TNRM workshop and Farewell

Last Sat afternoon, Dawn conducted a Trap-Neuter-Return-Management (TNRM) workshop at the National Library. There were similar ones conducted a number of times this year but this last one was quite different as most of the caregivers knew about Dawn leaving Cat Welfare Society and wanted to say goodbye and thank her in person.

Some of them catered and bought food for all to enjoy. Dawn also made some yummy brownies.


Dell the adoption volunteer gave some tips on finding adopters for community cats. Dawn gave a good presentation about the importance of the Management element in the TNRM concept while Rebecca did a demonstration on the use of the cat trap.

Even though this is not my first time attending the TNRM workshop, I still did take away some good tips and important messages. I also did some catching up with some caregivers in my area and friends. Such interactions do give caregivers like me the inspiration and encouragement to continue to be the voice for the community cats despite the problems we face.

Thank you Tea for CWS' Spay Volunteers

We had a lovely tea session to thank our Spay Day volunteers last Sun afternoon @ Food for Thought. One of the staff, David was very nice to come back on his day of rest to open up the cafe and prepare nice finger food and drinks for us.

Dawn was helping David behind the counter at times.

We had yummy cinnamon raisin loaf, pandan cake and chocolate cupcake


I had a nice cup of soothing Chinese herbal tea.


I think the caregivers enjoyed themselves in sharing their experiences with one another in such a cosy environment.

Volunteers at the AVA roadshow

These were some of the volunteers who helped me to man the booth for Cat Welfare Society the the roadshow last weekend.

Michelle came on Sat morning to receive the token of appreciation from the GOH, Dr Maliki, Parliamentary Secretary (National Development). Dawn also came down to relieve me while my friend, Lorraine and I had lunch. Lorraine volunteered and also bought a few stuff from CWS.

Our friend, Fion also came down to support us and the animal welfare groups. The volunteer for the afternoon, Praveena accompanied me in the afternoon until a regular volunteer, Colin helped till we packed up at 9pm.

On Sun morning, a new volunteer Maggie came to help and the poor girl is allergic to cat fur and had hives on her face but she loves cats. Another regular Zhenyuan and a new volunteer, Wei Ling also joined us. Wei Ling was actually helping House Rabbit Society of Singapore the day before.

For the afternoon, another new volunteer, Danny came and followed by 2 regular volunteers, Caron and Nurul. As it was quiet at CWS booth at times, we shared our experiences with our community cats and pet cats. It was very different from the usual conversation with my colleagues and friends who are not caregivers. The volunteers and I are talking about our cats like how some people talk about their children :)

Thanks to the volunteers/friends who helped and friends who visited and supporters of CWS, we have raised some funds for CWS.

AVA Roadshow this weekend

If you will be hanging around Ngee Ann City Civics Plaza this weekend, do visit the AVA roadshow, learn more about responsible pet ownership and support the participating animal welfare groups like Cat Welfare Society, Action for Singapore Dogs and SPCA. See you!

Charcoal Monkee on CWS' adoption board

Charcoal Monkee has been posted on CWS' online adoption board yesterday.

I hope to receive enquiries from potential adopters who are responsible pet owners.

AVA Responsible Pet Ownership Roadshow this weekend

AVA will be organising their annual Responsible Pet Ownership Roadshow at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza next weekend, 17-18 Nov 2007. Animal welfare groups such as ACRES, SPCA, Action for Singapore Dogs, House Rabbit Society of Singapore, etc will have their individual booths to sell their merchandise and promote their cause. The theme of the roadshow is "Don't abandon your pets".

Some good reasons for you to visit the Roadshow:

• get to know about the animal welfare groups in Singapore and see how you can help
  
• get nice merchandise (calendars, Tees, notepads, umbrellas, car decal, etc) for yourself, family and friends
  
• bring your friends/family there to be educated or do their shopping
  
• I'll be helping Cat Welfare Society to man their booth, so you can visit to say hi :)

You can also check out AVA's e-flyer at the bottom of this AVA webpage for more details: http://www.ava.gov.sg/AnimalsPetSector/ResponsiblePetOwnership/index.htm

Spay Day 2007

I reached the Bedok pick-up point slightly before 7.30am yesterday and this friendly community cat was sitting near the chair of the porch. When I sat down, it came rubbing my legs and shoes.



When the caregivers arrived with their cats, the 3 volunteers and I tagged the carriers of cats with caregivers' names and brief description of the cats and later we and the driver loaded the van with 24 cats around 10am.

