AnimalCare

Medical subsidy for Fafah, injured cat (Dawn Tan’s)

chankahyein — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:38:25 +0000

Fafah’s bill is RM100. We have subsidised RM50 for it, banked in to Dawn Tan Ju Hong.

From Dawn:

Hi Dr.Chan,

Thank you for subsidizing 50% of Fafah’s medical bill for cat flu and limping leg.
The doctor had advised the vaccination to be given a week later, so we didn’t include it in this bill.I will post the original receipt and form tonight. Meanwhile please find the scanned receipt + pics as attached, and write-up below.

120429.02_Fafah_D’s apt.jpg

Fafah was previously spayed and returned to her colony in front of my friend’s apartment in Setiawangsa. She would hang around and come to the apt door everyday where food is left out for her. Last week, my friend found Fafah limping thus not mobile enough to jump or crawl into secluded places, to hide fr kids and other dangers. So my friend brought her over to my apartment so I could help to bring to the vet the nxt day. Her eyes had watery discharge, her nose dripped and wetted half her body. I brought her to the vet’s the nxt day and the doctor said to board her there for medication, observation n for her leg to heal properly.

120505.02_Fafah_Vet.jpg
After 5 days, her flu is gone. Fafah is fit to go home now

120505.04_Fafah_D’s apt.jpg

Upon discharged, I tried to home Fafah with my 2 male cats. In the day time, I put her on my reading chair in my room, to recuperate.

120505.09_Fafah_D’s apt.jpg

At first, I put her at the backyard at night so she could use the kitty litter. But Fafah had climbed all the way to the top and tried to escape through the top most ventilation panel. I managed to take her down on time and put her in a cage during the night. Altho she was very tame and enjoyed human company, I think she yearned to go home. She refused to eat for the next 2 days and cried for 2 whole nights (didn’t matter even if she was in my room or in the cage).So on the 3rd day, my friend took her back to Setiawangsa. She could recognize her ‘home’ the minute the car drove through the guard house. Once ‘home’, her appetite came back. She ate, slept and went to look for her friends around the staircase- she had a boyfriend and a female friend there!In cases like these, as much as I worry for her safety, it broke my heart to deprive her of her happiness. She was obviously much happier being a community cat. So I can just hope and pray she would be well and healthy!

Thanks!

Best regards,
Dawn Tan

Spaying and vaccination subsidy for Bambi, community dog (Dawn Tan’s)

chankahyein — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:32:11 +0000

We have subsidised RM120 for Bambi’s spaying and RM20 for her vaccination. Total subsidy = RM140, banked in to Dawn Tan Ju Hong.

From Dawn:

Hi Dr.Chan,

Thank you for subsidizing Bambi’s spaying. We had vaccinated her as well and itemised the billing (if the vaccination can be subsidized as well).
Meanwhile please find the scanned receipt n pics as attached, write-up as below:

120503.01_Bambi_Feeding.jpg:

Stone (the one Serene is hugging and one of the 2 sisters who were earlier spayed under your subsidy:http://myanimalcare.org/2011/08/22/two-community-dogs-spayed/) appears to be the ‘leader’ in that pack. And since we already had the leader’s trust, getting Bambi (the black one) to trust us was easy. We only had to feed her for a few days before we brought her for spaying.

120505.04_Bambi_Going to vet.jpg
We fed Bambi sleeping pills in that Saturday morning’s breakfast. It didn’t really work, infact she had the energy to run uphill and we had to go after her. Managed to tempt her with some bbq meat though,quickly leashed her and walked her downhill to our car.

120505.09_Bambi_Going to vet.jpg
Stone followed behind Bambi as we headed for the car, not sure whether she’s playing the ‘leader’ role making sure everything is fine, or does she wants to be spayed again? But Stone wanted to follow us, wherelse Bambi didn’t. So we had to carry Bambi in and say bye bye to Stone.

120505.14_Bambi_Going to vet.jpg
Bambi: Where are we going? To the vet! Bambi was going to be boarded after the spaying, so have to be front-lined first.

120514.01_Bambi_Vet.jpg
Bambi was discharged today (14May12). She was so happy to see us, even gave us a ‘kiss’.

120514.12_Bambi_Home.jpg
The minute we reached, Stone was ready to welcome Bambi home. Mama dog (nxt to be spayed) came to say hi too Thanks!

Best regards,
Dawn Tan

Please disclose all facts truthfully and carefully before you submit any claim to us

chankahyein — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:38:06 +0000

We need to highlight a case where a rescuer had failed to disclose the fact that she is also claiming from other organisations when she submitted the claim forms to us. This rescuer has claimed from us many times, from March 2012 until May 2012 for many rescue cases.

Her latest case was recently posted and a reader wrote in to inform us that this rescuer had also received substantial sums of money from two other organisations during this period.

