Another TPY Hoarder

Lynn got a call from a screaming Jaime last week about another hoarder in Toa Payoh with 48 unsterilised cats.  The poor lady lives alone, is suffering from leukemia and is currently jobless.  She lives in a 1 bedroom rental flat with 48 unsterilised cats and the entire place is filled with cockroaches.  Neighbors are complaining about the smell and HDB is now involved.

Jaime and volunteers have done a hell lot in the past one week, trying to clean up the place, dealing with complaining neighbors and reasoning with annoyed HDB officers who came down to the place to follow up on complaints.  Jaime updated the Paw Pledge team that Susan has already funded the 1st round of sterilisation and transport costs.  The sterilisation count is about 21 so far.  Jaime would like us to rally help for this lady.  The 1st round of sterilisation costs have already burnt a huge hole in the volunteer’s pockets.

An account from Jaime’s team on the cleaning process “The four-tier shelving was just filled with cat poo that accumulated over God-knows-how-long.  While sweeping the crap out of the 4th tier, cat shit was just continuously raining down on us.”  Every cat in the flat stank and Jaime hauled every single one of them into the bathroom for a good bath, possibly the 1st for each of them.

Fiona and Lynn went to visit the place yesterday to see how the Paw Pledge team can continue with phase 2.  Along the corridors, we see unsterilised cats belonging to 2 neighbors.  We found the unit and as soon as we entered the house, the pungent smell of cat urine and cockroaches rides up our nose like Wasabi burning all the way up into our brains.  We stayed for a while to chat with the Aunty and take some pictures.  When we left the place, our clothes and hair smell like cockroaches have build nests and colonies in them.

The aunty appears to be quite a nice lady.  She’s this frail lady with a good heart and a soft voice.  She’s been screaming for help for the longest time, but I guess she’s so soft-spoken, no one could hear her pleas.  She is grateful to Jaime and volunteers for stepping in to help clean up the place.  She’s not stubborn and willing to accept what we proposed.

Here’s what we proposed:

1) Sterilise all the cats.

2) Re-home all the kittens.

3) Get the place into a cleaner state, and keep the smell level down.  We suggested placing charcoals and pandan leaves in each room to absorb the stench and the latter to keep away roaches.  If you have better suggestions, please share.

Our Appeal for this Aunty:

1) SPCA vouchers – Please donate if you can.

2) Sterilisation funds – If you would like to contribute for sterilisation of the remaining cats (maybe around 20 minus the kittens?), please issue cheques to the vet we nominate.  Here are the estimated costs per cat (including GST): Male=$29.96, Female=$44.94.

3) Medical funds – We spotted a few sick kittens.  One of them have a really bad head tilt (possible ear mites?).  Pictures below but not so clear (sorry).  If you would like to contribute for their medical so that we can bring them to the vet, please issue cheques to the vet we’ll nominate.

4) Cages – If you have used cages that you no longer need or willing to part with them at a cheap price, we want them.  You can see from the pictures that the Aunty’s cages are so oxidized by cat urine, they are falling apart.  Any sick cats quarantined in them will probably get even more sick.

Most importantly, please note that we DO NOT want to handle any cash.  All donations should be in cheques payable to the vet or to the transport person we’ll nominate.  Any unused cheques will be returned to the donor after the cats are sterilised and the sick cats are taken care of.

If you would like to help, please contact the Paw Pledge team at pawpledge@gmail.com

Yesterday and today were a blur of vet visits and rushing around. I felt like a chicken running around with the head chopped off.  But nothing beats the sufferings the poor cats are facing.  After the last shelter visit, we sent 3 of Aunty's farm cats to vet, 2 passed away yesterday. 

Here are their stories:

The white one with the very bad gum is tested FIV and FELV positive.  FELV is leukemia and it's very contagious and lethal.  Anyway, she passed away yesterday morning (7 July, around 4 am).  She didn't wake up from anesthesia cos her body is weak.

The ginger one passed away on 7 July, around 11:50 pm.  He's just too weak and has stopped eating for a while.  Aunty M is so sad that they are both gone.

