Monday, September 29, 2008

ST (29-9-08)

Thanks to Chinky and eslina for sending this letter about this man's experience with the SPCA. It seems to me that the SPCA in this case probably was going to release the cat to him. Interestingly, our old friend Tan Tuan Khoon somehow tried to make this an argument about cats though it was so disjointed, I couldn't quite follow the logic. He also claimed I said cats couldn't be toilet trained - when what I explained was that cats are naturally toilet trained, and aren't like dogs in that essence. I also have no idea what toilet training kits for cats in pet shops are.

There were a lot of nice articles about animals, including an ASD article in the press on Saturday - unfortunately they cannot be accessed unless you have a Straits Times account.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another example of a cat’s lovers blaming other pets’ lovers for not doing enough and in this case is targeted at our poor SPCA. I have found that SPCA are while doing their best for animals, they are being realistic to the needs. If Mohammad Khalid Nezammuddin expects SPCA to be flexible for people like him/her, he/she should call NEA which has a 24 hours hot-line or AVA which will only too happy to liaise. Let us not have another pot of calling the kettle black.

My question is who is responsible for the poor cat in such in such a condition? Where is the cat’s owner and responsibilities? If the cat is a stray and a vehicle bang into the poor cat which run across the busy road, then is it not be more human to ban strays then to allow them to roam and become a danger to themselves and a nuisances to others? Even if the strays are so-call regularly fed then who is responsible for their health and nuisances which they caused to other people?

Let us be real and face the nuisances while running over the poor cat is one of them. How many people can tolerate the smell or like cleaning the waste of cats, raiding kitchens, eating your pet’s bird or fish, messing your or breaking your ceilings, etc? Those so-call kind soul that sterilize or neuter the poor strays are they being human or cruel for their unprotected environment in our highly urbanized society? If we can protect monkeys from harming by people from feeding them then why not the stray cats like what Media Corp. announcers mentioned be protected?

Cats or dogs or others lovers must be realized that every like their pets as they are allergic to their fur/hair, simply scared of them as animals, etc or have no love or interest in them. The biggest problem is that many pets lovers especially children are not taught or want to be responsible to the poor creature. Example is to allow their pets to dirty other or public properties, do not toilet train their pets and expect others to clean after them. When I mentioned about toilet-training, Dawn Kua of the Cats Welfare Society once told me that cats cannot be trained. Pets’ shops that sell toilet-training kits for cats should approach members of Dawn Kua.

To be fair there are many cats and dogs lovers that are in full agreement of what I had said i.e. be totally responsible for your pets. I hope people in this category and those in agreement with what I had stated, but not pet owners please give me some support for our authorities to wake-up. Thank you.
Posted by: TanTuanKhoon at Sun Sep 28 11:46:45 SGT 2008

Dawn said...

Yes - one wonders how a pet cat came to be lying in the middle of the ECP. This is really just an opportunity for the man to rant about his usual pet topics - how he doesn't like cats.

Someone mentioned to me the other day that some people are unwilling to give up their arguments because they are emotionally attached to them, as opposed to being convinced by logic. Unfortunately, Mr Tan is one of those people.

Anonymous said...

Oh god. The nerve of that scumbag.. His words carry about as much weight as a child abuser claiming to love children. But srsly what can u do if you see a cat lying on the highway? Once I saw a cat huddled by the side of a highway..my dad refused to stop the car and by the time we came back the cat was gone.

Anonymous said...

The Tan guy is entitled to his crazy opinion of course but he is getting tiresome-a ranting manic.

If the writer of the letter to ST Forum is REALLY concerned abt the cat on the road, he cld easily turn around to pick up the cat. SPCA is at Bartley Road hor - far from Rochor/E Coast Parkway. The writer is the MOST suitable person (1 he knew the exact spot where the cat was, 2 he was right there, 3 at a time when the cat could be saved 4 he could be at the cat's side in mins) to put his so-called noble intention to work right then and there-turn around and pick up the cat.

I also find it very disturbing that he admitted that he KNEW what he shd do though he still got the cheek to complain abt spca.

These two persons have things in common actually - they rant, they think they are right/noble, they think of control(Tan)/welfare(writer) of animals in strange ways.

Dawn said...

To be honest, it is very difficult - as Anonymous said, traffic accidents are hard. A friend, who incidentally isn't much of a cat person, saw a cat get run over. She waited for the light to change to run and get it - but the cat was run over again before she could get to it. Sometimes circumstances just make it impossible to get to the cat.

But I agree with the third anonymous - if you see the cat you are the best person to save it. My Mom once saved a kitty from the middle of the road - she pulled over, got out and grabbed it. Time is of the essence - and waiting for SPCA or anyone else - means the cat is not going to make it. Of course your safety is of paramount importance so keep safe.

Anonymous said...

The toliet trainers in pet shop are for owners that want to train their cats to use the toilet like a human instead of the litterbox. Yes cats can use the human toilet bowl like a human.

Dawn said...

Yes I've seen those but I think he meant toilet training - ie training the cat to go in one spot rather than specifically in a bowl. Then again, who knows? :)