Woman with more than 40 cats in her house gets help from rescue groups

Singapore — A woman whose house has been overrun by more than 40 cats, both dead and alive, has sought help and been put in touch with cat rescue groups.

One group, known as @callmebymewmew on Instagram, shared a post last week about how the cat owner it refers to as Tldr approached a community feeder for help on her cat issue. She sought guidance on how to both sterilise and rehome the cats due to her lack of knowledge and lack of resources.

The owner was seemingly overwhelmed by her current situation as her house was being taken over by cats in different states of health — some alive, some starving and some, unfortunately, already dead.

Upon finding out what the situation was in the house, the community feeder then reached out to cat rescue group @callmebymewmew.

The IG post mentions that the owner apparently lost her job due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has a family to support. Her husband is visually impaired and she has a primary school daughter, both of whom need care and support. The post goes on to share that “it is difficult for them to make ends meet, not to mention providing for their cats”.

When some members of @callmebymewmew went to the house, they expected to just do a headcount of the cats that needed sterilisation. When they got there, however, they were “unable to turn a blind eye to the vulnerable kitties that needed our immediate attention”.

They also shared that the cat owner told them about the possibility of dead kitten body parts in the house. The group believes that some of the dead kittens were eaten by the others out of starvation.

Since the cats are not litterbox-trained, they urinate and defecate everywhere. They live  inside the cabinets in the living room and kitchen, which have also become breeding sites for pests.

The group added that, from what they saw, the cats needed to be rescued in batches in order to “slowly sterilise them and prevent more births”.

They said they had reached out to the Cat Welfare Society, a group that offers free sterilisation. However, due to the number of cats, the society did not have enough slots to give them and ended up referring them to yet another entity, the AVS (Animal & Veterinary Service).

The group went on to share where the public can offer donations to help it cover the cost of sterilisation of the cats, who it now refers to as the #TheCabinetKitties, as well as the fees for boarding and basic medical treatment.

It added that funding will also go to getting a professional trapper to deal with the feral cats that have hidden in spots where they are difficult to reach.

The group also shared that it can take donations in kind, like kitty litter, litter boxes and even wet/dry food.

On Tuesday (Oct 27), @callmebymewmew posted again on IG, explaining that it will only give updates once all the cats have rescued. It said the case had been “challenging” and that media interference had made things more difficult.

It explained that a Chinese newspaper reporter had “made her own assumptions” about the story as it had yet to speak to any media or reporters. It also wrote that media outlets should have “basic courtesy to inform and check with us prior to publicising #TheCabinetKitties on the news”.

“It is important to get the facts right,” it added.

You can see the full posts here. /TISG