The Cats Situated at The Heart of Singapore

When one mentions Marina Barrage, Marina Financial Centre, MCE, Gardens By The Bay, what comes to mind is a modern and developed Singapore. In this little red dot, a number of stray and community animals share the same space with us and sometimes, in the most unexpected places.

Sometime in October, one of our Noah's Ark CARES volunteer was alerted to an area with a number of unsterilized cats, at a worker's dormitory off MCE. We had previously spayed and rehomed some of the dogs around that same area too when we were asked to help the cats as well. We were informed that this dormitory will be demolished at the end of November this year. After finding out that the cats will be shelter-less soon, the volunteers made a decision that the cats should not be returned to the site after sterilization. It would be inhumane to return the cats back to the site as the dormitory is in the middle of many other construction sites - they may be knocked down by heavy vehicles and their source of food would have been gone soon too.

A site check was promptly arranged and after speaking to the site supervisor, we gathered that there are over twenty cats within the dormitory premise! We saw a number of cats, both adult and young cats moving around in the compound - a clear sign that the cats have been breeding in this premise. During this first visit, we brought out six cats for sterilization, vaccination and to be microchipped.

Four younger and scrawny-looking cats followed us around as we checked out the place, hoping that we will spare them some food. According to the site supervisor, the cats are fed with leftovers and scraps left behind by the workers each day. It was heart-wrenching when the young cats wolfed down the canned food and kibbles when fed - they never had a full meal before, the already-scarce leftover food is usually lapped up by the older cats. We then passed a bag of kibbles and a carton of canned food to the supervisor so that he could feed the cats meanwhile. We assured the supervisor that we will remove the cats in batches (over the next two to three weekends) and that no cats would be left behind when the dormitory is vacated.

 

Noah's Ark CARES volunteers hope to rehome as many of the dormitory cats as possible. All six cats which were brought out are very friendly; they are alert and are eating well after their sterilization. We brought out a three to four months old cream-colored kitten and five adult cats. JJ, Bella and Matilda are all looking for homes. They love human interaction and look forward to feeding time. If you can welcome them to your family and provide them forever homes, please contact Noah's Ark CARES at noahsarkcares@gmail.com.

Noah's Ark Natural Animal Sanctuary (NANAS) in Johor Bahru was set up to provide a forever home for our street animals. This group of cats who are not rehomed after they have been sterilized will be sent to our sanctuary where they can live out the best years of their lives.

We need your help to contribute to the following costs for this project:
1) Sterilization
2) Vaccination
3) Microchipping
4) Transport to NANAS 
5) Lifetime boarding and medical costs over at NANAS (sponsorship)

If you are able to contribute (no amount is too small for the animals), please write to us at noahsarkcares@gmail.com.

Many times, all it takes is an unsterilized male and an unsterilized female cat/dog to cause a population explosion. Noah's Ark CARES' mission is and will always be, to reduce the stray population in Singapore (and Malaysia). This is a community project which we need your help and contribution. 

Thank you for your continuous support in driving our cause and please help us spread this important message: STERILIZATION is the only humane way to control our stray population!


Warm regards,
All of us @ Noahs's Ark CARES

Shasha - The Girl with The Broken Tail

Shasha - a petite brown mongrel with yellow eyes that lives at the end of a street. She lives in a high culling area but fortunately, her factory took heed of our advice and made the effort to keep her within their premises. She was just spayed by us in mid August this year and we see her weekly still – her workers know us well too. :)

 Shasha when we spayed her

A few nights back, we were as usual reaching Shasha's factory when we noticed her excessively licking her tail and realized that her tail was infected and swollen. We checked with the security guard and a few workers present but they were not sure what actually happened. We believe it to be an industrial accident, looked as if the forklift went over her tail.

We went back the next day for little Shasha. The workers could not find her at first and the factory premises were big. It took more than an hour to locate her but the workers really put in effort to search for her as they wished to see her get medical treatment too. When we finally got hold of Shasha, we realized that part of her tail was already gone as it was slightly shorter (she had a long beautiful tail initially) and we hope she did not have to go through too much pain.

Over at the vet, Shasha was running a fever from the infection. The vet also mentioned she is rather thin – her sudden weight loss was due to the injury too as she had in fact put on a bit of weight after her sterilization. The vet advised slight amputation and she had to be warded for at least a couple of days.

 

We visited Shasha a few days later and she was looking good. After Shasha finished her course of medication, we brought her back to the factory and she was hopping around in delight! She is rather shy with strangers but familiar with the workers and well loved by the factory. They kept thanking us for helping her.

