi purpose cleaner - refill bottles
UIC or Ligent dishwashing liquid - refill packets
Dettol air freshener spray
Kitchen paper towels
Huggies or Kodomo baby wipes
Plastic bags (slightly larger and thicker than supermarket type)

To give financially, deposit to our account POSB savings 188-52652-7 and text/email Elaine at 90880675/elaine@lovekuchingproject.org to inform us that your contribution is for our Boarding Fund.

To give boarding environment supplies in item 3, text/email Andy 81277072/andy@lovekuchingproject.org to arrange a timing to bring them our foster home, and we will send you our address.

More in 2012 series: 2011 annual report, activities in the other quadrants from diagram above, and other improvements we are making for 2012. Keep a lookout!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

First TNR of 2012 - an alley in an odd lorong of Geylang

2012-01-07T16:29:00.003+08:00

At an alley off Geylang Lorong 1X, where there are workers' quarters, coffeeshops, a private school and a temple, there are about 12 or more adult cats unsterilised. There is no caregiver here nor any feeder. Some of the cats are already pregnant. The human and road traffic here is heavy, and the area where the cats gather to eat food scraps is near the temple where the staff hate cats and have allegedly kicked them to get them away. The situation is dire and urgent.

[Note: map and exact location of area not included in this post as there is a high risk of human complaints in this area that may lead to culling of these cats.]

It will take at least 2 rounds of trapping to get all the cats along this alley sterilised. In the meantime, we have sufficient funds to conduct 1 round of trapping and sterilisation tomorrow [Edit: changed to Wednesday] night at about 8pm (when traffic is less heavy). We will report if there are more than 12 cats than initially sighted during the recce.

We need your help with the subsequent rounds of sterilisation for these cats.

What you can do:
Give towards our Sterilisation Fund by depositing into our account POSB savings 188-52652-7 and text/email Elaine at 90880675/elaine@lovekuchingproject.org to inform us that your contribution is towards the sterilisation of these Geylang Lor 1X cats.

Do click on the share buttons below to spread the word on this need.

Thank you!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Your cats, your pregnancy, your baby

2011-12-27T14:57:00.001+08:00

A disproportionate amount of cats are abandoned, re-homed or given away to shelters because of human mothers becoming pregnant. Is this necessary? Here is what we will find out, and what you can do about it.

The main concerns revolve around having cats around during pregnancy, and having cats around when the baby is born.

During pregnancy
What pregnant moms, their families, and their gynaecologists, will worry about, is the toxoplasmosis risk. Toxoplasmosis is caused by the parasite toxoplasma gondii, or T.gondii. T.gondii is not visible to the naked eye. Pregnant women infected by toxoplasmosis can suffer from abortion, stillbirth or cause a central nervous system infection in the baby.

Most adults in their lifetime will have been exposed to T.gondii and developed an immunity to it. The most likely way to be infected by T.gondii is to eat raw or poorly cooked meat, and unpasteurised dairy products.

How does a human get this from cats then?

First of all, the cat must be harbouring T.gondii in its system. This is through eating live prey such as rodents, and from soil that has been contaminated by T.gondii. And, like humans, they can also get infected by T.gondii by eating raw or undercooked meat and unpasteurised dairy products.

Once infected by the T.gondii parasite, the cat will shed it in its poo. In order for a human to get infected by T.gondii from a cat, she will need to eat infected cat poo.

Since the risk of a human eating T.gondii infected cat poo is not great, it is far more likely to contract toxoplasmosis from eating raw and undercooked meats and unpasteurised dairy products.

Here are the preventive measures you can take as a pregnant mom and cat owner.

Keep your cats indoors! This is to prevent him from hunting infected prey and being exposed to contaminated soil.
You and your cat should avoid raw or undercooked meats and unpasteurised dairy products.
If your cat is indoors and not on a risky diet mentioned in point 2, he is likely to be free from T.gondii. However, if you would like to play it safe, send your cat to the vet for a T.gondii lab test to confirm he is free from this parasite. You can also show the lab test results if you have a misinformed overprotective ob-gyn.
Do not eat cat poop. Also, wash your hands after clearing cat litter, wash the litter scoop, wear gloves, or second someone else to do litter duties.

With these preventive measures in place, you will have a safe pregnancy with your pet cats, toxoplasmosis free.

Having a baby around with cats
There are three main concerns parents of both cats and human babies have. One, whether the baby will be allergic to cat fur. Two, whether the baby, having a weaker immune system than adults, will catch any diseases from the pet cat. Three, whether the cat will show aggression towards the arrival of a new family member, a human baby. Let's look at these issues in turn.

I would like to quote from one of our adopters, Vivien, who majored in life sciences, on the issue of allergies. "Only 10% of an entire population of people are allergic to pets, cats in this instance. And of that 10%, an even smaller proportion are babies...An early exposure to allergens creates early resistance." Because the possibility of the baby being allergic to cat fur is so small, it is unnecessary to rehome your cat before the baby even arrives. In all our experience with families adopting cats, we have not heard of a single case of babies having cat fur allergies. Your cat is your child too, do act on facts and not impulse regarding abandoning your cat for the baby.