In our Multiple Fund Policy, we only work together with our partners, SCRATCH and PetFinder.my, on all medical cases whereby we inform these two organisations of all medical claims that come to us. If the bill is more than RM750, we recommend that the rescuer applies to our partners as well under our Multiple Fund Policy so that the rescuer gets a 60% joint subsidy instead of 50% (if applying from one fund).

Here is our Multiple Fund Policy: http://myanimalcare.org/subsidy/

There is a clause on our form that says:
Are you also applying to other organizations for sponsorship for this case? If so, please state the name of the organizations : ________________________________________

This rescuer had answered “No” to this question on all her forms.

Last night, after receiving news that this rescuer had received money from other organisations, the first thing I did was to write to her to ask for clarification on this matter.

This morning, I contacted one of the organisations which had purportedly raised a substantial amount of money for her from their facebook page (fundraising from the public) to verify if the information given to me is true. The person-in-charge of this organisation confirmed that they had raised money for this rescuer, and the amounts and dates they were paid out were disclosed.

The person-in-charge also said that the rescuer had shown her the original receipts and even told her that she (the rescuer) would be posting the original receipts to AnimalCare for claims.

This means, very clearly, that the rescuer already had the intention to claim from two funds (or more) even before submitting her claims to us.

Our question now is, why was this not disclosed to us by a “Yes” answer to the clause on our form, ie. Are you also applying to other organizations for sponsorship for this case?

Failure to disclose the truth is unacceptable at all costs. We price honesty above all else, and we cannot allow abuse to set in because these are public funds that we are dealing with. We are accountable to our donors’ hard-earned money entrusted to us as donations, given in goodwill and trust that the money will be channeled to needy rescuers and their animals.

To be fair to the rescuer, we first sought clarification from her. We have since received replies from the rescuer and her reasons for failing to disclose the truth are presented below.

The rescuer admitted that she did claim from the other organisations. When asked why this fact was not disclosed in the form, she said she was only claiming for medication/treatment/vaccination/neutering from us and not the “whole bill” (a large portion of her bill was for extended boarding which we do not cover). She also said she “wasn’t sure” if the other organisation would be able to raise the money for her.

Her reasons notwithstanding, we maintain that there is still no reason to answer “No” in that question worded in very simple English: Are you also applying to other organizations for sponsorship for this case?

She had applied to other organisations, and she may not be sure how much she would be getting, but the fact remains that she had applied. The facts have to be disclosed honestly with a “Yes” to that question.

The date we paid out our first claim to her was at the end of March and it is the exact same date that she received the claim from the other organisation. Yet, this was not disclosed to us at all in her subsequent communication with us. Her many claims were submitted in March, April and May.

This rescuer writes perfect English, so failure to understand English does not apply in this case. We have had hawkers, fishmongers and many others who do not understand any English, yet they get someone else to fill up the form for them.

The rescuer in question has written to us and offered to return a portion of our subsidies as she claimed that she had no intention to cheat. We have not asked for the return of any money, so it would be her prerogative if she wishes to return any.

Let it be clearly stated here that we have NOT asked her to return any of the money. We do not want rumours to spread around saying otherwise as that would be extremely unfair to us. We subsidised her in good faith and based on trust. We are disappointed that this trust has been eroded on her part.

All these unfortunate turn of events could have been easily avoided if only she had disclosed the facts truthfully in the forms. While one may be worried/anxious/troubled with so many vet bills to pay, but this is not an acceptable reason to be untruthful.

If one is careless, perhaps one might forget to fill up certain portions of the forms (like those who forget to fill up the name of the bank, which I encounter too often). One might even forget to fill up this Yes/No clause out of carelessness, but in each of her forms, it was clearly written “No”.

Below are cuttings from her medical treatment claim forms. The others are neutering claims where we did not require disclosure of multiple claims since the amount for neutering claims is generally small. But we have revised our forms today to include this clause. So, please download our new forms if you wish to make a claim. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

We now wish to gently remind all applicants to please disclose the facts HONESTLY when applying for claims from our funds. Please understand that we have to be accountable to public funds which have been entrusted to us in good faith and our intention is to help rescuers and their animals but we can only do so with justification, proper documentation and truthful disclosure of all the facts from the rescuer.

We would also like to invite other organisations that give out donations to work together with us so that we may jointly inform each other when a rescuer makes any claims. This is to prevent the incidence of multiple claims from happening, which definitely does not augur well for animal charity.

If animal charity is subject to abuse, it is going to lose its credibility with the public and at the end of the day, due to humans’ dishonesty, the animals suffer. We have seen this happening in old folks’ homes, orphanages and many other charities where the monies donated are misappropriated. People would just stop donating to such charities and who loses at the end? The animals who need it the most, and the honest rescuers.