Going back to where she came from

 Happily wriggling her butt upon seeing her worker

 

Following closely behind the worker who is leading her back into the factory premises

Shasha’s case might not have been that life-threatening or a tear-jerking rescue but we strongly believe in trying our best to help every street dog that needs medical aid. Our volunteers who have been quietly running our PID (Project Industrial Dogs) for years and who faithfully walk the streets almost every other night, are tirelessly working towards the same goal as many other AWGs (Animal Welfare Groups) and independent rescuers – to see less strays on the streets, through active sterilization.

If you will like to help us cover Little Shasha’s medical bills and/or help other street dogs, we will be most grateful. Please email us at noahsarkcares@gmail.com – be it donation in cash/kind, volunteering or fostering/adoption. Thank you!

Our Street Dogs and Their Harsh Times – Part 2/2

Jackson was not so lucky as his injury was more severe as compared to Sintu and Yogi (http://noahsarkcares.blogspot.sg/2014/08/our-street-dogs-and-their-harsh-times.html). Nonetheless, he is slowly on the route to recovery and this shy but playful boy is also looking for a place to call home!

When we started spaying the dogs at Jackson’s area, Jackson’s mother had already given birth. Jackson initially had four other siblings and as we are typing this now, only one remains at their original “home”. We took in some of the younger and weaker puppies around Jackson’s area (https://www.facebook.com/noahsarkcares/posts/808146619250503) but there were just not enough fosterers to take all the puppies off the streets. The other two siblings unfortunately disappeared and we found one of Jackson’s friendliest sister motionless one afternoon. Jackson’s sister passed on likely due to infection from her tail injury – but was the tail injury really caused by a dog bite as told to us by the workers or was it a case of abuse, we will never know. The truth is harsh but need to be told. As we were contemplating if to include photos of Jackson’s deceased sister, we decided to do it so that this sweetie will be remembered by.

A few weeks passed and we thought all was well until Jackson’s injury was discovered. Jackson squeezed out from a corner as we were about to leave after leaving some food for them. Initially, we only saw his right view which was fine. When he lifted his head from eating to look at us straight in the face, our jaws dropped. Jackson’s left eyeball was popping out of the socket and the front part of his eyeball was already brown from soil, mud and dirt sticking to the pus!

We looked around for the workers to ask them what happened and they said it was caused by another adult dog. Puppies often get bullied especially in their quest for food and survival – we of course do not blame the adult dog/s though this is really terrible. We grabbed Jackson without further delay and off to the vet he went. The vet advised that an enucleation has to be done as soon as possible as there was no way to save his eye. Jackson also had a tummy full of worms – a usual scenario for street dogs. He will also be neutered at the same time when undergoing the eyeball removal surgery.

With a handful of cases flowing in, we need your help. Please email noahsarkcares@gmail.com if you are able to foster or adopt or help us with the medical bills. We very much appreciate it, and will try our best to continue helping the street animals. Thank you!

Our Street Dogs and Their Harsh Times – Part 1/2

Every society has its strengths and weaknesses – that includes us too. Our top priority will no doubt be our numerous residents over at our sanctuary NANAS which we promise each of them food, shelter and care from the day they step into our sanctuary door till the day they breathe their last.

Apart from those already at our sanctuary, Noah’s Ark places a great emphasis on our street work in Singapore under PID – Project Industrial Dogs. PID seeks to curb the root of the problem – to stop the endless reproduction as well as lessen the number of strays on the streets through active sterilization. Though our PID team is small, we always press on with the firm belief that with each female street dog spayed, many lives are inadvertently saved.

We come across all sorts of cases when our volunteers roam the streets. In addition to regularly providing the street dogs with food, our priority is to sterilize the dogs and control their population. We explain what we are doing to the factories be it bosses, supervisors or workers and try our very best to convince them to work with us. Needless to say, there are all sorts of responses. On the positive side, some workers can see where we are coming from and also ask us for medical help for their factory dogs. They will even refer their friends who work in other factories to us to help their dogs. We are grateful they understand and want the best for their canine companions - though these dogs do not live in the lap of luxury but they are well-loved.

We try our best to manage each case amicably - Sintu was one lucky dog to receive help from us despite initial resistance from his workers.

Sintu

We have seen Sintu in this factory for years and at night, he is often seen chilling with the workers sitting beside the factory gate. We have even seen the workers playfully put a big hamper ribbon round his neck during Chinese New Year - he looked just like a festive mascot. :)

An elderly caregiver who also feeds Sintu regularly informed us that Sintu has taken ill. We have just seen him around a couple of days back but as it was always during our late night feedings, we did not notice anything amiss.

