Happy, healthy, home-ready: Sanctuary prepares rescued kitties for adoption
The cat sanctuary, about 2,000 sq ft, is designed like a home for felines to roam freely.
This is to help the rescued cats 'acclimate to human homes should they get adopted', said Ms Eva, 28, who is the operations manager.
Little Katpaws was started by her 48-year-old mother Katrina Shamsudin in 2016.
'It was a small place located at Ming Arcade in Cuscaden Road. We had only 10 cats then,' Ms Eva told The Straits Times.
'I was 13 when I pestered her into fostering some cats. Eventually, it became her pet project,' Ms Eva said of her mother.
'We moved to a much bigger place in North Bridge Road in 2020 and at one point, we even helped rescue 40 cats from a hoarder. We managed to find homes for 25 of them. A few of those cats are still with us,' she added.
Her mother used to run a boarding place for cats but called it quits after 'some owners stopped paying for the food and board, or simply became uncontactable when it was time for the cats to go home', according to Ms Eva, who previously worked for charities.
'The boarding provided income for the sanctuary. With that gone, we depend on donations from kind people and that makes up 30 per cent of our expenditure. The rest comes from our own pockets,' she said.
The largest portion of the expenses goes to veterinary care and food. On some months, the donations dipped so low that almost 90 per cent of the costs came out of their own pockets.
Today, Little Katpaws houses a total of 30 cats. Ms Eva has capped the number at 40 to prevent overcrowding.
She has also installed created rooms with glass doors to separate cats infected with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) or feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) so that the healthy ones are protected.
FIV attacks a cat's immune system, leaving it vulnerable to infections. FeLV is a form of leukaemia that causes a variety of diseases as it invades cells in the immune system and blood-forming tissues.
Segregating the sick kitties 'does not mean these cats do not get sun and exercise', Ms Eva said.
They are let out at different times of the day to roam some of the other rooms, which would be thoroughly cleaned after use.
'Cat shelters need to prioritise the well-being of their feline residents. Therefore, they need to provide adequate space, safe and clean environments, and proper healthcare,' she added.
Currently, there are no common set of national guidelines to help shelters adopt best practices across the board.
Ms Eva relies on what she has learnt online and through experiences to ensure her feline residents are 'happy, healthy and ready to be adopted'.
'Only when the new regulations come out will we see how we can tweak our current practices to ensure we toe the line,' she said.
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction
Discover how to enjoy other premium articles here
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Tradie's thoughtless act leads to painful incident near building site
WARNING - DISTRESSING IMAGES: A thoughtless act by tradies has led to an iconic Australian animal being impaled on a steel spike. Disturbing photos taken next to a building site in Melbourne's southeast show a thick, rusted rebar sticking through the body of a young kangaroo. The tiny wild animal was unusually calm when she was discovered by a passerby on the weekend in the outer suburb of Officer. When wildlife rescuer Sarah Cooke got the call, she had hoped the roo was simply caught in a string of abandoned wire, so she brought along a pair of bolt cutters. 'Where those rebars are, there's runoff, like a drain. And builders in the area look to have just dumped crap there,' she told Yahoo News. Related: Anger in Aussie tourist region after council kangaroo ban rejected Cooke volunteers at Wildlife Incident Safe Haven (WISH) where she rescues and cares for native animals. As you would expect, she regularly sees terrible situations, but the little kangaroo's predicament was one of the worst. 'I went straight over and stabilised her, so she couldn't move much. I sedated her so I could safely get her off. Ideally, I would have cut the rebar, but it was too thick, and an angle grinder would have caused too many sparks,' Cooke said. 'Glimmer of hope' as kangaroo removed from bar There was little blood or smell, leading her to suspect the rebar had missed the kangaroo's vital organs. As Cooke removed her from the rebar, it became clear how the unfortunate incident had occurred. 'I realised she must have somehow gone to jump the rebar, and her pouch has gotten caught. So she's just dropped straight on it, and it's gone through her pouch and then come up next to her leg, beside her hip bone,' Cooke said. 'I was holding out a glimmer of hope that if there was just muscle damage, she might pull through.' After the kangaroo was taken to specialist medical staff an hour away at Healesville Sanctuary, hope began to fade. The rust and dirt on the bar had contaminated the youngster's body, creating a risk of infection, and the muscle on her hip had been damaged. 'Even if she had survived and healed, she wouldn't have been able to keep up with the mob. She would have been able to hop for 20 or 30 minutes and then need to rest for days,' Cooke said. 