Feline diseases that can be spread to humans are ones like toxoplasmosis, explained above. The other zoonotic diseases that can be spread are also through cat-poo-to-mouth exposure. Ensure that your baby does not eat any cat poop or litter. House cats are unlikely to get any zoonotic diseases if they are indoors, and do not eat any contaminated food or water. Maintain proper hygiene in food preparation and clearing when it comes to your cat's food. Make sure your cat does not drink water from floor traps, drains and such, and only from his water bowl. Deworm your cat on schedule. (Even without a baby in the house, these standards should already be in place.) If you want to be even more cautious, if your cat ever gets diarrhoea (the most common symptom of an infectious zoonotic disease), after the vet visit and until the diarrhoea clears up, distance baby away from your cat.

When the baby finally arrives, will kitty and baby be able to get along? Will your cat attack your baby? It is possible that your cat will get stressed when baby arrives, but this can be prevented with proper preparation before baby arrives, not when. This article by Gary Loewenthal is chockful of advice on how to integrate a new human member to the family with your cat. Before you deliver, get kitty used to all the baby paraphernalia in the house. Reduce stress in your cat with remedies such as Feliway. Allow kitty to smell baby's clothes brought back from the hospital by another family member while you are still there. Reward kitty with treats when he smells his soon-to-be new sibling's clothes. This will ease your cat's apprehension about having his home 'invaded' and thus lower any aggression response. Do read the rest of Loewenthal's article for more details on how to connect baby and cat when you come home with your new family member. The main keys are preparation, and reducing your cat's stress and thus possibility of any aggression.

I leave you with this video to demonstrate that cats and babies can co-exist!

Further reading:
Cats and Babies by ASPCA
Prepare Your Pet to Welcome Your New Baby by Dr Karen Becker

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Grateful this Christmas ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

2011-12-24T18:21:00.000+08:00

Thank you cat-angels, who gave towards our cause this year through good times and bad, through financial contributions or donations-in-kind. We could never have done it without you.

Thank you supporters, who spread the word on what we do, expanding our outreach more this year than the last, turning us into a force of nature.

Thank you adopters, who have given our rescued cats safe, loving, forever homes. You make the meaning of cat companionship real, and your lives are living examples of the maxim, "Don't buy, adopt instead."

Thank you volunteers, especially our volunteers with portfolio, Liyin - Sterilisation Volunteer and Imran - Adoptions Volunteer. May we keep growing together.

Have a Blessed Christmas 2011.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Lockdown now fully lifted

2011-12-23T17:19:00.000+08:00

Two weeks ago we had a lockdown because a lot of kitties fell ill with flu'. We suspected it was either bordetella or a mutated flu' viral strain. We confirmed it was a mutated flu' virus being shed by our chronic cat flu' carrier Napolean.

Since then, we began treatment of all the cats affected, disinfected the foster home, and quarantined Napolean. Only Lenny remains ill, probably because he is the youngest and his immune system the weakest. He is still undergoing medication.

Napolean was also treated to reduce his symptoms and is now no longer sneezing, which is one of the ways the flu' viruses get carried into the air.

As such, we are lifting the lockdown fully. Visitors should however avoid handling Napolean if they are going to play with the other foster cats or have cats at home, unless they bring a change of clothes (if hugs are involved). Chlorhexadine hand soap and hand sanitisers are available to prevent transmission of the viruses.

We are also accepting new rescues - 3 will be arriving tonight, story soon - as the situation is under control. This will bring our foster kitten population up to 9, with one 'ICU' case i.e. kitten needing medical care (Lenny), well within our threshold.

So, if you are intending to visit - and bring gifts from our Christmas Wishlist? Or adopt a kitty? - you are definitely more than welcome, and safe to!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Cat-less? Consider adopting Napolean

2011-12-23T12:27:00.000+08:00

Napolean came to us at 10 weeks old having bad flu' and diarrhoea. He and his siblings were found dumped below a HDB block in this condition. Napolean was one of the weakest, having fluid in his respiratory tract. We named Napolean, adapted from Napoleon, because though he was weak, we wanted him to become strong.

There was an incident when we nearly lost Napolean. He started going into hypothermia and showed signs of anaemia. We immediately applied first aid on him - giving him glucose, and coQ10 for his heart to function, and warmed him up. Thankfully, he didn't need IV fluids and he recovered. Since then, Napolean's attitude towards us humans even changed. He hated us at first because all we did was push pills and syringes into his mouth. But after this incident, he began to love us a lot.

We did not put Napolean up for adoption earlier than this because the boy constantly exhibited flu' symptoms from time to time - after vaccinations, after his sterilisation operation. Which was normal, until he started making other - vaccinated - kitties sick, all at the same time. He was shedding a mutated flu' virus, and we and our vet concluded that Napolean is a chronic flu' carrier and needed to be isolated. It broke our hearts to quarantine him, but we had to. The entire foster home was disinfected and we treated the sick kitties.

In order for Napolean to no longer be caged up, he needs to get adopted by a cat-less family. He will continue to shed the various flu' viruses throughout his life, so he can't have any kitty siblings. Apart from this, he is perfectly normal. Sometimes his eyes may tear a little, sometimes he may sneeze, but other than that he is a normal kitty. And no, humans can't catch cat flu'.

He loves to talk to people, and loves humans more than cats. He enjoys being carried, and purrs a lot. He is white with a few stray grey hairs on his head, has a long tail with a kink.

If you would like to give Napolean your home, see right side-bar under 'How to adopt', or read here to find out how.

Napolean is likely to have to stay with us for a long time. To help us sustain our care for him while we find him a home, consider becoming a monthly giver. This will carry up our resources to care for him and other overstayers as long as is needed.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Everyone loves Chanel and Jaimie - give them each a home?