Today, the Taxi Uncle who previous rescued Wawa, sent another cat to the vet, a hit and run case.  The injury is all internal.  The diaphragm broke and the intestines and stomach has spilled into the lung and heart area.  She appeared to be having breathing difficulty.  We wanted to give her a chance, cos if she don't undergo surgery, she's going to die a slow painful death.  After a complicated open chest surgery, she couldn't make it.  She was resuscitated 4 - 5 times but didn't sustain.  At least the docs gave their best shot. Kudos to them.

Car Accidents

One more update, not a death (Thank God) but it's Aunty M's Tumor cat.  The tumor has erupted, the final straw of nose cancer.  But the cat still seems alert, active, eating and wants affection.  We don't have the heart to put it down yet.  Either he has a high tolerance for pain or he's just not feeling it.  Sent him to the vet today to see if they can give him a steriod jab or something to control the situation.

More pictures in Aunty M's album:

Aunty M's Cats

Aunty JC's Cats

Today the Paw Pledge team visited both shelters to deliver food and medicine donated by Good Samaritans.  The 1st trip was to the Joo Chiat Aunty's shophouse.  The place is in a manageable condition for now, except for a few sick cats.  We gave Aunty the medicine and supplements we bought with funds donated by kind souls.

After that, we went to Aunty M's farm and there were quite a number of sick cats.  We sent 3 critically ill cats to the vet immediately.  Two were so skinny, they were skin and bones.  A third cat had awfully bad breath and has stopped eating.  It appears that the cat has a mouth full of ulcers.  There were blackish stains surrounding the mouth, we don't know what it is, but the cat is just filthy and smelly.  We decided to send all 3 to the vet rather than watch them suffer.  As for the rest of the cases, it seems the start of flu.  So, we gave Aunty some medicine and see whether it'll help.  Next week we might pass her more antibiotics.

Pictures of the sick cats at Aunty M's:

Here's a snapshot of our funds for Aunty M.  Hopefully the balance of $1,009.22 is enough for the hospitalization and treatment of all the sick cats.  So far, we've only admitted 3 to the hospital.

Date	IN	OUT	Balance	Description of Charges
16-Jun	$   100.00	$        -	$   100.00
17-Jun	$     20.00	$        -	$   120.00
22-Jun	$     50.00	$        -	$   170.00	QCDM 300281
24-Jun	$     50.00	$        -	$   220.00	iBanking
25-Jun	$     10.00	$        -	$   230.00	Cash
27-Jun	$ 1,000.00	$        -	$1,230.00	iBanking
19-Jun	$          -	$   21.40	$1,208.60	Lysine for sick cats X 1
29-Jun	$          -	$   44.94	$1,163.66	Lysine for sick cats X 2
4-Jul	$          -	$   21.40	$1,142.26	Admission for 3 sick cats
4-Jul	$          -	$ 133.04	$1,009.22	Immunity & Liver supplement for cats X 3

Wawa was a pretty tri-color calico who was a community cat regularly fed by an elderly taxi driver.  She has apparently been sick for a while but no one knew.  Last week, caregivers in the area called taxi uncle at 6 am in the morning and asked him to send Wawa to the vet because she was breathless and panting under a car.  She was put on oxygen at the vet.  Blood tests and x-rays were ran to determine the root cause.  Blood tests indicated FIV+, X-rays showed an enlarged heart, and there were sounds of fluid in the lungs. 

The next few days was a strange ordeal of her health bouncing between stability and near-death.  A couple of doctors got together to discuss the results but were puzzled.  Her condition could be a multitude of different ailments.  In her final 2 days, she turned strangely violent and insane.  She bit a nurse and her tooth dropped out.  She started chewing her tongue, reducing it to a mangled mess.  She was truly suffering!  5 nurses tried to stop her from chewing her tongue.  She even used her paw to scratch out shreds of her tongue.

The taxi driver caregiver went down to assess the situation and couldn’t bear the sight of her suffering anymore.  He made the tough decision of putting her down.  Poor Wawa….I pray that she’s free from pain and suffering now

The doctor is so nice as to offer to do a post-mortem at no cost.  We’re awaiting the post-mortem results.  Attached is a picture of Wawa’s tongue.