We and the caregivers gathered at the same point around 8pm to wait for the arrival of their cats. However, as we sent in the cats later than 9/9.30am, the cats could only be released around 7/7.30pm and arrived an hour later. All were happy to see the 24 sterilised cats.

It was nice to meet the caregivers who care for the cats. The community cats in the area are friendly and mingled with us when we were at the porch area.

Angel and Spay Day kit

Angel is quite curious about plastic bags, so it was no surprise when she checked out my plastic bag of stuff for the Spay Day kit. Busybody! :)

Spay Day tomorrow

Cat Welfare Society is organising Spay Day 2007 tomorrow. The event is to promote the awareness about sterilisation as an important step in the Trap-Neuter-Return-Management programme in caring for the community cats in an area.

I will be at the Bedok point with a few other volunteers from 7.30am onwards where about 11 people/caregivers have registered to send in about 23 cats to be sterilised at 2 vet clinics. In the evening, the caregivers will return to collect their sterilised cats.

The other volunteers will be stationed at Tampines, Boon Lay and Ang Mo Kio and more than 100 cats will be ear-tipped/sterilised tomorrow!

World Animal Day @ Marina Square

I spent the weekend with the volunteers to help Cat Welfare Society to raise funds and awareness about community cats.


Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD) organised this World Animal Day Exhibition at Marina Square and invited CWS and Noah's Ark CARES (NANAS) to participate too. Our booths were located at the foot of the escalators leading to the food court so there was good human traffic. A wedding show was also going on at the same time.

Although I had a bit of sore throat and cough which affected my energy level, I enjoyed the company of the volunteers and those from ASD and NANAS. I'm also touched that 3 CWS committee members, my sis and dad came down to help too :)

2 of my volunteers got 2 free cupcakes from the wedding show for me and sis after they ended their shift. So sweet of them.

It's nice to see 3 different animal welfare groups coming together and I hope the presence of us at the malls help to remind the shopping crowd at Marina Square that animals need our love and help too.

Cats and Volunteers

I spent last Sun volunteering for Cat Welfare Society at a cat show at the Singapore Expo. The booth next to ours was raising funds for some cause through the sale of these cute dog balloons. Quite a strange and funny sight at a cat show. I was quite tickled to see a few people holding on to the balloons and they looked like they were walking a dog :) I wonder why there were no cat balloons.

I was happy to see some familar faces and friends visiting CWS' booth and also have new and regular volunteers helping me.

We managed to raise some funds that will help CWS to continue our work in helping the community cats :)

Nee Soon East Pet Carnival 2007

I was at Nee Soon East Community Centre to man the booth for Cat Welfare Society at a pet carnival yesterday afternoon. Other animal welfare groups such as SPCA, Action for Singapore Dogs and House Rabbit Society. There was a good crowd - dog owners and their dogs, families, children, etc. There was an adoption drive by SPCA for their toy breed dogs, kittens, rabbits and hamsters. An animal welfare interest group was also launched. It is good to hold such an animal event in the heartlands as it helps to increase the awareness of the residents there.

This is one of my regular volunteers who has helped me at such events. I really appreciate the help and the time contributed by him and the other volunteers and I'm really happy to also get to know a few of them better and become friends :)

Last night, while I was almost done with counting the amount received from merchandise sales, Angel was very curious and came to check out the coins and my pencil, pen and papers.

Another eventful week

Life can go as planned and can also be unpredictable.

As planned, I met with 2 friends whom I haven't seen for quite some time. We went to one of the girls' new place to feast on Botak Jones food. For those who are not familar with Botak Jones, it's big portion of western food sold at a coffeeshop. We got ours from Clementi. We had hot dogs, fish and chips, salad and plenty of chilli fries. We talked, laughed and also admired our friend's kitchen, raindrop shower, bedroom "wardrobe" and lighting. At the moment, there is only a sofa in the living room. As she shared with us what she will be getting and doing, I can imagine how cosy and lovely her new home will be.

I was away from office this morning on an assignment with a colleague. As we were finishing, I was walking down the steps from a flat unit, missed a step and landed my left ankle and my bum. I was a bit stunned and my colleague quickly came over to help me up. When I told my friends later, they asked if anyone else. I said the aunties at the void deck of the next block may have seen. Haha. They probably think I'm a clumsy girl :) Luckily my left ankle is only slightly swollen and I can still walk quite normally.

I'll be on leave tomorrow with a plan to sterilise a cat but with my ankle like that and realising that she has a young baby, I have to postpone her sterilisation to a later date. So I shall rest at home and perhaps iron my mountain of clothes or catch up with my reading and play with my hamsters and the cats :)

This Sun I will be helping Cat Welfare Society to man their booth at this event. Do drop by if you are in the area. (click on the picture below to see an enlarged version)

Squirt of inspiration

When Dawn asked me if I could draw something for CWS' harmony pillar, I decided to draw about the places where my parents and I feed our community cats - the park, car park and void deck.

