As some of you know, I am very passionate about animal welfare, especially when it comes to stray cats. Aside from adopting two cats potentially facing living on the streets, I try my best to support all activities that lead to having a manageable stray cat colony in SG.
Few weeks ago, I was visiting a block near Kovan MRT, and saw a colony of tipped-eared, well fed cats lounging around. Because they were neutered, their characters were very mellow. It was a very nice thing to look at – almost a perfect picture, because such cats would not cause residents trouble (neutered cats do not fight or meow in the night), and would not produce new kittens. Additionally, strays usually keep the rodent population in check (cats generally don’t eat rodents, but will still hunt them, as they have very strong hunter instincts).
But being on the inside of the care-giver community, I know that such colony will still grow, and new strays will keep on popping up on the streets. How so? Unbeknown to many, the most steady stream of abandoned pets comes from homes. Many owners deny to spay their house cats, and when kittens show up, the owners will keep them as long as they are cute and tiny, and then pack the kittens in a box, and off to the streets they go! Not to mention the regualr abandonment of un-spayed or pregnant cats.
The very core of the stray cat problems lays in home-breeding and abandonment. The volunteer groups like Love Kuching, Paw Pledge and generally CWS can do only as much, as to try to intercept as many cats they can for spaying/neutering, but they can barely keep up. But even if they did neuter/spay 100% of cats on the streets, new kittens would still be showing up, as stupid people don’t neuter their home pets.
Very pretty stray cat from my neighborhood
So please be kind to pets on the streets. It was not their choice to become homeless, and strawing them or scaring them is an unfair punishment for human stupidity.
If you have a pet, neuter/spay it – there are only benefits to doing so. The cat will lose it’s mating instinct and anxiety, will not be territorial (no spraying with stinky urine, no meowing), will not want to run away when on heat, will become mellow, calm and happy. Spaying/neutering does not hurt the cat – it simply keeps them perpetually in the state between going on heat.
If you don’t have a cat, be vigilant about people in your curriculum who add to the problem. If your neighbor is breeding cats and dumping them on the streets, it’s a good idea to talk to him, or contact RSPCA for assistance.
You can also help by donating to groups that do wonderful jobs at neutering the stray cat colonies. Paw Pledge and Love Kuching are definitely worthy of support, for the wonderful job they do.
), and the guy there suggests going on a low-meat diet, by simply controlling how many meat meals you have – assuming you have 3 a day, that’s 21 meals in a week. Simply pick how many of them you allow yourself to have meat in them. I chose 14/21 (so I allow one meat meal a day) and so far I have been managing to keep that proportion.
. Any idea how the genre is called? xD