The bill is not cheap because Wawa has to be on daily oxygen.  Please kindly help out the taxi uncle with this if it’s within your means to do so.  He feeds and rescues alot of strays, responsibly sterilises the strays in his area and keep his feeding area clean.  Please do help him out.  The bill is attached, the total is $839.95.  If you are keen  in helping, please contact us at pawpledge@gmail.com

Flea Mania is organizing a Flea Market to benefit the Stray Animals and I hope you can come down to give your utmost support.  It's also a Roadshow for a few non-profit animal welfare groups such as:

Cat Welfare Society
House Rabbits Society of Singapore
NTU Cat Management
Paw Pledge

Do come down and support them as well as the wonderful stall-owners who have make this Fundraising initiative happen!  Here are the details :

Day/Date : Saturday, 17 January 2009
Time : 10 am - 5 pm
Venue : Sculpture Square @ 155 Middle Road

How this Flea will benefit the Animals :
- All proceeds from table rental are going directly to Paw Pledge for Project CCK (Choa Chu Kang) and other sterilisation projects
- Sponsoring of tables for the various groups

What you will find at this Flea :
- Fashionable clothes (used and new) -> Gear up for Chinese New Year
- Books (used and new) -> Value buys
- Crystals and accessories -> All things shiny and beautiful
- Tarot Reading -> Don't forget to get your reading for the entire year so that you know what to look out for
- Henna Painting -> Doll up for the festive season

All these for a good cause.  Please spread the word among your friends and families.

Boy-Boy is an extremely sweet dog, with an incredible personality and calm temperament. Despite what he has been through, he’s still very affectionate and trusting of humans.

This is the story of his life…

He’s a young chap, of about 1 year old, as estimated by the vet. He roamed around in the Tuas factory area where he scavenged for food. A kind taxi driver came across him by chance and developed an instant affinity to this special dog and fondly called him Boy-Boy. He went back daily to feed this dog. One day, this caregiver noticed a wire tied and twisted very tightly to the dog’s waist. He tried to untie the wire but the dog must have been in too much pain to allow people to touch him. He was in so much pain that he limped, and couldn’t sit. Instead he had to lay on his side. Whenever he ate, he would throw up.

After 4 days of trying to trap Boy-Boy, the caregiver started rallying for help among friends. Finally Boy-Boy was caught with the help of a professional dog-catcher (hired by PawPledge) and brought to the vet. His wound, which was most likely human-inflicted, judging from the way the wire was twisted so tightly around his waist, was cutting into his flesh, and red ants surrounded his exposed wound. The vet cleaned him up and stitched him back. The wound has dried up and in time, the fur will grow back and he is now perfect and whole again.

We felt that it would be good to give Boy-Boy a new lease of life and a chance to go to a loving home. So, we have decided to post him up for adoption, hoping that some kind soul would be willing to give him shelter, love and attention, which he so deserves. Despite what was done to him, he is still a very affectionate and friendly dog. He is really such a forgiving creature.

Here is his story posted on stomp, along with earlier pictures taken before and after the rescue. Stomp Post

And here is a link to his picture album. Just click on his cute face and it will bring you to his album.  He is vaccinated and sterilised.  If you would like to keep him, please contact us.

boyboy

What is a Psychic Attack?  It's an attack on your aura, without your consent, by someone else.  It is a huge distraction, especially for people who do alot of energy work.  It leaves you feeling fatigued, vulnerable, irritable and helpless at times.

This week has been especially hectic, flying 3 countries in 1 week, answering countless sms-es, talking to vets, trying to rehome as many as 8 cats, limited to no internet connection and to top it all off...getting maligned at misappropriating funds.  I'm not even sure how that is even possible especially when most of the cheques came to me payable to "James Tan Veterinary Centre" or "The Animal Doctors Pte Ltd".  Unless the vets and I are in cahoots, which is completely ridiculous since these clinics also have a reputation to uphold.

Anyway, if you feel you are getting psychic attacks in any way, learn how to spot the signs and how to defend yourself against them.

