GUIDE FOR FOSTERERS

http://groups.msn.com/SingaporeCats/seekinghomes.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=14491

GUIDE FOR FOSTERERS

1 Interview adopters on the phone. Give a brief description of the cat and mention the good & bad (if any) points – & then let the adopters talk, prompt them along the way to tell you what sort of adopters they would be.

If the adopters are not suitable, say goodbye & hang up quickly and do not leave a contact no. – there is no pt in future contact.

2 If the adopters seem like a good potential adopters, ask them to come to see the kitten at yr home – it is safe and kitten is relaxed. Make sure someone is at home with you. It is not safe to show cat/kitten in an open space, the cat/kitten could escape.

This is the face-to-face interview, you could pick up things you are unable to sense over the phone. Continue to let them talk and see how they handle the kitten at your home. Tell them you need a day or two to consider. You will be surprised how yr opinion could change overnight. Let the potential adopters know beforehand that they could not take the kitten home. The impulsive ones are not the best of adopters.

3 Tell the adopters that you would send the kitten over to their house – so their trip is not “wasted” if they are the successful adopters.

4 Send the kitten to the adopter’s house and check if the flat/house is cat-safe and if the other ppl living there are supportive of the decision to have a cat/kitten. If you think that a “no-screen” window on the 11th floor is not safe, go home WITH the kitten. Do not leave kitten at adopter’s place and then have a sleepless night.

5 Sign the trial adoption contract if you are happy with the adopters and the envirnoment. Trial period is 1 or 2 wks – you can take back the kitten, and they could return the kitten. Unfortunately if the adopters decide not to return, you will find a locked door when you turn up – so be very careful. Slightest doubt, weigh your options (cat better with them or …..) – a little inconvenience is inevitable.

6 Visit in a week’s time (make prior appt during first home visit). If kitten is relaxed and ignores you, the adoption is going fine. If a longer trial period is needed (esp if there is a resident cat in the home), do extend the trial period if necessary. If kitten is fearful and hiding – you know the kitten better – take kitten home at once. Bring a carrier along but leave it in your car / have it available somewhere.

7 Make visit as short as possible if you are taking the kitten back – it is not usually pleasant unless the adopter does not want the kitten anymore – then the adopter will be super-nice too.

8 Sign permanent adoption contract on the second visit if both parties agree to the adoption. Ask for permission for future visits.

9 Inform the adoption board that the cat is adopted.

10 Follow-up with weekly phone calls to check on cat’s adjustment – for a mth or two. Listen to what is said & make suggestions. Remind abt sterilisation if kitten is adopted unsterilised.

Sleepy Pearl

pics courtesy of vegancatsg

Population Explosion

Another caregiver in my estate was given my number and called for advice because she started feeding 15 cats at her block and the nearby Bin-Center. Now the number has increased to 35 due to breeding and dumping. There are complaints and she worries that the cats will soon be rounded up.

She did sterilise some cats at first but then had stopped after these cats were rounded up…as her effort had been wasted. I explained to her that she needs to start sterilising again and the importance of letting her TC know what she is doing, explaining to them the benefit of TNRM…and also offering to look into complaints.

I was quite blunt telling her that by just feeding and not sterilising she enables them to breed more and causes more harm than good. There is no way that she can protect them unless she starts sterilising.

Mother cat trapped in construction site

A caregiver called today, she is looking for a foster for 8 little kittens. She explained that a friend has been caring for a mother cat and her kittens at the cargo area in Changi. The mother cat has been trapped inside a construction site for 2 days now. The kittens are now being bottle-fed by the friend.

The strange thing is that they never even considered rescuing the mother. I told the caregiver to call the police and perhaps the SPCA and get the cat released. I had called my NPP once about a trapped cat. They made some phone calls and the cat was released within 2 hrs… Another time I discovered that my Pebbles was locked inside a Beauty Salon. There was a tel. number on the door. The people were upstairs and had no idea…poor frightened Pebbles was soon released.

This really puzzles me.. they know the cat is trapped in there but instead of simply getting her rescued they look for a foster for the kittens, which will be very difficult to find someone. When I asked ‘what about the mother cat?’ the reply was that she will die…

Festive cruelty gets the chop

full story:
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,22931755-5007221,00.html

LITTLE Miss Celeste stole the limelight yesterday at a special
barbecue in Hobart’s Franklin Square.

The nine-week-old piglet was saved from becoming Christmas dinner when
she was bought at Bridgewater Saleyards two weeks ago.