One afternoon, we dropped by Sintu's factory to look for him. We went round the factory but could not find him until we obtained the help of some workers to call him out. When we saw Sintu, we knew that this boy needed medical attention immediately for himself and also to avoid infecting the other dogs. Sintu had contracted TVT (canine Transmissible Venereal Tumor - http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/reproductive_system/canine_transmissible_venereal_tumor/overview_of_canine_transmissible_venereal_tumor.html) and he must have had this condition for quite some time for his genitals to show such symptoms externally.

One of the older workers initially did not allow us to take Sintu away, despite us assuring him that we will return Sintu after he is well. He kept insisting that with the application of medication, Sintu will gradually get better. While we are aware that with their traditional mindsets and perhaps due to genital injuries being a sensitive issue, he was not exactly open for discussion but we stood firm and kept persuading him to allow us to bring Sintu to the vet. After some time, he finally relented and we quickly put Sintu into the carrier without further delay (should he change his mind).

Over at the clinic, the vet confirmed the diagnosis and we have already started the weekly vincristine jabs on Sintu. If Sintu does not get better after a few jabs, a biopsy will then be required. Meanwhile, we are monitoring Sintu’s condition closely with the help of his workers.

Yogi

On one of our feeding nights, we made a turn into this particular lane when we saw a few dogs loitering around. A huge dog came running towards us when he smelt food and we found that he is affectionately called Yogi by the factory who has kept him since young. We were feeding Yogi and about to go off when we saw that he had a hole in his scrotum. We know only too well that the hole though small for now, will likely get infected and cause Yogi much pain further down the road. We spoke to the elderly security uncle and he was only too glad to have our help to treat Yogi.

As it was already late at night, we promised the security uncle we will be back during the weekend to fetch Yogi. Saturday came and a worker from Yogi’s factory helped us to put Yogi into the carrier. Though big in size, Yogi was a gentle giant whom everyone at the factory loves. We could tell they treated him and his other canine friend well and we promised them we will bring him back once he is well.

 

We sent Yogi to the vet for neutering and vaccinated him as well. He was also treated for his scrotum injury which we were glad that medical aid was rendered on time. Yogi was also given a good bath before being ferried back to his factory a week after – the workers stopped work to welcome him back while he happily greeted them too!

 

 

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Sintu and Yogi are just two of our recent cases and even though our medical bills are on the rise, we are unable to turn away the needy street animals. How do we say no when we might be their last line of help? This is the least we can do for them, to ensure they are able to lead their lives out in dignity and not slowly pass on in misery due to injury or sickness.

In Part 2 later, we will be featuring another rescue case which we genuinely need your kind support to help see us through. Any bit of contribution is appreciated, as we continue to help the street animals and their caregivers. Please email us at noahsarkcares@gmail.com if you can help in any way – be it in the form of a monetary donation or even fostering as we have a few other cases at hand seeking fosterers too. Thank you!

Our Singapore Street Dogs - FAR (Foster / Adopt / Rescue)

Dear friends and supporters,

As we celebrated our Nation's 49th birthday over the weekend, all of us in the animal welfare line only hope for one thing - the better for our street animals. We have been trying to control the population of the street dogs at a far end of Singapore and majority of the friendly ones have already been sterilized. However, a few were unfortunately caught by dog-catching contractors. These are dogs so friendly they will let you pat them even if you are meeting them for the first time. Can you imagine how much grief we felt when we were told that the dogs actually approached the contractors to greet them? Strays do not choose to be born on the streets - and being human friendly only proved fatal to them.

We need your help. We need fosterers (with private addresses for bailing the dogs out) to help us house the dogs temporarily while we seek to find them a permanent home. We are also looking for adopters if you are looking for a lifelong companion. If you can help to foster or adopt, please email us at noahsarkcares@gmail.com.

With effect from 1st July 2014, AVA has lowered the annual licensing fee of the fourth dog from S$180 to S$15 with one of the main conditions being the fourth dog must be a local mixed breed (mongrel). For more details, you can refer to http://www.ava.gov.sg/NR/rdonlyres/9253E7B2-E57D-4992-982C-1304E73748D6/28236/loweringoflicensingfeesfor4thdogfactsheet.pdf. We are hopeful that with this legislation in place, more rescued strays can thus find homes.
 

Below are individual profiles of the dogs for your kind consideration and whom are awaiting their second chance amidst many more dogs out there still struggling just for survival.