Signs: - Headache, tiredness, fatigue, nightmares, anxiety / panic attacks, shaking & trembling, victim mentality, health problems.

Best cure: - Meditate, Don't fight back / lash back, Reiki Healing to heal the relationship between you and that person.

Thanks to those who have trust in me and stood up for me.  But I encourage all of you to not lash out at her because what is done cannot be undone.  It's sad enough that Ezra died alone.  The only people with him were probably the nurse and doctor who put him down.  I found out the next day that he was actually put down after I left the vet.  While I was there, I tried calling "her" to ask her to sign the consent form for me to discharge Ezra and bring him home.  But "she" won't answer my calls.  Oh well, it's ok, he's in a better place now.  Big thanks to MK for easing his way with the butter lamps offering.  It really helps.  (You have created a good karmic link with Ezra, it's a good thing and I hope this karma merit will benefit Wiki too.  May Wiki get well soon.)

Anyway, I'm just handing the remaining funds over to Veron to manage since she still mostly involved in the case.  I have to busy myself with the rehoming the cats the volunteers manage to rescue out.  It's not so easy to be stuck with so many cats and kittens.  Please help spread the word if you can.  Patches is top on our list to rehome, other than Sarah-Hope, click on the album below to see more and read the story.

The Mooey Story

Remember Sarah-Hope?  She was one of the 1st cats I took out from the Old Lady's flat.  She had an enlarged heart due to Taurine deficiency and was causing her to be breathless at times.  She gave birth to 3 kittens at the vet and 1 died.  The other 2 were raised by the vet and were healthy.  They were both adopted out.

Sarah-Hope is now ready to be discharged.  She is FIV+ and can be breathless sometimes but she has no life-threatening conditions at the moment.  As long as she goes to a good home with proper and responsible care, she would be a great companion to have.  She's affectionate, intelligent and loyal.  Why do I say that?  Because I've visited her several times and I noticed that she's very good at recognizing people.  She recognizes me every single time and wherever I move to, she follows loyally like a little doggy.  She was also very protective of her babies before they were adopted out, a very good and responsible mom indeed.

Due to her age (estimated around 8) and condition, the vet advised that it's best not to sterilize her.  As long as she goes to a comfortable home and all the cats in that household are sterilized, it would just simply be perfect for her to live out her remaining life.

I hope to call out to all who has the means to please consider adopting Sarah-Hope.  She is a beautiful cat and definitely would warm someone's heart with her gentle personality.  If you can give her a home, please email me or find me on MSN : wailing_lam@hotmail.com

You can see her pictures here, just click on the picture below and you'll be redirected to the album.

Sarah-Hope

From Cat Hoarding

Lady vomitted blood so Paul (the foster) sent her to Namly Vet.  Her mouth and throat are full of ulcers.  She's hospitalized and has to be hand-fed since she won't eat on her own.  It's really worrying and even the Old Lady is worrying sick about her cat.  With the recent passing of her Urine-Infection Tomcat (her favorite), she's already been crying for 2 days.  And with Ninny sick and hospitalized, she's even more devastated.

Our funds are also running low, so I'm hoping to gather more to help pay for the vet bills.  The volunteers are also covering for the food and vet bills, so everyone's quite stretched.

As for the Urine-Infection Tom....poor poor boy.  He was in the hospital for so long for continuous flushing of the crystals.  Moreover, he was FIV positive, making healing even harder.  Finally, his body gave way and he passed on yesterday morning at 7:30 am.  Please send your prayers to him so that he may rest in peace.

Urine-Infection Tom Deceased 11 Oct 08

Finally, attached here is the statement.  Notice that I already set aside $500 for Ninny's condition but I doubt it's enough because tomorrow, Paul has to send in Lady, the other pregnant cat we took from the Old Lady.  She's EXTREMELY skinny when I saw her today, and dehydrated.  Not sure what's going on with her.  Paul will take her to the vet tomorrow and update me.  Paul has been very nice, he's fostering at least 9 of the Old Lady's cats and kittens.

