Cat Traps

To:
"David Sing (E-mail)"
Looks like the government organisations are not so keen to loaning out cat traps to members of the public due to protests from cat lovers.

The Please Stop the Free Loan of Cat Traps for the Purpose of Killing Cats Petition to Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien (Minister of State, Ministry of National Development) was created by and written by Chen Zhewei (vegancatsg@yahoo.com.sg). This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.
http://www.petitiononline.com/catraps/petition.html

See this page for cat traps available from Australia
http://www.traps.com.au/cat_traps.htm

Scroll down the page to see comments by person called "Chinky" advocating use of Cat Stop and Scarecrow rather than the conventional cat traps.
http://catwelfaresg.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/the-new-paper-report-about-cat-town-in-jln-pemimpin-near-bishan/




Cat Welfare Society
http://catwelfaresg.wordpress.com/traps/

CWS loans out traps to the public (see below), but is also appealing for donations as they say they need to buy these traps from the US
Traps For Loan

Need to borrow a trap? We can help you out there.

Charges:

We require a $75 deposit. It's fully refundable. We accept cheques made out to Cat Welfare Society, or cash.

What to do

Write into info @ catwelfare.org . Let us have the following information:

1) Why you need the trap

2) Your area.

3) A contact number.

We will get back to you and arrange for you to get a trap from one of us


Seems the cat-trap you mentioned used some years ago, belonged to AVA.
I hope AVA had discontinued using those inhumane cat-traps with hooks, as proposed by Animal Lovers League few years ago.

Here is an article pertaining the cat-traps with hooks, from Animal Lovers League newsletter - Bulletin dated June to December 2002 :

http://groups.msn.com/singaporecats/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=8482

Cat traps

A case was reported to us about a stray cat caught in a cat-trap from the AVA.
While the cat was reaching out for a piece of meat (used as bait) attached on the cat trap by a hook, it got its cheek caught in the hook instead. None of the diners at the coffee shop called the AVA or SPCA.
As it struggled to free itself, the tear on the cheek worsens. It was nearly 12 hours later that the case was reported and AVA collected it and put it to sleep still hooked by the cheek, bleeding and screaming. Thank God for that, as it would have caused more pain to the struggling cat if they tried to unhook it first. We received the call after AVA had collected it.

On this note, we therefore advise that for those who need to use cat-traps, please refrain from using the old traps with the hook. We are now proposing to AVA to discontinue the use of such traps.

The above article is taken from Animal Lovers League newsletter - Bulletin dated June to December 2002.

Hi Blue Mistz,

AVA had modified the sharp hooks in their old cat traps.
Instead of sharp, pointed hooks, the hooks are now blunt, and would not injured trapped cats.

AVA also having new type of no hook cat traps similar to Cat Welfare Society cat traps. I understand people wanting to loan cat traps from AVA, are given a choice of what type of cat traps they prefer - subject to availability.

http://groups.msn.com/SingaporeCats/appealsforhelp.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=15155&LastModified=4675665177960415905

From: MSN NicknameMiow-miow3 (Original Message) Sent: 3/19/2008 7:40 AM
A friend who was at AVA recently to renew a dog's licence, saw a couple putting a cat trap into the boot of their BMW. Presumably it was another intolerance of the presence of cats into their "precious property".

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These traps are loan FREE, courtesy of taxpayers. The cats then are killed FREE, courtesy of taxpayers. So you as taxpayers and even if not, as citizens and residents, have the RIGHT to PROTEST!

Resources to base your letters on
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
AVA replies

We got a reply from AVA about a few things we enquired about.

First of all, they DID send out letters to the town councils to express MND and AVA's support for sterilisation. They felt that sterilisation and killing the cats were both necessary components of a community cat programme.

The AVA also encouraged the town councils to work with caregivers and mentioned that the AVA was prepared to give a sterilisation subsidy and whom to call for more information. This letter was apparently sent out to all the town councils in April!

I'm certainly delighted to hear that the AVA is willing to sponsor sterilisations, and perhaps even more importantly, to support sterilisation AND working with caregivers. They've asked the town council to approach them for more information on the programme and for further information on the subsidies. Now the ball is really in the town council's court. Caregivers can (and should) speak with their TCs about getting this programme on the road!