For Fostering / Adoption

(A)   Name: Sandy
Gender: Female
Breed: Mongrel
Estimated Age: 6 months old
Colour: Brown long-coated with black muzzle
Sterilized: Not yet
Background: Sandy is the bigger sibling of two girls and she is the friendlier one. Needless to say, she was first to be caught too. Her sister is still on the streets but the sister is more wary, which practically means she will be safer too (we hope). We apologize that we do not have a nicer photo of Sandy as yet but have included a picture at the top right hand corner of how she looked like when she was three months old. 

(B)   Name: Thumbie (meaning “younger brother” in Tamil)
Gender: Male
Breed: Mongrel
Estimated Age: 5 years old
Colour: White
Sterilized: Yes
Background: Thumbie was well-loved by his workers but unfortunately, they did not keep him within the factory premises and he greeted the dog-catching contractors disastrously. For a big boy his size, he has an excellent temperament and no aggression. He’s calm and good with both humans and dogs.

 

 

For Adoption

(1)    Name: Molly
Gender: Female
Breed: Mongrel
Estimated Age: 4 months old
Colour: Brown with black muzzle
Sterilized: Not yet
Background: Molly was taken in by us as she and another sibling Polly were severely undernourished with their mother not having enough food (and milk). Polly has since been rehomed but we are still looking around for a permanent home for Molly. She is active and playful, a lovely little girl who is growing up prettily and healthily. She is good with cats too!

 

 

(2)    Name: Abbie

Gender: Female
Breed: Mongrel
Estimated Age: 8 months old
Colour: White with light brown patches
Sterilized: Yes
Background: Alongside with Thumbie, she met her doom due to her trust in humans. Nonetheless, Abbie is still loving and friendly. She is gentle and good with both humans and dogs. Low maintenance for a puppy and currently being paper-trained. 

 

 

(3)    Name: Chloe

Gender: Female
Breed: Mongrel
Estimated Age: 1.5 years old
Colour: Tri-colour long-coated
Sterilized: Yes
Background: Chloe will jump on anyone to greet them – you are bound to fall in love with her when you meet her. She is a tall girl, playful and happy. The stay at the pound scared her a bit but she is back to her usual cheerful self. She is good with both humans and dogs too!

 

 

(4)    Name: Lucky Boy

Gender: Male
Breed: Rough collie (shaven down)
Estimated Age: 9 years old
Colour: Blue merle
Sterilized: Yes
Background: Lucky Boy was abandoned at a shipyard in western Singapore, and the security guard asked the fosterer to take him away as he was being bullied by other dogs. Lucky Boy has been at his fosterer's place for a while but as the other dogs are more assertive, he gets pushed around a fair bit too. We are hoping that like his name, there will be someone who can adopt him and give him a quieter home environment to spend his golden years.

We hope to be able to help these street dogs who deserve so much more, and it is only with your support that we can do this. Thank you.

A fate-changing eye injury

The weather has been scorching of late. Spend a few minutes out in the open and we will break out in sweat but we always have the choice of going into air-conditioned vehicles or buildings. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the homeless strays out there. They are definitely having a tough time during this dry spell as even finding (soiled) water on the ground to quench their thirst is getting extremely difficult.

H has been seeing this tri-coloured girl Pam around her feeding area for a couple of years. But her location was never fixed and as she usually roams in quite a large area. Just a few months back, H discovered Pam had settled into a new site nearby, and found it easier to monitor her movements. Pam just had a litter of three surviving puppies previously and with the help of some kind friends, we got hold of them and eventually, they were rehomed. Pam was left all alone at the site with another male resident dog. Even though Pam will wag her tail at H as she knows H will always come with food for them, attempts to catch her were futile as she is a wary and elusive dog.

Pam went into heat recently and had many male dogs surrounding her for a couple of weeks. H was as helpless as Pam was as H could only keep the male dogs away when she was present. Pam herself could not even have a meal in peace. The male dogs fought and ended up limping, and unfortunately, Pam herself was not spared either. Our ongoing sterilization program Project Industrial Dogs (PID) serves to help free the street dogs from the endless reproduction cycle. This in turn also prevents fights among the male dogs especially when there is a female in heat. Sterilised dogs will also have lesser health problems as they age.

One late night during H’s routine feeding, she discovered that Pam’s face did not look quite right. Under the dim lighting, she saw blood at Pam’s left eye! H was deeply saddened by it as she knew that Pam urgently needed medical treatment yet she still could not get near her.