From Ezra the Trusting Tom-cat

Ezra was a very trusting Tom-cat.  He had kidney problems and yesterday, he collapsed again due to low blood count.  This cat was one of the Old Lady's favorite.  Whenever she entered the house, this handsome Tom would sit next to her feet to let her pat him.  He would then happily purr and beg for some treats...whatever she could afford to give him at that time.  The Old Lady loves him very much.

I visited him yesterday and he was happy and grateful for the company.  Wagged his tail and meowed at me a few times when I pat him.  Very trusting, and loving cat.  He was hanging on and didn't seem like he was ready to go.  He was probably waiting for the last stroke from the Old Lady before he crossed over to the other side.

But was he given that chance to wait for us to inform the Old Lady and bring her down to see him!??!!  NO!!!!  SOMEONE HAS DECIDED TO TAKE MATTERS INTO HER OWN HANDS AND PUT HIM DOWN THIS MORNING!!! We had 3 unpleasant encounters with this TROUBLEMAKER and we still have 1 more cat (Sarah-Hope) under her name at the vet.  She'll most likely suffer the same fate...someone deciding to play GOD and take matters into her own hands without discussing with the rest of the volunteers!

Burning questions :

1.  Why rescue a cat, waste so much of everyone's time, effort and money, just to put it to sleep???  Why don't just do it in the 1st place, knowing that it's an incurable condition?!?!!?

2.  Why disguise as a compassionate animal lover, but don't give a damn to human emotions & factors involved???  The Old Lady has been the cat's rightful owner and guardian for the past 6 - 8 years.  Has SHE considered how the old lady will feel to have her cat put down just like that?!?!?!  Where's the COMPASSION???  Where are the HUMAN RIGHTS??!?!?

3.  Why always jump into rash actions without considering the consequences for others???  Now, how are the active volunteers going to answer to the Old Lady????  She has told us before "I would rather my cat die in my arms than in a cold cage at the vet."  We have betrayed the Old Lady's trust.  The TROUBLEMAKER hasn't considered that we are the parties who have to eventually answer to the Old Lady, not her!!!

IDIOT!!!!

I'm not going to mention her name here because at least I have the decency to respect HUMAN RIGHTS, unlike her.  Please just pray for Ezra-Tom's soul that he'll rest in peace and for Sarah-Hope that she doesn't face the same fate.  Also, please pray for us that we will not be skinned alive by the Old Lady when we break the news to her.

The Big Clean-Up

First of all, I apologize for the lack of update.  These last few weeks had been quite hectic.  I'll try not to bore people with a lengthy story.  Here's the quick-and-dirty update.

#1/  The Big Clean-Up
We stripped the walls of cobwebs, threw away her roach-infested cupboards, scrubbed down the grime and painted the walls.  The place doesn't stink as much anymore.  The only thing now is to monitor the situation to make sure the place stays cleaner than before for the remaining cats.  Janet and Veron's friends also contributed to get her a fridge so that no raw meat sits rotting in the living room.  Jaime, Janet and Veron are the only warriors going down weekly to clean the flat now, which usually takes about 3 - 4 hours.  The pictures are in the album above.  Click on Mark (the painter)'s picture.

#2/  Resident Cats Update
We rehomed and moved out so many cats from the Old Lady that we are having a hard time keeping track.  To date, there are about 12 cats in the house.  All sterilised except 2 Tomcats.  They are old and vet advised that they shouldn't go under anesthesia.  These are the healthy ones that we decided to return to her.  A VERY VERY tough decision indeed.  Our rationale is that this old lady cannot be left with no cats because she's just going to bring more UNSTERILISED cats home!!!  And the vicious cycle begins again.  So, we put a few healthy ones there to keep her happy.  We took away all the kittens though.

#3/  Cats moved out
We have many happy re-homing stories.  We have 1 very sad story of San-Poh, the Old Lady's black cat who died.  You can see the video of the cat in my blog...suffering from fits the night before he passed on.

Right now we still have 4 cats warded.  I'll separately do a story on each of them later but here's a quick summary.
Sarah-Hope (FIV+) : She's very old and has an enlarged heart.  However, she should be able to live out her remaining life without any issue and problem if she goes to a good caring home.
Ezra-Tom : Acute kidney failure...not looking good.
Black kitten : Still having diarrhea but likely to recover.  Will need a home after that.
Another Tom cat (FIV+) : Chronic urine-infection, right now he can't pee.  Doesn't look too good.