We would also like to urge organisations to insist on keeping the original receipts when rescuers make any claim. This would, in some ways, prevent rescuers from making multiple claims from other organisations. In this case, if the other organisation had held on to the original receipts, the rescuer in question would not have been able to submit her claim to us, and the case of double-claim could have been prevented.

On our part, every case that we subsidise is published with details of the case, photographs of the animal and the rescuer’s full name. If other organisations would like to jointly work with us in this, we would be more than happy to forward all the claims for verification before we approve our subsidy.

There was a case of a group of rescuers who wanted to claim for neutering for a large number of dogs, but refused to give us the original receipt. We did not approve this claim.

Without the original receipt, no claim can be made from us.

Please let’s work together to prevent fraud and abuse in animal charity. We all know how much the street animals need help. Let’s help them, but please let us do so honestly and with integrity. This would be our responsibility to the animals.

We wish to ensure all our donors that we will take all possible actions to prevent the occurrence of fraud, abuse and dishonest claims as we are accountable to the donations that you have entrusted to us in good faith. We view each case of suspected dishonesty seriously and we will carry out investigation to uncover the truth. Such cases will be publicised on the blog as well.

In view of this case, we may need to revamp our policies again. For a start, all subsidies will NOT be paid out within 24 hours as per our previous practice. Please give us 3 working days before any pay-out is made.

Thank you.

A loving tribute to Ah Wong (Fenton Yong’s beloved cat)

chankahyein — Thu, 17 May 2012 05:28:44 +0000

From Fenton:

Hi Dr Chan,

Our beloved cat, Ah Wong has just passed away last night, in his sleep. Here, I would like to inform you that I have just banked in a small sum of RM100 (via cash deposit) to AnimalCare in behalf of Ah Wong. He would definitely love to help animals in need.

Ah Wong was a blind cat suffering from seizure and he was four years and five months old. Recently he suffered from brain damage which according to the vet it was due to his seizure condition. The vet also said that his condition would be getting worst as time passed. I thought the vet was truly wrong when Ah Wong was showing improvement and getting better but somehow we just couldn’t predict life. He passed on in his sleep when we thought that he was having a good sleep. Unlike previously, I guessed this time he didn’t want us to know about his going.

Now that he has completed this cycle of birth, I sincerely hope that he will rebirth in a better life and form.

God bless you for all your great efforts in helping those needy animals.

Regards,
YG

We thank Fenton (and Ah Wong!) for the generous and thoughtful donation to our fund, and we express our deepest condolences to Fenton for his loss.

We would like to believe that all animals go to a good place upon their departure from this earth as animals are such wholesome creatures, incapable of evil thoughts or deeds.

We hope Fenton will find strength to cope with his loss but at the same time, rejoice in the fact that he has given Ah Wong a wonderful life filled with lots of love and care.

Moments are all we have.

Moments are all that matters.

Make each moment count, preciously.

Lily is adopted! (Tjong Yen Chian’s)

chankahyein — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:54:00 +0000

From Yen Chian/Olive:

Hi Dr Chan,

I want to share a good news with you and everyone. Lily the kitten that I’ve rescued has finally found a good home after someone from the MDDB adoption drive came to view her that day. I gave her a good bath, played a long good game,hug her, gave a good luck pink bell tied with yellow ribbon, her favorite pizza box, quarter cat litter, a cat litter box and her half kitten food. The adopter house is near to mine so I can sometimes visit also. Now to keep finger cross and hope for the best with her new owner

Best regards,
Olive

2 elderly cats looking for a good home, owner leaving for overseas (Malin B. Erikson’s)

chankahyein — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:39:56 +0000

Please help, if you can.

From:
Malin B. Erikson
connect@malinberikson.com

Message:
Dear AnimalCare,
I have a problem that I do not know how to solve. A friend gave told
me about you and I thought you may be able to help me.
Our family is leaving Malaysia for UK and we feel it wouldn’t be fair
to bring our two dear cats, Findus and Sahara, with us. Three reasons
for this: 1. The long flight in a small box. 2. We’ll live in a town
in UK where the landlord does not want us to keep the cats. 3. Findus
and Sahara love Malaysia.
Findus and Sahara was born in Morocco in our home on the 14th of May,
2001. Their mother sadly died when they were just 8 weeks old so we
had to take care of them as our own babies. 2004 we moved to India and
they lived with us there for 4 years until we moved to Malaysia in
2008. Now, we feel it will be too much for them to move to UK. They
love the climate in Malaysia and will probably have big problems with
the weather.
I do not know if your organization would be able to help. This is very
heartbreaking for our family and we do not know what to do. Please
advise.

Kind regards, Malin

I have urged Malin to re-consider taking Findus and Sahara along (after health certification from the vet) and perhaps seek a dwelling place which allows cats. After all, Findus and Sahara are definitely part of her family. They are elderly cats. To rehome them now can be quite stressful for them.