2011-12-21T09:11:00.000+08:00

These siblings have finally fully rehabilitated and are ready for forever homes!

Chanel at 19 weeks old, photographed by Furry Photos

Cuddly Jaimie at 19 weeks old

Their History
These siblings are 2 of 3 kittens rescued from French Road. Their brother Marcel recovered sooner than they did and was adopted recently.

They have been having gastro-intestinal problems since day one of arrival, and recovery took a long time. Apart from their diarrhoea, they also had a yeast infection in their ears. Our usual protocol is not to re-home kittens that are undergoing treatment for sicknesses so Chanel and Jaimie here had to wait till they were certified healthy before this adoption post was written.

Their treatment was thorough. We tested and observed for various gastro-intestinal bacteria that could cause them to keep having diarrhoea. In the end we found out that they suffered from a campylobacter infection and the right treatment was given for it. After the antibiotics was given, we also put them on a herbal parasite cleansing regime - Pet Alive's Parasite Doctor which was donated by our corporate sponsor The Water Dish. They were also treated with loperamide for their diarrhoea which while it became much better, was still present because their digestive tracts were already weakened by the persistent diarrhoea. Coupled with supplements to help their systems to heal, they are now better and can finally eliminate solid poo!

Their personalities
Chanel is very affectionate and loves to be hugged, the longer the hug the better. She can be draped around a human shoulder like a purring fur shrug! Of course, she is also playful, but she obeys verbal commands responsively when she breaks a house rule. She loves playing with pillows and is very curious. Regardless of how much she wants to play though, she is always willing to get a hug. Rub her like a genie lamp and she starts purring non-stop.

Curious Chanel

Jaimie is also very affectionate - he enjoys rubbing his entire self against humans non-stop, purring all the way. He likes hugs too, as you can see from his portrait photograph. And when hugged and asked to purr, he does exactly that. He is mischievous, loves to play with books (which we disciplined him not to!) and he would rather play than eat sometimes. He is still learning to respond to verbal commands but is not really scared of loud 'No's, and is more responsive when smacked. No love lost after being smacked though, and he does not repeat the action after a smack.

Both are very cooperative with being handled, during showering and grooming. They are like kittens who can't say no to humans. They really love humans that much!

Their bio-data
Both are 34 weeks old at the time of this post. Chanel is a spotted torbie i.e. tortoiseshell tabby. Jaimie is a red tabby with mostly mackeral and spotted markings, but with some marbling on his front flanks. Both of them have white coloured chins (in Chanel's case more cream than white). Both have long tails; Chanel's has a kink at the end. Both are local shorthairs but Chanel's fur is more double-coated, thicker and softer.

Chanel the torbie

Jaimie showing his white chin

They have been vaccinated, vet-checked, dewormed, free of fleas and mites, sterilised, litter-trained, able to eat both wet and dry food.

If you would like to adopt either Chanel or Jaimie, please see right side-bar on 'How to adopt' or read here, to find out our adoption procedure and how you can adopt them.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Buy a Sugar Cat Skull kitty accessory to support our cause!

2011-12-20T08:04:00.000+08:00

One of our tweeps, @itsgrimswickery. has hand-made kitty accessories to help us raise funds.

Each of these cat skull accessories retail at $10 with additional $1 for postage. $3 goes to Love Kuching per skull sold.

Wanna find out more? Visit http://itsgrimswickery.blogspot.com/2011/12/sugar-cat-skulls.html to find out the details on the size of each accessory and how you can purchase them for yourself or your cat loving friends as gifts.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7 ]Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Christmas Wishlist - pledge a gift today!

2011-12-11T15:34:00.004+08:00

Want to give something special towards our cause this holiday season? Here are some things that we could use!

Single-storey cat scratching post with mobile hanging toy - PLEDGED!
We actually have one of these, but it has collapsed through washing, wear and tear and no longer is able to function as a hanging mobile toy either. The kittens still use it as a 'scratching log' but it no longer works as a training tool for younger kittens to learn how to strop and bat at elevated prey on their own. We need to throw away our current one as it is beyond repair, nor can we disinfect it properly anymore. Any design, colour, brand will do.

Humidifier aromatherapy diffuser -PLEDGED!
Currently we are diffusing essential oils as an alternative remedy using a tealight candle-lit ceramic burner. Which works well. However, in our recent research into home care for cat flu', we found out that humidity aids recovery. The various strains of cat flu' are one of the biggest illnesses we have to rehabilitate in sick kittens, next to gastro-intestinal problems like diarrhoea. For now we give steam inhalation to kittens that are having more serious symptoms of cat flu', which is a 10 minute exposure to hot water and essential oils placed outside a carrier, covered with a towel. But we can't provide a better humidity level for all kittens having cat flu', round the clock. This device can be placed near specific pens housing cat flu' kittens, or in the foster lounge if we have an outbreak (like now). The aromatherapy diffusing element is optional, but the humidifier needs to be portable and small. Any brand will do and it can be found at any electrical appliance store.

