Monthly Archives: September 2009

This is not an invitation to abandon kittens outside our store!

innocent

However, about a week ago, a box was found outside out store with a terrified mother cat with four newborn, and i mean NEW born kittens.  The wee things still had thier umbilical cords on and their eyes were and are still sealed shut.  Naturally, we took them in.

I suspect she was someone’s pet because she is in good health, clean and arrived in carboard box with kittens.  However, I’ll withold assumptions and we’ll say someone found her with her kittens and didn’t want her to suffer.  That’s really noble.  But it would’ve been better if they had taken it upon themselves to help her.  I’ve named her Erela which means Angel, Messenger in Hebrew.

Erela

Let me explain.

In Malaysia, people love to moan and complain about what is wrong with…everything.  The government, work, traffic.  While we have many strengths, getting on with things and DOING something about what upsets us is not our forte.

So when it comes to animal welfare, we curse SPCA for putting animals to sleep.  The next day, we go and buy a purebred shih tzu from the pet shop or a domestic longhair aka doll face persian.  This type of hypocrisy really does no one any good!

Here’s a little action plan that can and will change animal welfare.

1. Neuter your own pets.
2. Promise to neuter four random cats or dogs a year.
3. IF you come across and mother cat/dog with kittens/puppies, help them by feeding mum (and later the youngones) until they are over 1.5kg, then neuter them all at KLINIK KEMBIRI! After that you can continue to feed them if you want but at least they won’t mulitply.
4. Don’t buy from petshops.  So many  people tell me they rescued their pet from a pet shop.  This is ultimately a lie because if you think your pet had a shitty life in the petshop, spare a thought for your pet’s mum and dad in the ‘mill’.
5. Don’t expect SPCA, PAWS, FFF or other organisations to do it all.
6. If you really cannot care for mum and young and you need to pass them on to a shelter, don’t just dump them there.  Ask if it’s OK. (In our case, we would’ve taken mum and kittens in because we sadly lost four young cats to various illnessess).
7. ADOPT your next pet from a rescuer or shelter.

My Daughters

This photo was taken by JC Lim of my two daughters.  One of my heart and the other of my body.

It’s truly wonderful and I thank him for it.  If you would like photography or your pets or children, please sms 0123266456 for more info.

Over the years, I’ve become a little jaded with the whole pet welfare issue and sometimes, I wish I could walk away and leave it to someone else.  Imagine my shock when asked to foster a 13 year old spaniel cross.  To be frank and risk much disapproval, I uncharitably worried this dog would end up with me for the rest of it’s life.  While I fought the husband tooth and nail to foster her, I also worried if anyone else would be guillible enough to take her on.

When I meet her, my fears were further confirmed.  She smelled and her eyes were what I always imagined rheumy would be like.  When she got home, she promptly started harrassing TiaraBella, one of our cats.  While Tiara was deeply offended (and this is a very strong understatement), she suffered no permanent harm.

However, as the weeks have passed, I have developed a certain fondness for this fiesty octogenarian (I surmise this from her potential human ago of approx. 89).  She eats anything and adores the kids.  She will play with the other dogs as if her joints do not hurt.  She is itchy and her skin must have been very sore when she first came to us for when I bathed her, she shuddered- yes, she truly did, in pleasure and made these little happy grunts.  If I didn’t worry about drying out her skin further, I’d bathe her more often

As she is even more intent on assasinating Tiara than ever, Abby sadly has to sleep outside.  However, when I open the gate, she only wanders as quickly as her stiff joints will allow for a sniff around the cul-de-sac before heading straight back into the porch where her bed and bowl are.  My other obliviously pampered pooches would’ve put me through a cardiac workout before I’d be able to shoo them back into the compound.  And let’s not forget the  Making-an-Idiot-of-Oneself-on-the -Street routine I’d have to perform as I run about wildly, trying to decide whether it is more important to rescue Chloe from being pecked to death by chickens or reaching Tristan before he jumps into some random punters car.

Chan KahYein

Anyway, Kahyein of MyAnimalCare.org (who asked me to foster Abby) kept her word!  She has found someone to take Abby on and she performed some other more subtle miracle.  Somehow, she has reinstilled in me, faith-  in other people.  This is the first time in along time where I have been asked to help out and have not ended up having to do it all myself.

This is a woman who works tirelessly to find homes for unwanted animals, purebred or not.  She encourages others who care, raises fund for CNRM (not sure what the entire acronym stands for, but it is along the lines of TNR) is unfailingly polite.  And she keeps her word.

These few years have taught me much.  I have learned to let go.  I don’t make assumptions about people who abandon/surrender their pets.  I try not to freak out when one of the kittens die on us (even after we spent RM700 on the vet bills!) but it seems I still have much to learn.  From people like Kahyein.

PS/- I have thought many times in the last few weeks that I would keep Abby.  But recently she has also decided she cannot abide the rabbits.  I attribute this sudden abhorrence to the fact that her eyes have cleared up enoug for her to see that her bed is, heaven forbid, very close to ther rabbits penthouse.  I think she feels obliged to make her disgust known lest she fails to honour her spaniel ancestors So, on the 10th of Oct, Abby will go to her new home.

photos courtesy of JC Lim