“We rescue a pig every year,” said Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania
volunteer Emma Haswell.

Cruelty-free sausages and burgers were cooked up at the group’s
barbecue to encourage people to think about what they eat at Christmas time.

Group spokeswoman Kathleen McLaren said Christmas was a time of
kindness, caring and compassion.

“Yet the traditional Christmas dinner features the meat of pigs, chickens and turkeys,” she said.

“Most of these animals have suffered cruelty and extreme confinement in factory farms.

“By buying these products, people are contributing to an industry
which routinely cages, crowds, deprives, mutilates and manhandles
hundreds of thousands of animals.”

Jasper fell from 6th floor

http://sootykatz.blogspot.com/2007/12/irony-sad-unfortunate-incident.html

http://sootykatz.blogspot.com/2007/12/mummy-im-getting-better.html

Jasper (now called Orange) suffered a broken pelvis and collapsed lung. Still, he is lucky to be alive! The windows were meshed but seems there was an opening at the top…

Get well soon, Orange!

Tummy is now free from pain and suffering

Sweet little innocent Tummy You trusted humans….

I tried to be prepared for euthanasia…he was clearly not getting better. The post-mortem showed that his bladder had burst…and according to the vet it was probably due to a hard kick. There would have been more bruising if he was hit by a car.

He could have been saved by stitching up the bladder if found earlier…but after a week the infection was too bad…he would not have made it through surgery.

Timmy, Tommy & Tummy

Timmy & Tummy Tommy

Tommy

Tummy

Tummy looks so much smaller than his two brothers now. Just last week he was the one with the biggest tummy…

Brought him to see the vet this morning. He had a very high fever but I did not want to hospitalize him. As long as he can swallow and keep the food down I will try home-care. He is still very dehydrated. The vet mentioned that it could be FIP… but it’s very unlikely because he was not unwell at all the day before he disappeared.

Tummy walked slowly towards me…

…after being lost for 6 days. He looks sick, malnourished and dehydrated. He just looked at the plate of food and then vomited yellow-greenish liquid. I have been syringing him with Nutri-gel, food and water…so far he didn’t throw up again. No visible injuries.

Timmy & Tommy sterilised

Thought I could leave the two kittens together in the big cage on the balcony…but Zhima was visibly stressed. They are now in separate small cages stacked up in the bathroom…for 2 days only.

Zhima is a reminder for me to slow down and even more so Ashley, who has started spraying! If there are too many new cats coming and going our own cats get stressed…even though I keep them separate.

Juliana finally agreed to bring Mimi herself for sterilisation next week and the remaining 2 vouchers went to another caregiver. So I am done with sterilising for this year…but will be busy with cat-sitting jobs from next week onwards.

Another failed attempt to help Romeo

Romeo is suffering badly but won’t let us help him…

The SPCA came down twice but failed. He can still run when he sees the men with the ‘sticks’ approaching.

Now there is the smell of infected wound. The feeders suspect that he was abused by some one…there was a cat fight with loud screaming on that day. Maybe someone hit him or threw something at him? I don’t think that he could have been so badly injured by a cat fight.

Mohan tried to get him today but Romeo went into the big drain. Mohan suggested that we try using the trap tomorrow but not much hope of success… he is too smart.

A Season of Suffering…

It’s the Season of Suffering…

For all those beings who end up as part of a festive meal

For the cats and dogs discarded like old furniture

For the homeless trying to keep warm at some void deck

hoping for a kind soul to offer a meal

For the cats and kittens seeking shelter in the drains

which turn into death-traps during heavy rains

For the caregivers worrying about their community cats

…it is indeed a cold and chilling season!

Tummy missing after the rain…

There was a very heavy downpour yesterday. Was he caught in the drain and swept away? I am still hoping that he will be back today. The 3 kittens were always together.

Romeo had survived the rain and is hiding under a car. Juliana called SPCA again to help catch him…so that she can bring him to the vet.

Penny rescued an injured kitten…one of the legs had to be amputated…no photo yet. The kitten is now in foster care.

Nushi had blood in her urine this morning. Luckily she is bathroom-trained! Would be hard to notice the blood in the litter box as the wet paper pellets turn very dark grey….. I have boiled the gold coin grass for her and will wait and see if it helps.

Long awaited ‘snack’

Finally some grass for the cats!