I only got to drawing it on Sun night using drawing block paper, scraps of paper that I have kept for uses like this, black marker and double sided tape (because there is no glue at home). I am quite happy with my creation :)

And now it's together with the other contributions on CWS' harmony pillar.

CWS @ Cat Show on 1 Apr 07

On Sun, I helped Cat Welfare Society to man the booth at the Cat Show at Singapore. We managed to raise some funds through the sales of merchandise and donations. Thanks to the student volunteers, regular volunteers/friends and supportive visitors at the cat show :)


One of the quiet moments


When we were busy

Cat Welfare Society's AGM

I attended the Cat Welfare Society (CWS)'s AGM last evening.
You can read about it on Dawn's blog.

Like the other events, it was a good opportunity to meet and talk to people who care for the community cats. It is always encouraging and inspiring to hear people sharing their experiences or showing their support.

TNRM workshop

This afternoon I went down to National Library @ Victoria Street to give Dawn support for the TNRM workshop that she was conducting.

I like the sound of Imagination Room and the short corridors leading to the room have these colourful words on the walls.

That was Dawn explaining to the apt audience about how to use the cat trap and what materials were in the envelope given out to the participants of the workshop. We watched 2 short videos and some of the participants asked Dawn some questions.

At the end of the workshop, the participants tried the cat trap or talked the CWS committee members. It was good to see people take the time out to find out how to care and manage the community cats in their areas.

Cat Show @ Malay Village tomorrow (7 Jan 2007)

Some volunteers and I will be @ Singgahsana Hall @ Malay Village (next to open-air car park beside Tanjong Katong Complex, near Paya Lebar MRT station) tomorrow from 10am to 5pm as Cat Welfare Society has been given a booth by Singapore Cat Club at a cat show.

Beside T-shirts, The Real Singapore Cat Book, car decals, posters and mugs, we will be selling postcards that were launched at last year's AVA roadshow. A set of 4 postcards is priced at $4 and there are 2 different sets you can choose from.


Some of the volunteers in earlier events have suggested that we should have a donation box so that visitors to our booth can choose to donate if they do not wish to buy the merchandise. I recycle an old ice cream container (got Dad to help cut a slit on the cover and he gave me a big one :) ), drew a cat on a cardboard box paper and created this donation container. Hopefully, this could help Cat Welfare Society to raise a little bit of funds tomorrow :)

I volunteered to man the CWS booth @ the AVA roadshow over the weekend. It was interesting to meet different kinds of people, get to know the other volunteers better, see how happy the dogs at Action for Singapore Dogs booth were interacting with fellow dogs and humans. I hope more people are more aware of CWS and the work we do.

Frisky and Ebon

For the past few weeks, we have noticed a stray cat balding with tufts of fur. I then emailed Dawn of Cat Welfare Society and she suggested some vets nearby for me to bring the cat for checkup. Yesterday, I went down to Pet Lovers @ Shaw Centre to buy a cat carrier and some cat food, so that I could bring the cat to the vet today.

Last night I had tennis lessons with 2 other friends. I have quite bad ball sense, so most of the time I would miss the ball but at least I am getting familarised with forehand and the basic techniques. I managed to spot the cat outside the shop at the void deck of my block cleaning herself when the shop uncle was closing his shop. I asked him about the cat and he said he has brought her to the vet in Sembawang and the medicine is finishing soon. She still sheds fur but eats well. Uncle doesn't know what the problem is. Apparently this cat used to be quite pretty. I suspect she is the cat that my sis and I called Frisky and we have wondered why she has disappeared.

I got a shock when I carried Ebon, my old syrian hamster and saw that he has some kind of cataract in both eyes. I have not noticed that when I carried her a few days ago but may have mistake that for glint in eyes. This morning when I looked again, the cataract is not there anymore. Then I have a theory that the cataracts can only be seen at night and in the dark. And true enough when I brought Ebon to the dark storeroomwith Mum shining a torchlight, I could see the cataracts. But long-sighted Mum said I am seeing things and want me to monitor and ask Dad and sis to see tonight. Anyway, I shall bring Frisky to Namly Clinic in the afternoon, so that I could ask Dr Ling about Ebon too. Dr Ling has successfully operated on my late syrian hamster to remove a tumour. I hope I can find Frisky at the void deck later.