'It would be different if we could pop her into care for the rest of their life, we could manage that pain if we could have her as a pet. But we can't legally do that.' After she was euthanised, a necropsy of her body revealed there was more damage than originally thought. Not only were multiple muscle bundles severed, there was a slight tear in her abdominal cavity. Dumped rubbish also posed danger to nearby families Dumping of rubbish is becoming a major issue in Australia, with Yahoo publishing multiple reports of building waste abandoned on public land around the country. Cooke has a simple message to anyone looking to cut corners and leave their waste behind for someone else to clean up. 'That could have been a kid, someone's pet. Right behind where the kangaroo was found is an empty paddock next to a housing estate with families,' she said. 'It's not fair. It's not hard to clean up. At least if you're going to leave crap lying around, make it so no one is going to get caught.' Photos show huge problem facing Australia's fastest growing city Calls for action as road safety project remains incomplete after five years Confronting photos expose $2.3 million hidden reality in affordable housing race Cooke plans to report the dumping site to local authorities. In an impassioned post to social media, she shared details of the incident, not to make the general public sad, but to highlight the trauma rescuers experience every day. "The things we see [are] absolutely so traumatic, and it can take a big toll. I have become very stoic over the years... But it still hits us, it still hurts, it still keeps us up at night, it still runs through our head on a daily basis on [whether] we made the right decision," she wrote. "And it still god damn hurts like hell." Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
3 taken to hospital after fire breaks out in Toa Payoh HDB flat
SINGAPORE - Three people were taken to hospital after a fire broke out in an HDB at Block 229 Lorong 8 Toa Payoh on July 29. In a Facebook post, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the fire in the 10th-floor unit at about 1pm. The fire was raging inside a unit on the 10th floor when firefighters arrived. Three people were assessed for smoke inhalation and burn injuries, and taken to Singapore General Hospital. Efforts to put out the fire are ongoing, SCDF added. When The Straits Times arrived at the scene at about 2.20pm, at least 11 firefighters could be seen running in a cordoned-off area where the police were also present, to gather equipment, while crowds had gathered. Thick, black smoke could also be seen from three of the affected unit's windows. The damage and smoke had also transferred to the surrounding units, leaving a thick, black cast. An older woman could be seen being ferried out in a wheelchair and being attended to by SCDF paramedics. A resident who wanted to be known only as Madam Rebecca, 83, said she smelt smoke at around 1.30pm when she was about to take a nap. Madam Rebecca, who lives on the second storey of the block with her domestic helper, said: 'I evacuated immediately using the stairs. When I got to the void deck, there was an old woman who was with her daughter. The older woman was holding a dog and crying.' The crying woman told firefighters who arrived at the scene that she was struggling to breathe and she was later attended to by paramedics, added Madam Rebecca, who has lived in the block for 30 years. Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction Discover how to enjoy other premium articles here
CBS News
a day ago
- CBS News
Emergency responders honored for their efforts after Detroit apartment explosion
Firefighters and paramedics who responded in the early morning hours of an apartment explosion in Detroit earlier this year were honored on Monday. "The apartment just went boom," said Dymond Washington, who survived the March 31 explosion with her two sons and boyfriend. Washington said she and her two boys were asleep when the gas explosion rattled them awake. She said her only focus was getting her two boys out to safety. "All I know is that we were in the air one minute," she said. "We were really trapped, we were trapped for like exactly six minutes before EMS came, and we had to find a way to them, and then that's when they realized we could all leave out the window of my neighbor's home." Emergency responders rescued and transported 13 people that early morning. One man passed away as a result of his injuries from the explosion. Battalion Chief Percy Warmack said it was a buildup of gas that caused the 12-unit apartment building to go up in flames. "We go out, and when people are screaming and they need help, we are there to help all the time," said Warmack. He said he is incredibly proud of the work first responders did that day. Dalana Gumina, one of the paramedics who treated survivors, received a hug and a citation for her work-- but she said the hug means more. "We don't do it for this, we're doing it for the mom and the babies that get to live another day, that's what makes this job great. Knowing that's what happened in this case that is the reward," she said.