Zhima is more friendly today, I get whacked with soft paws instead of claws 🙂

Another newcomer has been sterilised today. Midnight has the soft and shiny coat of an indoor cat…but he was very hungry when I first saw him. He ran up to Beany and Kinky to join in the meal even though they are much bigger than him. Luckily both of them didn’t mind…

This photo doesn’t do him justice. Midnight is a beautiful young cat with long straight tail. He is very friendly towards humans and other cats.

Midnight’s ear has a very shallow cut…quite difficult to notice it. Must remember to ask for a more prominent tipped ear for black cats in future. Midnight has a kink in his tail about 5cm from the tip. The kink is not very obvious. He has some while hairs at the throat area and 2 more little patches of white on his belly.

Zhima formerly known as Pebble

Zhima came in on Sunday night. She is very jumpy and frightened of other cats, even of the little kitten “Adik”. The kitten went home on Monday morning and Zhima has the balcony to herself now. Once again I had to paste newspaper on the glass doors, so she won’t see the other cats.

She refused food for one day and is definitely not the kind that can be syringe-fed. Now she is eating her special low-ash dry food and she likes the Fussy Cat (with water added). I think she needs lots of liquid to clear the urinary infection. Somehow I managed to give her the antibiotics…must get those claws trimmed. One moment she lets me stroke her and the next moment.. whack! One claw clipped 9 more to go 🙂

Zhima was also prescribed Valium to calm her down when needed… but I used catnip instead and it worked quite well. Her guardian, who is also a caregiver, told me that she is stressed by too many cats coming in for re-homing.

I think Zhima faintly remembers the place where she spent part of her kitten-hood. She jumped on the ‘tree’ and feels quite comfortable in the hammock.

Pebble, Dawn and Sky were abandoned at the void deck together with their pregnant mother “Chrystal” a pretty silver-tabby now re-homed. They came in a small cage…bird cage? and with a can of Whiskas dumped on the ground.

Romeo badly injured?

Juliana and Priscilla found Romeo in a drain at block *23 in area 3 this afternoon, tongue sticking out and he seemed unable to move, refusing food and water. Romeo is a quite fierce cat and we have not been able to catch him for sterilization.

We called the SPCA to help catch him but later Juliana called to say that he had disappeared. They will keep looking for him… Hopefully he can be caught and brought to a vet to see if there is a chance of recovery and if not at least to end his suffering.

Is Dark Pearl safe???

Fifi looks fine…but no wire-mesh in this 3rd floor appartment.

I gave the adopter more time…to give her the chance to save face and get Black Pearl done before letting me visit.

Today I sent her another sms requesting to visit Dark Pearl. She didn’t reply but called Sharifah instead.

The adopter is now trying to blackmail me….saying she would report me to HDB. She also admitted to Sharifah that she does not want to sterilise the male cat (Dark Pearl). Sharifah also suspects abuse…as the adopter said something about the cat taking food and must be punished.

I have spoken to Dawn and send a final e-mail mentioning that I will consider taking her to court.

The other option I am thinking about is to make a police report regarding suspected abuse. If she is as hostile to the cats as she is towards humans…then I fear for the cats’ safety.

Update on various community cats

Little Princess was revolutionized…twice! I used the one for kittens up to 2.5kg and she continued scratching after that. 2x Revolution for Kittens is still less than one dose for adult cats.

Benny seems to be alright and has settled at block *30 in area 1. His wounds have healed…and no new ones. The other day Dirty Harry was growling at him…

I have finally come up with suitable names for the 3 motherless kittens (all boys). The one with the straight tail is Timmy, the one with the circular tail is Tommy and the one with a semi-circle tail is Tummy. He is also the one who likes tummy-rubs the most :).

Betty was released yesterday night…because she was hardly eating anything. Managed to apply some powder today.

Two Pearls for Adoption

Still waiting…

When will be our turn to go home?

Zhima will be staying for 10 days…

…while her guardians are away. Zhima, formerly known as Pebble and sister of Dawn and Sky, will be coming in tomorrow . She is suffering from urinary infection and is on medication. Hope she will not be too stressed by the change of environment…but I guess no choice as she needs to be observed closely.

Babu has returned

Babu (old pic) suddenly appeared yesterday night at blk *44 area 3. He looked so different, Sylvia kept asking whether I was sure that this is Babu. Yes, I am sure! LH took some photos, but I have not received them yet. Babu had put on some weight, his fur is very soft now and he was wearing a collar and bell. He looks so nice! I am just grateful that they returned him back instead of dumping him elsewhere.

Hope the big ginger cat who recently moved into this area will not fight with him. Will Billy Boy still remember his friend after such a long time?