#4/  Finances
We have to talk about money sooner or later, with 4 cats still warded and outstanding bills at 2 vets.  You can download the attached statement for the full detail of the accounts-to-date.  We are left with $2,207.34, not counting the outstanding bills at 2 vets and the 4 still warded.  I really really HOPE this money is enough to cover all the vet expenses.  We shall see.  Keeping our fingers crossed.

After weeks of toil and sweat, we do have some good news and some bad news.

Good news first :
#1) We rehomed quite a few of the old lady's kittens and cats - 3 white/black kittens;










And Chance the Medium Kitten.







Jonela is helping us foster some kitties and has also adopted Grace (mom cat) - http://jonela78.multiply.com/

Remaining kitties are still available for adoption...please help spread the word : http://picasaweb.google.com/crystal.chakra/Adoption#

#2) The flat is starting to shape up.  We are going to commence painting this weekend.  Hopefully I'll be able to snap some pictures to share with you folks.

Ok...now the bad news.

#1) The idiots at the coffee shop gave her a new kitten.  Yeah, wtf right?  Jaime our main volunteer was quite pissed and dished out some serious scolding to the busybodies at the coffee shop.  In return, she got an earful of insults, curses and harsh scolding from the Hoarder Old Lady and the coffee shop idiots.

I know it's never ending but we're determined to keep micro-managing her and continue telling the coffee shop idiots off.  After many more rounds of trashing from us, they should hopefully get the point.
 
#2) Old lady's black cat that I posted in the video clip died.  It was very sad but he was suffering.  At least he went quickly and don't have to suffer any longer.

Ok...here's the story of Midnight (the black kitten)...another one we rescued from her. When he was admitted to the vet, both eyes were red, swollen and you could hardly see the eye balls.  Not as serious as Abby kitten but getting there.












After a couple of weeks at the vet with intensive antibiotics and eye treatment, his eyes are beautiful now.  But his left eye sport a blue halo....cornea damage!  But kittens being that young, there's a high chance that the cornea damage will disappear as it gets older.  Of course, daily antibiotics ointment is required and Phyllis' miraculous prescription - "Sotong Grass".  I have no idea what that is, but I shall find out.

If anyone can help us find adopters for Abby Kitten (now missing 1 eye) and Midnight, we would metaphorically bestow 3 lifetimes of gratitude to the samaritan(s).  These kitties have come a long way to get out of hell...please give them a chance of heaven.

Thank you so much to our kind donors.  You have just made these cats' lives more wonderful.  God bless you!

Please download the accounts from here.

Here's a summary :

Total funds collected - $7,903.80
Expenses (99% vet bills) - $3,070.11
Balance to date - $4,833.69

A friend forwarded me a SMS asking me if it was me.  The sms goes like this :

"Pls share with us save a sick kiten. nw te kiten stay vet n stil use oxzgen.i already pay 150 dolars.pls kindly donate some to tis poor kiten.thks. Pls transfer to lynn's posb saving 122191583"

In case people out there are wondering, that is not my account. I'm not sure if it's genuine but I'm not going to discount it as not either. Who knows, there could really be a sick kitten struggling to live out there.  But I want to comment that this is not the right way to raise funds from the public because there's no accountability, no return phone number and no statement of accounts posted up to state how much was the expenses, and which vet.  Where's the transparency?

Please do be careful and assess the situation properly before donating.  I just don't want anyone getting bitten, if you know what I mean.

Remember Abby-Kitten? One of her eye is now blind. The vet managed to get the swelling on both eyes to subside significantly and discovered that one of the eyeball had already burst. That's not the worst part...while cleaning out the infected wound, the lens from the non-existent eyeball fell out from the socket. 

Her blood pressure was building up as the day passes due to the infection so the vet had to perform surgery on the open socket wound to seal it up, preventing further infection.  Her condition is currently stable.  She has one healthy eye now.  Such a shame cos she was the most obedient and sweet creature, according to the nurse who was so dedicated that she stayed overnight at the hospital to nurse Abby.