2 stainless steel bowls on a stand (shown here Ferplast Desco Stand)
The free-roaming foster kittens - certified healthy and old enough to roam without getting stuck in places - share food and water with our own 4 cats. Sometimes this causes a bit of a skirmish. Having two bowls would be good. We also like the idea of this elevated stand because elevation of cat food bowls causes less regurgitation of food - less cat puke to clean up around the house. The kitten pens have elevated bowls too (hooked to the pen grilles) but the free-roaming cats don't. This would be a great addition to our feeding station to prevent skirmishes and food aggression, as well as for better health. Stainless steel too, less bacteria! If you wish to purchase this from The Water Dish for us, contact Maxine at enquiries@thewaterdish.com.sg / 9685 3929

Weighing scale that can weigh as accurately as 100gm and up to 5kg - PLEDGED!
We have been guessing weights of kittens when we need to medicate them, unless we have already weighed them at the vet. Why we need to know the weight of kittens is because veterinary medicine dosages is prescribed as mg per kg body weight. For example, bromhexine for cats is 1mg/1kg b.w. and we usually estimate the doses based on how heavy the kittens feel. A weighing scale will help us be more accurate in dosing kittens their medications. Shown here are two models, it doesn't matter which type, as long as we can weigh both a 300gm kitten and a 3.5kg kitten with it, for instance. It also does not need to be digital.

Measuring spoons of volume 1/4 teaspoon and 1/8 teaspoon
A lot of the supplements we give are in powder form, such as colostrum, vitamin C. Because these are human supplements we need to downscale the doses for kittens, and that sometimes means having to give 1/8th of a teaspoon worth of lysine powder, for example. We are running out of spoons that can give us an accurate callibration of doses and sometimes do guesswork on how much to give (kind of like cooking by intuition and not by recipe). 1/8th teaspoons are especially hard to find - a stirrer is usually about that volume but the handle is too long to place inside the supplement bottles. A couple of these teaspoons would help us in preparing our therapeutic diets for the foster kittens.

Treats - PLEDGED!
We found that the foster kittens all love Vitakraft Cat Sticks, and our cats' Angel Salmon Sashimi treats. We use treats to encourage the kitties to interact with human visitors when they hand the treats out. This reinforces the mentality in kitties that visitors are a good thing, instead of having them hide in corners and cower away from people (and thus become difficult to get adopted). Vitakraft cat sticks are loved, really really loved, by all the foster kittens we have fed it too. Our cats don't like it that much but the kittens somehow do! They are inexpensive, and though the ingredients aren't completely wholesome, help teething kittens as well. Angel Salmon treats are healthier but they are more expensive. Either treats will do, and any quantity. If you wish to purchase this from The Water Dish for us, contact Maxine at enquiries@thewaterdish.com.sg / 9685 3929

Bonito flakes
This. We use to garnish older kittens' canned food with supplements meals, making a whole lot of difference. (We only use it on older kittens because it is harder for younger kittens to digest fish based food). It helps make the meal more appetising to them so they will consume more and thus imbibe more of their supplements. It is the best garnish we have used so far in terms of taste-tests on the kitties and cost-effectiveness. You can buy bonito flakes from any Japanese supermarket such as Isetan's, or like we do, from the one at the basement of Parkway Parade. Small packs are also available at places like Daiso.

Revolution Pink and Blue
We need to always have Revolution handy in case of any mite or flea risk or presence in our foster home - this way all the kittens can be protected. We need both Revolution Pink and Blue because at this current moment we have 4 kittens that are above 2.5kg in body weight and will need Blue, not Pink. A mixture of both Revolution Pink and Blue in our cache will be handy in case of emergencies. The lowest price to purchase Revolution is from our corporate sponsor The Water Dish - contact Maxine at enquiries@thewaterdish.com.sg / 9685 3929 to find out how much if you wish to buy through them.

Premium food for the holidays
We are currently feeding Solid Gold Indigo Moon and Addiction Brushtail, both choices the most value-for-money grain-free premium foods. But the foster kittens go wild when we feed even better food than this! We would like to give the foster kittens a treat this holiday season with food that is even more premium than our current offering, both dry and canned foods. For dry foods, better foods include Taste of the Wild, Wellness CORE, Acana, Orijen. For canned foods, Wellness CORE, Addiction's 5.5oz range. You can contact Maxine at enquiries@thewaterdish.com.sg / 9685 3929 if you wish to buy any of these premium foods for us through The Water Dish.

Unromatic essentials

Huggies or Kodomo baby wipes
Non-sterile gauze (small)
Alcohol swabs
Paper towels
Dishwashing liquid refill packs - Ligent or UIC brand
Jeypine hospital grade disinfectant 5L size
Generic bleach
Chlorhexadine hand soap - PLEDGED!
Hospital blue sheets / pee pads - PLEDGED!
Printer ink - Canon MP145

If you are pledging to give any of these items on our wishlist, do drop Elaine an SMS at 90880675 or a tweet @luvkuching, as some of these items - we need only one of, so we will cross it off our wishlist once a pledge to give the item is made.

Any questions about the items on our wishlist? Email Elaine at elaine@lovekuchingproject.org or tweet us @luvkuching.

Thank you in advance for making it a great holiday at Love Kuching!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Our #Caturday adoptions

2011-12-07T16:31:00.000+08:00

Marcel was due to go up on Adoption Alert last week because he was officially cleared of sickness. But before he went up on the internet, he got adopted, with Winky! One of our long-term shelter kittens! Winky has had a string of bad luck, somehow she never met the right adopter, till Saturday came along!

Bena and Sonia with Marcel and Winky

Bena and Sonia already have one kitty at home, also adopted, called Rosie. Rosie has been a bit lonely so her parents wanted to get a friend for her. Which turned out to be two friends! They liked Marcel and Winky because both are not overly aggressive - Rosie is a very sweet-tempered cat.

