Kits, Cats, Sacks and Wives

I've just started taking my mother for walks down the East Coast Park. We will go for a short walk of about half an hour (vigorous for me, less so for her). On one of these outings, we found a whole colony of cats residing in the area. There must have been something like 8 cats, excluding the 6 little kittens which we saw together with their mother. However, there was one little kitten who appears to be less able to fight with her more robust brethen for access to food. That's why the photo shows only 5 kits. More pics of the cats on my flickr page.



There is a community of cat lovers/feeders across Singapore. One couple comes from Siglap to a road near my place to feed a group of cats. There is also a gentleman who cycles around the Marine Parade area to feed cats. My father has met him before; I think it was he whom I saw at the park feeding the cats. So the cats have food, and shelter. Poor kitten No.6 eats the food he brings, but it is adult cat food - no substitute for mother's milk.

But the large number of cats is a little worrying. Many people don't really like stray cats. The group of cats near my place got thinned out recently after a complaint from a resident led to a culling of the animals. The Cat Welfare Society recommends sterilisation but it is up to individual members to bring the cats for sterilisation and thereafter look after them whilst they recover. It is not an easy task to capture these strays. Many are suspicious of humans and of course bringing them to a cold white place where they get needles stuck into them will only reinforce their mistrust.