Midnight, the black kitten was also sent to the hospital because he is displaying a similar eye condition.  However, since his eye infection isn't as serious yet, there's still hope.  Lots of hope.  The vet is currently treating his conjunctivitis.

The flat condition is starting to look better but the smell is still horrendous.  We are experimenting on ways to remove the tough stains and smell from the wall using DIY methods first, in order to cut cost.

8 cats were admitted last week for sterilization, vaccination, deworm, de-flea, de-tick, de-mite, etc.  We should have enough funding to cover the bills for now, thanks to all you Good Samaritans out there!  God bless your souls!  The only worrisome portion of the vet bills will be for the sick and blind cats who had to undergo surgery.

The accounts are posted here.  We have enough supplies as well.  Thanks again to generous donors out there.  Without your kind support, this project would not even progress to this stage.

These kittens are available for adoption...please click on the picture to view the album of the kittens.  And please kindly spread the word so that these kittens can have a 2nd chance for a better home.

Adoption

Last week, we did manage to bring this kitten out to the vet.  On 9 Aug (1st pic), we persuaded the old lady to let us take this kitten to the vet and she refused.  On 16 Aug (2nd pic), we tried again and she eventually did, after we promised that we'll bring it back in a couple of days.  However, the vet said that it's got a very serious cat flu and eye infection. It's going to be hospitalized for a while. 








Notice that you can't even see the eyeballs?  When the vet tried to examine one eye, she did notice some cornea scarring.  We don't know if she has lost her vision yet.  Please keep your fingers crossed and pray that she'll recover and be a normal healthy kitten, with good vision.











This mother cat we brought out from 9 Aug is still in the hospital.  She gave birth to 2 very weak and small kittens while she was in the hospital. Notice that 2 small black lumps she's hugging.  She has breathing problems.  X-ray showed some mass of unknown object in her chest that is pushing the trachea up, causing her to have breathing difficulties.  One of the kitten is showing signs of breathing problems as well and there's a 50-50 chance of survival.








Notice the you can't even see the trachea in the xray, it's being pushed towards the spine, so it's blocked.










I've updated my Photo Album with more pictures of the cats from each visits to the place : http://picasaweb.google.com/home

We managed to get most of the cats out but the numbers are still unknown because the volunteers split into 2 groups to go into the house in the morning.  The old lady was alerted by neighbours and the dog.  She immediately rushed back.  Luckily, the 2 groups were gone when she got there.  She was EXTREMELY upset.

After the big hooha, the few of us who weren't part of the group that went in to take the cats, went over to try to appease the Old Lady.  We got the bulk of the lashing and threats from her.  We cleaned the house and took a count of how many cats were left...around 10 or less.  At least we got most of the sick ones out.  Remaining ones are rather healthy.  We further manage to persuade her to let us bring the really sick kitten with 2 swollen eyeballs to the vet.  At that point, the Old Lady was almost crying over her loss.

We'll decide what to do with them after the medical attention is given for the sick ones.  But we are in contact with Transcenter to try to get a counsellor for her.

Here are the accounts to date :
We have RECEIVED a total of $3,790
Our expenses to date is $$1,360.45
The BALANCE to date is $2,429.55

Hopefully there are no serious cases among the ones we rescued otherwise our vet bills will skyrocket.  X-Rays, Blood tests, etc can be costly.

See attached for Statement of Accounts.

I really want to thank all the good samaritans out there who have responded to my SOS email.  I get alot of email from people asking me to get the authorities involved.  Here are some of the avenues we have explored and they end up not being in the best interest of the Old Lady and the animals :

1) Called IMH - they can't do anything because the Old Lady is not their patient.  If she turns violent, IMH can restrain her and admit her but the police will have to get involved.
2) Called Social Services - they will need to get the authorities involved as well.

Getting the authorities involved means sentencing all the animals to death immediately.  We don't want that, and we also do not want the Old Lady to suffer mental anguish.  Her health condition isn't exactly the most ideal.

Our Current Plan :
- Clean up the place to ensure that the animals' health improve
- Medicate all cats there to build up their immune system since she doesn't allow us to remove any cats
- Gain her trust.