Winky was at the time on medication for feline asthma, triggered by the cold and humid weather. We passed Sonia her medication to continue her treatment at her new home. They also see the same vet as we do so they can better understand her condition.

We are so happy for the family!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Lockdown

2011-12-05T21:14:00.000+08:00

Our own cats have suddenly developed flu' symptoms at the same time even though they are vaccinated, mainly Slinky and Sayang. Normally, if only one cat shows symptoms of cat flu', it is considered normal because vaccinations are not 100% effective. However because two of our cats got flu' symptoms at the same time, we investigated because this is not likely a coincidence.

After researching and consulting with our vets there are two possible scenarios. One, is that they caught a strain of cat flu' known as bordetella, which is not covered under the core vaccinations. Vaccination covers three strains of cat flu': herpes virus, calici virus and chlamydia virus. The second possibility that our vets is that this flu' outbreak is a mutated strain of either herpes, calici or chlamydia.

In any case, this calls for a lockdown so we can contain whatever virus strain it is.

In the meantime, we are treating Slinky with antibiotics (she is suffering worse than Sayang is). Bordetella is easily eradicated with antibiotics (Vibravet i.e. doxycycline).

And as in all 'epidemics' who is Patient Zero?

Napolean, whom we suspected is a chronic flu' carrier. If it is bordetella or a mutation, it might mean he isn't a chronic carrier and can remain flu' free for much of his life.

Breaking out lots of detergent, bleach, antiseptic solution and suchlike during lockdown. Keep your thoughts with us!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Bailey, feisty survivor kitten, now looking for a forever home!

2011-11-29T18:56:00.002+08:00

Bailey wants to rule the world! Or at least, your home!

Okay, so she does have her docile moments.

Posing for a portrait

Eyeing a target...

...Inspecting her target, our Scooter!

But she definitely has an "I'm plotting some mischief" face on her very often!

"Yum. What's next?"

"I have a plan to rule the world. Don't bug me."

"Kissy kiss? Let me think about it."

And you can guess what happened after these images were captured...

Get ready...

Prone self...

Practise how to scale 'wall'

Attack! "I don't care how big you are!"

Bailey was rescued from Kembangan at the age of just over 3 weeks old. Her rescuer didn't know how to care for her and her brother Sal so she sent them to SPCA. At the time, Bailey was having cat flu' which usually means euthanasia for them at SPCA. So our volunteers bailed them out and brought them to ours. Unfortunately, Bailey's brother Sal was very small and weak and he died of fading kitten syndrome (FKS).

With immunity supplements, flu' remedies and topical application of Terramycin to her runny eyes, Bailey recovered from the flu' and got vaccinated at the age of 9 weeks old. Since then she has suffered no post-vaccination symptoms.

We also trained her to eat dry food on its own, as well as drink water from a bowl. Now she no longer needs canned food throughout the day! Bailey is also very smart: she started using the litter tray from the day she came to our foster home and hasn't stopped since.

Bailey may be playful and cheeky looking but she also has her moments of affection. She helps groom her pen-mate Lenny who is a month younger than she is. She also purrs on human contact when she isn't longing to jump around and play instead. (But yeah, she definitely prefers play right now). She likes to play alone and with other kittens and cats, and she loves to climb and explore.

Bailey is now 10 weeks old, vet-checked and vaccinated, dewormed, free of fleas and mites, litter trained, able to eat and drink on own.

To adopt Bailey, see right side bar under 'How to adopt' or click here to understand our adoption procedure.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Echo, a permanent shelter cat?

2011-11-27T11:46:00.001+08:00

"I might have to stay here for a long time!"

Echo-baby has her looks against her, no matter how dazzling her personality is. She is loving, purring, playful, obedient, sociable - a perfect cat. But she has that scarred eye that works against her getting a forever home, even though she can see perfectly well. It may be because the market for adopters who love special-needs kitties is shrinking. It may be because Asians don't like tortoiseshell coloured cats. Whatever the reason, no one has asked to adopt her, we can't release her as a stray as she was rescued at a young age, we don't euthanise cats just because they are taking up space - so, Echo is likely going to be a long-term overstayer in our foster home, more than she already has been.

The possibility of Echo getting adopted grows slimmer by the day as she grows older, so she has age working against her too. We may have to accept the fact that we will have to keep caring for her for a long time.

If you have already been spreading the word about Echo's need for a forever home, thank you.

But we need more than that while we wait for responses to our calls for an adopter for Echo.

Having long-term shelter cats requires sustainability for us. This means that Love Kuching Project needs a constant income stream to make sure we can keep up the care of long-term shelter cats.

What can you do to help us achieve sustainability?

We need an increase in regular giving through standing instructions. This will help us because instead of worrying about our finances every time we are in a deficit or in debt and having to call for gifts, we can worry less because we have a steady income stream from automated monthly giving.

How you can do this:

Assuming you are a DBS internet banking user, here is how you can set up a standing instruction to give monthly to Love Kuching Project. Log in to your account online and click on the circled links shown in the graphics below -

This will lead you to a page where you can fill in the details such as our bank account - POSB Savings 188-52652-7, and how much you want to give monthly (no amount is too small). When you come to the part which says payee name, we are unsure as to whether the bank means it is for your reference or it requires the actual account holders' names - to be safe, put either Chiam Elaine or Koh Zhen Jian. As long as you have got our Love Kuching account number right, the funds will not be accidentally routed to Andy's personal account (and I don't have a POSB account).