But in the event that Malin doesn’t take them along, please could you help by forwarding this link to your friends? Let’s hope we can find them a good home.

Dr Susanna, as I know, has many pets and they travel the world with her. She says the most stressful part is the journey from home to the airport. After that, it is home-free. That’s what she tells me. But I’d admit, I would also worry myself sick if my pets had to go on any journey. That is why I’m not going anywhere. I’m not even leaving my cats and Bobby unattended even for a day.

Another new guest?

chankahyein — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:29:18 +0000

I recently heard from an acquaintance that Mr G’s house has “a lot of cats”. This is not surprising if all the cats there are not neutered. However, I also heard details about why the cats could be poisoned by its next-door neighbour. It could be indiscriminate disposal of the cats’ poo or the fact that there are too many cats and they roam freely in the neighbourhood. Some people find this annoying, unfortunately.

So far we have seen quite a number of cats from Mr G’s house coming to our ledge or into our garden.

There was another one this morning.

Tabs was the first to notice a new cat today.

It’s a grey tabby, like Tabs and Tiger.

Baggy has taken this shelf to be her private domain.

Aww…Mr G is here.

He seemed hungry this morning.

Around mid-morning, I had a loud shriek in the garden. It sounded like Baggy (again). Must be Cow. I know that whenever I bring in any cat or kitten, the whole hierarchy in my colony would undergo an equilibrium adjustment. It’s complicated cat politics at play here; something we humans cannot control nor interfere with though we can….to a small extent, provide more protection to the victims, if only to boost their confidence to stake claim to their place in the colony.

Baggy had been stalked by Cow. But Baggy has a very powerful “weapon” and that is her earth-shattering shriek. That is good, at least I know that shriek keeps Cow at bay and the elder bully backs off.

Today was one such incident where Cow stalked Baggy again. I was in the bathroom when I heard that familiar shriek. By the time I rushed out, Baggy was in her Holey Box and Cow was in the room as well, nearby.

This is the Holey Box, which Baggy has claimed to be her safe sanctuary. I don’t know who brought those cat-toys into it, though. It must be Baggy herself!

The rule of the game (or war?) is that the moment Baggy gets into her box, nobody can attack her anymore.

But to ensure Cow is taught a lesson, I sprayed him with the garbage enzyme. The elder bully ran out to the Clubhouse and stayed under the table, ego just slightly bruised.

Baggy gets up on the table beside me.

Cow comes back into the room, quite nonchalantly.

All is well, I suppose.

Baggy seeks comfort by coming onto my table, nearer to me.

I was watching a youtube about burger sellers and ex-army veterans doing some exercise. I’m quite disturbed by it, and so is Baggy! The things people do…don’t they have more constructive things to do with their time?

This is Baggy’s newfound favourite place. Maybe it’s cooling to be amongst the greens and to be back to Nature.

This is our “misunderstood” cat who bullies new cats but is ever respectful of Bobby.

Life is never boring with my brood.

What’s happening now?

It’s Pole, she is still trying to find a way to escape. There seems to be an inbuilt mechanism in Pole…to escape.
That anti-cat mat is no hindrance to her whatsoever. Mr G had made a hole on the left of the ledge, but we have secured it with two layers of wire-netting.

As big as my cat-space is, it is not big enough for my brood. Pole needs to go out still, but I just heard some news that the local councils may be doing a witch-hunt on dogs following the unfortunate bull terrier incident (this is not unexpected and that is why I took Yoshee in). We’ve been advised to keep all our pets and community animals within our house compound for now until the witch-hunt is over. Dogs or cats, please keep them safe. A witch-hunt may be quite merciless. Better be safe than sorry.

Pole, please give up your mission for now. Now is not the time to make another attempt to escape, please.

As much as we have foolproofed our cat-space as best we can, cats are still generally smarter than humans. That is why we serve them and they do not serve us!

Now, isn’t this better than attempting to escape?

Updates on Caty (Koo Swee Por’s)

chankahyein — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:03:16 +0000

Ref: http://myanimalcare.org/2012/05/07/catys-stitches-are-out-koo-swee-pors/

We had initially shared 50% of the bill for Caty’s surgery with Koo, but Koo insisted on reimbursing us in full, so he has already done so now. Thank you very much, Koo. Your donation will go towards helping the next animal who comes our way.

Meanwhile, Caty is still having the flu so Koo is still fostering her. Her eye surgery went very well and the stitches have been removed.

We have found a home for Caty and as soon as Caty is well, Koo will send her to her new home.

The background of Caty’s case:

http://myanimalcare.org/2012/04/18/caty-icity-cat-sent-for-treatment-koo-swee-pors/

http://myanimalcare.org/2012/04/19/caty-will-be-adopted-after-surgery-koo-swee-pors/

For more details, please do a wordsearch on “Caty” or “iCity cat” in this blog.