Supplies :
We currently have enough.  I don't want to stock up so much food because food have expiration.  I'll contact contributors individually to schedule pick-ups over a period of time, because we don't have storage space.

Funding :
We might have just enough to cover the medical bills.  If there are any extra, we'll use them to buy de-worm tablets and I'll try to get some flu medication to mass-dose all the cats.  If we have enough funds, we'll also buy alot of Frontline / Revolution to de-flea, de-tick, de-mite all the animals.  Fleas, mites and ticks can also get them sick.  Also, we might need to rally funds at a later date for sterilisation...if the Old Lady agrees to let us remove cats for sterilisation.

Foster / Re-homing :
- I need 1 more temporarily / permanent home for the 2-month old kitten who still has a bit of diarrhea. 
- Found temporarily foster for mom cat and her new-born kittens but when kittens are old enough, they'll need a permanent home.
- Persian-cross kitten with burst eye-ball has already been adopted. Yay! One piece of good news finally. Thank you Serene.

Please keep checking here for update.  I don't want to email-spam people unnecessarily.

You can download the updated Contribution List from this post.

You won't believe it until you see it with your own eyes.

The background : 
I heard from Jaime and Penny about this old lady who hoards about 40 cats and 2 dogs in her 3 room HDB.  The living condition is so terribly filthy and smelly that it's really not a place for animals to live, let alone human.

The visit :
Last weekend, we went to visit the place.  The sight was just ghastly and the stench was unbearable.  I was gagging even though I was wearing a mask.  Although the windows were sealed shut with plastic sheet, you could smell the stench once you exit from the lift.  There were junk laying outside the unit at the lift lobby and corridor.  Inside, the place was like the House of Horror - dim and dark, blackened walls, filth and stench filled the place and encompasses you like a cocoon. 

There were sick cats and kittens everywhere and they were all scared and hiding.  Many were having conjunctivitis eye infection, some having flu and upper respiratory syndrome.  According to Jaime, quite alot of kittens have died.  The environment is just not conducive because it's dirty and contaminated, causing the virus and germs to be even more contagious.

The cats were all fed a diet of raw chicken heads.  The old lady's fridge doesn't work so all raw food are left out for days, to the extend that chicken heads are blackened with decomposition.  When Jaime lifted up newspapers that were covering some decomposed chicken heads, she saw many squirming maggots.

The cats have cockroaches for company.  The walls were just crawling with roaches and other unidentifiable insects and bugs.  They were breeding in the wall crevices and cracks.  The floor is smeared with faeces and urine.  Some cats were having diarrhea so the whole place is just one huge shithole! (Sorry...lack of a better word to describe the place.)

Roaches and maggots are not the only breeding beings there, even the cats were breeding non-stop because they are not sterilised.  Old lady refuses to let anyone bring her cats for sterilisation or even medical treatment.  When people try to remove her cats, she threatened to burn the place down, killing both herself and cats.  So, we figure that brute force will not work.  Just have to slowly try to clean up the place and do whatever we can for the sake of these poor animals.

The National Day mission :  Jaime, her sis and Natasha bravely went in with gloves, masks and shower cap to clean up the place.  I went in with another gal to smuggle out 3 cats in serious condition and brought them to the vet.  One cat, suspected pregnant, seems to be having quite serious UTI (Urinary Tract Infection), and the vets are suspecting that her kidney / liver are malfunctioning.  A medium-sized kitten has severe conjunctivitis and diarrhea.  And a tiny palm-sized long-hair kitten has such a serious eye infection that one eyeball is about to explode.  It's at risk of losing that eye.

I really salute Jaime, her sis and Natasha.  Despite the filth and stench, they stayed in there for hours to clean up the place.  I was already trying not to puke from the smell while standing outside the house!

Hopefully we'll have enough finances and energy to keep going....

Here's another author's account of the episode : http://maovellous.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/super-heroes/

Pictures :

Cat Hoarding

Dear Friends,

Please take some time to read the below appeal for the Sun Bears.

http://tippedearclan.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/appeal-sun-bears/