The standing instruction set up is likely available on other banks' internet banking websites as well.

Doing this for us will cut down on our need for too-frequent calls for funds and bundle donations, and it also gives us more float financially. This means sustainability for us, and this means we need not worry as much over the fate of long term shelter cats like Echo.

"Thank you for your monthly giving! Am happy!"

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Our latest favourite kitty shampoo -

2011-11-26T09:32:00.000+08:00

Solid Gold Herbal Pet Shampoo

We are on our second bottle of this shampoo and we really like it! The reasons why are simple. We realise that because of the ingredients in this shampoo, such as coconut oil, it makes the kitty's coat shine - without any need for conditioner! We also like the fact that it uses natural ingredients: apart from coconut oil, essential oils such as chamomile and rosemary. We try to stay away from shampoos using synthetic ingredients to prevent allergic reactions, so this shampoo really tops our list.

Ingredient list:

Coconut Oil
Chamomile
Rosemary
Sage
Nettles
Myrrh
Red Clover Blossoms
Yarrow Flowers
Pennyroyal Oil

Does it smell nice? It smells a bit like herbal tea, and a little bit spicy and woody.

As for showering your cat - how often should you do it? Cats should not be bathed more frequently than once in 2 weeks as their skin will tend to dry out. We do make exceptions to this rule for special cases, like for baby kittens learning to eat and getting dried food stains all over themselves, kittens with diarrhoea soiling or for kittens needing skincare shampoo (see next paragraph).

We also have 2 other shampoos in our grooming cache for special uses. A flea shampoo we use on all new arrivals before we pen them in kindles - currently we are using Troy Petgloss but we also like Biogroom Flea and Tick Shampoo. Both use pyrethins as the active ingredient which we like, as it is natural without causing allergic reactions in cats. Our other special use shampoo is Pyoben, which contains benzoyl peroxide for aiding healing in skin problems and wounds. We use it on kitties with problems like cat acne, fur loss from parasites or allergies, abrasions, abscesses, surgical wounds. You probably don't have to have these special use shampoos unless the need arises or you are a fosterer.

If you need a bottle of cat shampoo and weren't sure which one to buy, we hope our recommendation helps!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Emma has been adopted!

2011-11-24T08:56:00.000+08:00

Emma the little princess kitty is now a Tiong Bahru resident, new kitty daughter of Sofin and Rafi!

Happy parents and Emma's typical haughty face

Emma is Sofin and Rafi's first cat together as a married couple. Sofin grew up with cats but not Rafi, so we counseled him to make sure he becomes a good kitty Daddy! Emma let him hold her and we told Rafi that he should take over litter box duties when Sofin gets pregnant, just as a precaution. We also made sure both parents were aware of Emma's food and litter needs, as well as veterinary information.

Yay for Emma and her new parents!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Orphan kitties, no shelter space, Twitter, and a foster parent emerges

2011-11-22T22:38:00.002+08:00

Last week we received a call from Gerald and Nicole about a few 2 week old kittens they found orphaned at East Coast Park. They called us to ask if we could shelter and rehabilitate them but we couldn't - Lenny was having the flu' (his siblings have passed away, Gerri had severe flu' before she died). Lenny's pen, the ICU with a heated pad, is the pen we use to keep baby kittens in, and getting the rescues to share the pen with Lenny and Bailey, would either kill the rescues or jeopardise Lenny and Bailey's health.

So we had to give our standard response to the couple who found them, explaining we couldn't shelter them, that their best bet was to go through Cat Welfare Society's Special Appeals for fosterers - which has a very high response rate (kudos to the cat angels).

I then also shared the situation on my own personal account on Twitter, and one of our Twitter followers Aishah who also follows me on my account, said she didn't mind fostering the babies, although she couldn't keep them and will be rehoming them. Immediately I linked up Gerald with Aishah so he could have another alternative to solving the rescues' fostering situation.

Turns out, cat-loving passers by had offered to take in one each of the kittens and only one little boy was left. Aishah took over the fostering of the little boy the next day.

He kept mewing when he first arrived

Tabby kitten with white socks

Was quite frail when he first arrived

Aishah tweeted that the little boy was refusing milk at first and also didn't poop or pee for nearly 2 days until after his foster mommy kept up with stimulating him to eliminate. He also has fleas which they are using a flea comb to help get out. Have told Aishah also that if she needed any foster care supplies she can come around get some of ours. So far she has been doing an amazing job!

We are glad this story turned out well. It is noble of Aishah to respond to my tweet about a case we couldn't take on, and offered herself as a foster parent instead. And wow Twitter followers - you guys are really hardcore and make a huge difference!

Eventually, when this little boy can be weaned off milk, do contact Aishah over Twitter if you are interested to adopt. He will also be posted on CWS adoption site when he is ready. (Unless Aishah's parents fall in love with the little kitty and allows him to become a part of the family. It happens!)

Hope this inspiring story makes you want to be a foster parent too!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

More about Feliway and why your cats need it

2011-11-22T21:19:00.000+08:00

If you have visited our foster home you might not have noticed this little gadget called the Feliway diffuser in our foster lounge unless we point it out to you and tell you what it does. Well, here's more. Because we often get questions on how to solve cats' behavioural issues, stress issues that lead to illnesses, or how to integrate a new cat into the home. So here is how Feliway works - and believe us, it makes a whole lot of difference.

