How does one label someone with many animals as being a
hoarder? This is argumentative but simply put, we feel that the hoarder term
comes about when the caregiver is unable to appropriately care for the animals
under his charge. Do you remember the Ng Brothers case (http://noahsarkcares.blogspot.sg/2011/10/ng-brothers-and-their-cats-new.html)
that we very fortunately managed to get the media's help with
renovating of their flat while we tended to their cats? We were thankful for
all the help rendered, eventually allowing the Ng Brothers a comfortable living
space as well as a better environment for the cats.
Unfortunately, such cases are still occurring. When what
started out as kindness and compassion results in an inability to cope with
daily living, and this does not only happen with elderly folks though most of
the cases we see of now are. We were alerted to Mr Lim, an elderly 78 year old
man living in a two-room rental flat. Lotus Light Charity Society (http://www.lotuslight.org.sg/)
approached us and we made a home visit to find out more about the circumstances
surrounding this case.
Mr Lim greeted us at his door that evening. He looked like
he was only in his fifties, a neatly dressed small built uncle who speaks
English as well. Despite his age, he is mobile and still an active volunteer
with Lotus Light in distributing food rations to other elderly. As we had
honestly prepared ourselves to see the worst, Mr Lim’s flat was still
considered to be in acceptable condition other than the ammonia stench. Mr Lim
mentioned he cleans the flat whenever he can twice or thrice daily but as he is
not able to afford cat litter, the cats pee into basins around the flat and he
will wipe or wash up thereafter.
There are a total of twenty-two adult cats staying in his
hall and kitchen, and Mr Lim has one room he sleeps in which he has to keep the
cats out of. He told us every morning when he opens the room door, the cats
will all be outside waiting to greet him and seeking affection from him. This is
just so sweet!
We asked him about the origin of the cats and he told us he
started out a decade ago with taking over ten plus cats from an old lady who
passed on. The rest are subsequently rescued from the streets. To be honest, Mr
Lim’s cats are surprisingly well fed. He does takes good care of the cats and
we will say slightly more than half are affectionate and are used to human
touch. Some of them will also come up to you and seek affection even from
strangers. Also, the cats at his place did not reproduce at all and he
even spayed the cats in his neighbourhood.
Mr Lim is on public assistance of a few hundred dollars
monthly and gets by with his friends chipping in occasionally to help with the
expenses of the cats. Some of his friends are aware of his struggles over the
years and have actually offered to help him release the cats elsewhere but he
is still of sound mind to know that the cats are not able to survive outdoors
having been domesticated most of their lives. He did try releasing one or two
cats at his own void deck but in the end had to take them back in when they
fell sick.
He also did approach other societies previously and was
just told to put up adoption notices which he did at Cold Storage. A few
nicer-looking/pedigree ones were adopted out at the beginning but that was it.
There was unfortunately a HDB complaint last year and Mr Lim had to move the
cats temporarily to a boarding place to avoid getting fined up to four thousand
dollars. This move caused Mr Lim a few hundred dollars which might not be a lot
to us but was more than a month’s expenditure to him at one go.
We spoke to Mr Lim matter-of-factly about the large number
of cats and the course of action we are likely to take – to appeal for adopters
and seek medical aid first and foremost, and plus Mr Lim’s firm promise about
no further "accumulating". Mr Lim himself is also aware that he is
not getting any younger and he ought to make plans should he suddenly pass on
one day and his cats will be the ones suffering. His only wish for now is to
relocate them appropriately and that they will be taken care of.
With so many cats in his flat, we did notice a few that
were not feeling too well and we managed to bring a vet to Mr Lim’s flat for
medical attention and treatment. My Family Vet was kindly enough to make a
house call late at night after their clinic hours and some of the sicker cats
were assessed during the first round. Overall, there was serious fur mites
infestation – under the microscope, we could see eggs on the strands of fur
extracted for examination. There was also another ginger cat who could not eat
on his own and the vet gave a jab to alleviate the gum infection.
We hope to be able to find adopters at least for some of
Mr Lim’s cats and will like to ask if any of you can kindly take in one (more)
cat in your household. We are also working with the vet to slowly treat his
cats and will deeply appreciate if we can get your kind help in supporting our
cause. We are aware that eventually, if the cats do not get adopted after some
time, we will be looking at sending the cats up to our sanctuary NANAS in
Malaysia which we will have to raise funds to send them across the border too. Within our own constraints and capacity, once
we decided to take up a case, we will see to it that the animals have a place
to live in for the rest of their lives, safely and with dignity. Please
email noahsarkcares@gmail.com
if you can help in any way, thank you!
**Photos of some of Mr Lim's cats can be viewed at our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.656740587724441.1073741873.417707781627724&type=1¬if_t=like