The weekend finally came and a few of us gathered with H to help catch Pam. We waited and waited, and Lady Luck was smiling upon us as Pam got stuck in the metal fencing when trying to escape from us. We managed to grab her legs and force her into the carrier! It was worth the long wait after all, and help will finally be given to Pam. We took a good look at Pam, and discovered that her left eyeball was still intact but the left eye was really swollen. Initially when we could only see her from a distance, we thought that she had already lost her left eyeball. We tried to keep positive that her left eye can still be saved, but it was not meant to be.

 

We brought Pam in to the vet, and the vet advised that Pam has already lost sight in her left eye. Her eyeball was badly infected and there was a nasty tear at the corner of her eye, most probably caused by the male dogs. She also had some abrasions on her forehead which we initially thought were human inflicted, but the vet advised that they were actually puncture wounds which were not too deep, but probably also caused by the male dogs.

Pam’s left eyeball has to be removed and we will also sterilize her at the same time. Though saddened by this, we are at the same time thankful it is nothing more serious. The vet commented Pam is actually a lovely girl who is just fearful due to lack of human contact, and we will seek to find her a home to give her a new lease of life after she has recovered. We can only take in so many dogs given the huge population at our sanctuary NANAS, but we will definitely not leave an injured dog in the lurch.

This is definitely not one of the worst cases we have seen, but it can certainly be prevented. Street animal sterilisation is one of our main focuses and we have it happening in both Singapore and Malaysia (in Malaysia, we term it as ABC – Animal Birth Control). If you can help us in helping Pam and other vulnerable street dogs like her, be it in sponsoring the sterilization of a street dog or two or helping in Pam’s medical bills, please email us at noahsarkcares@gmail.com. 

From all of us at Noah's Ark CARES, we appreciate your kind support as always. J

Life as a Prince

This is Prince... a mature wired-hair JRT dozing off on his throne with his favourite porcupine soft toy.  He moved into his new home in June this year.  

If you had met him, you would not have known of a badly neglected life he's lived before he was rehomed to a wonderful family.

In August 2012, Prince thought a visit to the clinic was simply a check by the vet. Little did he know he was sent to be put to sleep! He's a bubbly and perhaps the sweetest JRT one has ever met.

To his ex owner, Prince was an old dog, with terribly bad skin problems and a huge lump on the outside of his right hindleg. Amazingly, despite all these, Prince did not once show any sign of aggressive behavior at the clinic.  Perhaps he knew he was going to be saved eventually?  Dr Alice Liaw, one of Noah's Ark volunteer vet contacted us to discuss a rescue plan for Prince.  The most immediate concern was to look for a fosterer/boarding place for Prince; in order for the lump on his leg to be removed; his skin condition to be treated, and to be neutered.

We later found out that Prince was always kept in the backyard of his previous home.  His condition was a clear sign of pure neglect. The most disheartening thing was that Prince was not sent to the clinic to be treated for his condition, but to end his life - human's easiest way to end a problem!  Once the decision was made to save this little life, Dr Alice worked closely with our volunteer to arrange for Prince's operation and treatment. Prince was such an active boy that the stitches on his operated wound came off twice, but that never held him back from running around and playing with his buddies at the boarding place.  Prince made many friends at the boarding place and he also attracted the attention of other human friends who would bring him treats each time they visited him.

Prince had a few potential adopters, unfortunately, he was judged by his skin condition. All were not prepared to spend the time and money to treat it, except for one wonderful couple. The couple agreed to adopt Prince after the first meeting in March this year! They saw beyond Prince's physical condition, they simply adored Prince!

  

This what Prince’s owner had to say about him "Prince came home with us just yesterday and he seems to be adjusting pretty good. He's walking by us and responding well to verbal consequences.  A little tap on the nose is necessary sometimes but rare. He's wonderful!" 

Since he has gone to his new home, his adopter has sent him for his dental scaling and treatment for his ear.

*The name "Prince" was given by Dr Alice and her team.  He did not have a name when he was brought to the vet by his ex-owner. 

"A stitch in time saves nine." - if your pet has a health issue, bring him/her to the vet quickly.  An early visit can save a lot of agony for both the pet and the owner, not to mention the vet fees.

Abandoning your pet when problems shows up is a very irresponsible and coward behavior.  Give it a little thought - when you treat your pet as your child, would you ever abandon him/her when he/she needs you most?

Pets abandonment will continue as long as humans bear the wrong attitude.  

We are the ones who can STOP animal abuse and abandonment.  Do your part to share.

Article contributed by Sharon Tang