What the Feliway diffuser does is that it diffuses feline pheromones that mimicks the cats' own scent. Cats mark their territories by leaving their scent around, through activities like scratching objects or rubbing themselves against them. Their litter box activities also leave their scent. For us, because we often have new cats coming in, we need the Feliway diffuser for two important purposes. Firstly, to make new kitties feel safe in our foster home, and secondly, to minimise stress (that might lead to illness) on the existing cats, and/or aggressive behaviour.

How it will work for your cats will depend on what scenario your household is facing. We will list out as many as we can:

You are going to be undergoing a change in schedule, leaving for a work trip or are having major stresses at work or even in your human relationships. Your cats will feel your stress or absence. Having Feliway increases your cats' sense of security and minimises any symptoms of stress such as constipation, refusing to eat, depression, inappropriate urination.
You are going to bring a new (adopted!) cat home regardless of whether you have no cats or many cats at home already. Having Feliway plugged in makes your new kitty feel at home, and not hide under the sofa, exhibit stress or aggression issues, or withhold eating, drinking and going to the litterbox. If you have other cats, Feliway would also minimise their stress at having a new kitty share their territory with them. Without Feliway, your other cats may also exhibit stress and aggression issues even if you do a step-by-step integration of the new cat.
The ideal ratio of litterboxes per cat is one per cat plus one more. So if you have 4 cats (like we do) you need 5 litterboxes. Our cats have 1 and a 'half' which they share with the free-roaming foster kittens, usually 2-5 of them, that also have 1 and a 'half'. We obviously don't have the space right now to pile on more litterboxes around the house. Cats are finicky about clean toilets, so how do we not have inappropriate elimination around the house all the time? Feliway is the answer. Because the cats don't feel the need to spread their individual scents around with Feliway diffused throughout the foster home.
Angsty kitty? Sometimes, especially when you only have one cat or have cats that aren't very companionable towards each other i.e. they don't play together, there is a build-up of excess energy in your cat. Cats, as predators, exhaust their energy through hunting and suchlike activities, and when they don't have this outlet, especially if you don't have the time to devote daily play time with your cat, your cat may manifest this excessive energy by being destructive. Perhaps he may run across tables and knock all manner of things over, or he may even decide to attack you when you want to pet him. The best solution would include getting a suitable playmate for him - one that matches his energy level - or devoting more time to playing with him every day. If neither is possible in the immediate term, you need Feliway to calm him down so his destructive and aggressive behaviour can be calmed down in the meantime.
Inappropriate stropping - "Kitty, why be you not scratch on scratching post but on the sofa instead?!" Sounds familiar? Cats strop not only to keep their claws from overgrowing, but also to leave their scent behind on the item they strop on. If your cat persistently scratches on the furniture, Feliway can help minimise kitty's need to strop on every single inviting surface in the house. You then also need to recondition kitty's behaviour with a loud 'No!' when she strops on the furniture, and carry her to the scratching post. When she strops on the post, tell her she is a good cat. Diffuse the Feliway in the room where the stropping on wrong surfaces occurs the most.

So if you are experiencing any of the above, you know you definitely need a Feliway diffuser in the home. Personally we also recommend it to help relax your kitty in general. Cats tend to fall ill when they are stressed or unhappy. Having Feliway diffused around the house helps keep kitty healthy as well.

There is also the Feliway spray. We find this less of an essential than the diffuser but there is a targeted use for the spray as well. However, we recommend that the Feliway spray be used in tandem, not in exclusion of, the Feliway diffuser. This is even if you have only one cat.

The Feliway spray is used for inappropriate elimination: peeing or pooing or both, outside the litter box. To make sure kitty does not do it again, you need to disinfect AND deodourise the area which kitty eliminated on. Use bleach, baking soda, white vinegar, enzyme cleaners, etc. After making sure there should be completely no more smell on that area, spray the Feliway spray on it. Make sure you cover the surface entirely, every square inch of it. We say this because, without covering the area completely, your cat is going to play hopscotch and find an area to pee or poo on that is not covered with the Feliway spray. Combine this strategy with the Feliway diffuser in the room that kitty always does it outside the box - we suggest this because we have had feedback that the spray alone doesn't always work even when there is only 1 cat. If this room does not have a litter box, place one there, preferably on or as close to the area where he did it wrongly. Use training techniques - 'Good boy' when he does it in the box, 'No' or 'Bad kitty!' immediately after or during the act of improper elimination itself. Also consider changing the kind of litter that he is using, particular if the current one is scented with artificial smells.

(Do note that besides the above measures, first and foremost you need to verify your cat is not having a urinary tract related disorder).

There are other methods and products that you can apply to ease your kitty's stress but Feliway is always the first item we recommend. If you would like other ideas after trying these out, let us know, we will blog it all out, or email Elaine at elaine@lovekuchingproject.org.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Adopt: Emma

2011-11-09T20:54:00.002+08:00

Emma is ready for a forever home!

Emma and her long tail

Emma, one of the Whiteys rescued from Woodlands and rehabilitated from sicknesses, is now ready for adoption!

Emma has lost that few strands of grey fur, and is now a white cat. She has a long white tail with no kink.