Secondly, the AVA felt that it would be a breach of confidentiality to give out the details of complainants in private estates whom borrow cat traps. What we asked was that if someone borrows a cat trap, that they sign a form saying that they are willing to speak with caregivers if there is anyone there so I'll write to clarify this.

Thirdly, they mentioned that they would be willing to consider handing out the brochure on alternatives to killing cats for people who borrow cat traps. However, they wanted CWS to have a brochure that mentions alternatives to trapping AND killing.

We're clearly not going to do that because we're trying to provide alternatives to having the cats killed. Clearly also if someone borrows a cat trap, they KNOW about the killing - plus it's not a solution to solving the nuisances, so we're going to write about that too.
More at http://catwelfare.blogspot.com/search?q=ava+cat+traps

Cat welfare society
http://catwelfare.blogspot.com/search?q=ava+cat+traps

4. My cat can appreciate my wife's cooking aromas

Sep 23, 2008

"Doctor, my cat can now twitch his nose, life his head and appreciate the smells of my wife's curry in the kitchen," the owner suddenly remarked at the review of his cat's urinary problem after 2 weeks of treatment. I was surprised to hear him saying that his cat had lost his sense of smell for some weeks.

2 weeks ago, his cat had a strong urine smell in his belly. A white hairless skin patch full of urine stains in this belly area. What was the cause? The male cat pees away from his backside and not towards his belly. Even if he was incontinent or had a urinary tract infection (UTI), his urine would dribble onto his backside and anal area. But only his belly which was far away was affected.

This cat had given the owner some headaches. One day, he jumped at a bird near the window sill and fell four storeys down. Fortunately he did not suffer any internal injuries and was alive.

"As a prevention, I close all the windows nowadays when my family is not supervising this cat," the owner said.

"Will it not be stuffy when you don't let air into the apartment?" I asked.

"Yes. But this cat may leap at another bird at the window and crash," the owner said.

"The cat has 9 lives," I said. "He has used up one. But seriously, why don't you buy wire-mesh to cover the window opening?"

The owner was not so keen at this idea, but some cat owners do that, to prevent the cat running out of the main grille door and jumping off the windows.

Now, back to his cat's urinary problems. On instant diagnosis, the vet will assume that this cat has a urinary tract infection. No urethral obstruction as the cat could squat down and pee normally. Normal coloured urine and no urination problems and other signs indicating kidney failure.

Such a strong odour of urine in the belly. The cat licked off the urine but in the process, his rough tongue licked off all hairs in this belly area. This happened for some weeks. Therefore a prescription of antibiotics will resolve this cat's problems.

Yet the anatomy of the cat's male reproductive system would indicate that the urine stains on the belly could not be from the cat's male organ as it is located nearer to the anal area and points downwards and away from the belly normally. This was a normal cat.

"Something is wrong with your litter box," I said to the owner. Of course, it would be best to visit the apartment. The next best thing would be to listen to what the owner had to say. The owner had never mentioned about the litter habits of this cat as it did not occur to him that the litter box was the cause of the problem.

I mean, the cat goes to the litter box, squats and pees and get out. All normal cats do and this cat has had been using the litter box for so many years. He was around 5 years old now.

Well, the problem was really his litter box. The maid had covered the box well with overhanging newspapers. The cat stepped into the litter box. He squatted and peed onto the newspapers. As he stepped out of the box, his belly was splashed with his pool of urine. This happened frequently such that he could not clean himself but he tried to and continuous licking stopped all hair growth. So he had a patch of hairless belly.

Finally the cat gave up, I presumed. Therefore, his belly had urine stains. He lost his sense of smell.

I anaesthesized the cat. Cleaned him up thoroughly and asked the owner to get the newspapers just fitting inside the litter box. Put some sand below the newspapers. He was to continue washing the belly and giving the antibiotics. He was to come back for a review in two weeks.



I did not expect him to come back as most owners would not do when the cat's problems were resolved. However, he did turn up and that is how I am able to write this report.

"I told my maid not to spread the Straits Times over the edges of the litter box. I also punched holes in the newspapers inside the litter box. In this way, the cat's urine can flow downwards to the lower layers," he said.

The cat's belly was no long bald. The cat smelled good. He was a happy man. His wife must be happier too as the cat now stood by the kitchen door while she cooked curry, wrinkled his nose to tell her that her curry was first class and up to his feline standard.