Her personality is really interesting. She likes humans and will talk to us and even lick or kiss us, a bit like her sister Ellis (adopted), just quieter a tad. She likes to cuddle with humans or the other kittens and especially likes younger kittens, but does not really get along all that well with older cats: she doesn't like to lose in play-fights at all, and makes a lot of noise when she gets wrestled and loses. Yet at the same time, she shows no hard feelings after the hissy fits she throws at other cats like our Sealy or at Winky (who loves to initiate play-fights). She gets along most well with Echo -

Emma squeezes in with a sleepy Echo

Here are some more pictures of Emma -

Portrait

Sometimes-haughty expression!

Her cute swishy straight tail

Emma is litter-trained, able to eat both wet and dry food, vaccinated, dewormed, vet-checked, healthy.

To adopt Emma, see right side bar under 'How to adopt' or click here.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Lenny, Kerri, Tattoo and Gerri

2011-11-08T17:55:00.000+08:00

3wk old kittens abandoned at Lengkong Tiga

Our Sterilisation Volunteer @wisheswithwings's cousin found 4 kittens in a box in a playground at Lengkong Tiga where she lives. Upon investigation, they found out that the kittens, originally 5 of them, were dumped there away from the coffeeshop nearby, where there is a resident whose cat is the mother of the kittens. The caregiver of the area who first spotted the kittens, has been unable to get this mother cat sterilised like the others in the estate already are. The rescuers brought the kittens home and started looking for fosterers as they is unable to foster and there was parental disapproval.

4 out of 5 siblings that had remained in the box

The kittens were having slight flu' symptoms, weren't very adept at eating and needed to be bottle-fed - especially the weakest one, Tattoo - named so because he has a heart-shaped mark -

Tattoo's heart-shaped tattoo

We penned the 4 siblings with Bailey in the ICU pen - Bailey is stronger now immunity-wise, after pumping her with supplements, so we can take the risk of penning them together safely.

Clockwise from bottom: Kerri, Tattoo, Lenny, Gerri

They are now on a supplement regimen with both wet food and milk, and kept warm by the heating pad. Bailey has been playing with them. More updates on them when they get better!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Love Kuching's Spay Day participation

2011-11-07T06:44:00.000+08:00

Cat Welfare Society held Spay Day 2011 on October 28 and Love Kuching was invited to take part by Veron, their vice-president. So we went into a trapping frenzy the nights before!

Went trapping at midnight

We went to a previous TNRM project site to trap the cats that we missed out on and the kittens that have finally matured - Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 1, where we conducted 3 rounds of TNRM. The cats that we wanted to trap for Spay Day were mainly at the micro-site we covered during our 3rd round there.

We trapped a total of 6 cats, including the roving tomcat that eluded us during the 3rd round!

Here are some pictures of the trapping process -

Andy and Damy setting the traps

Waiting for the cats to approach the traps

Bingo! Cat appears and eventually was trapped.

Trapping a cat hiding behind this dustbin

After trapping the 6 cats from this micro-site, Martine the caregiver went to look for the cats we missed out during our previous round 1 and round 2. But they were nowhere to be found. So we called it and settled for 6 cats even though we had more Love Kuching slots for Spay Day.

Here are the 6 cats sent for Spay Day -

Tabby

White/tabby - alpha tomcat

White/tabby

Tabby

White/tabby

And Cat Welfare Society's Spay Day was a success! We are glad we were a part of it this year.

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish

Adoptions that ended off October!

2011-11-06T20:49:00.000+08:00

Princess, Aryan and Ellis got adopted!

Eva with Princess, and Shah

Princess got adopted by Shah and Eva on the 19th! Both of them cat-proofed their house even before they came to see Princess and really fell in love with her - the connection was tangible. Eva is actually allergic to cats but loves Princess very much. She manages her allergies by controlling the length of her interaction with Princess at home. Shah also mentioned they are considering upgrading Princess to Wellness CORE food - which is a superb food upgrade! Looks like Princess is really getting the princess treatment at her forever home!

Hwa and Issac with Aryan

Aryan was adopted by Issac and Hwa on the 20th! This couple looks familiar, aye - that's because they are Bob's adopters! They were deciding on a younger sibling for Bob and we felt that either Winky or Aryan would be suitable; Echo is very hyper and Bob being a little physically challenged might not be able to keep up. Winky is playful too but she is small in size, thus manageable for Bob, and likes to initiate play with other kittens. Aryan is very easy going with other kittens and while naughty too, also likes to take care of other kitties. In the end, we left Winky and Aryan in the room with Issac and Hwa, and Aryan went to bond with them while Winky ignored them and walked around the foster lounge instead! And that's how Bob now has a younger brother!

Jahan with Ellis and hubby Din

Ellis was adopted on the 22nd by Jahan and Din! Jahan said she loves cats that talk and follow you around so Ellis is literally perfect for this new kitty mom! Ellis was a bit scared when she went to her new home, but eventually warmed up and started waking her new mom and dad up by her usual style - climbing on top of you and meowing at you (sometimes licking too)! Din himself is a first time cat owner so we did advise him to take an active role in Ellis's care and in learning about cat care. This is important as sometimes in couples adopting, when one is not available, the other needs to step up to ensure the cat is being cared for. So far Ellis has been doing well in her new home and we are happy for all three of them!

Give financially to our cause by depositing to our bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7
Sponsor a foster kitten's vaccination through our Sponsor-A-LoveKuching-Cat Scheme
Give food at charity rates through our corporate sponsor The Water Dish