‘They were waiting for me’: Singapore woman and husband who don’t like cats keeps feeding strays for 15 years
SINGAPORE: Recently, a local couple shared their story of being cat feeders in Singapore for over a decade and a half, going out nightly to make sure the felines in their neighbourhood have food to eat.
Ironically, Mdm Cik Zie and her husband don’t even like cats, but they like the thought of the furry creatures going hungry even less.
The kind couple’s story was told in a video on The Give Collective’s social media accounts, and the platform is helping collect donations for Singapore’s community cats.
Sixty-six-year-old Cik Zie, who works as a cleaner by night and an assistant at a clinic by day, said in the video that it costs them S$1500 to S$1600 a month to make sure the cats they feed have enough food. While they get some help from neighbours, friends, and cat groups, 80% of the funds come from her and her husband’s pockets.
She is thankful, however, that LUNI Singapore, a non-profit organisation for cat welfare, has been a big help with the cats as well.
Not that their care for the cats stops at food, because when any of the felines fall ill, Cik Zie takes them to the vet and pays for the treatment herself. She added, however, that when the cats get good food, they don’t get sick as much.
She and her husband begin preparing food for the cats at 6:00 pm, since she has to cook around two kilos of chicken each night. The cats seem to get a combination of fresh, wet canned food, and kibble. Four hours later, they take their trolley down and begin their rounds, with the husband taking one side of the community and the wife taking the other. Their feeding program usually ends at midnight.
At 4:00 am, before the sun rises, the couple goes out again to collect the plastic plates they use and reuse. They need to do this before the birds come, otherwise it can get very messy.
The couple’s kindness toward cats appears to have spread, as Cik Zie told The Give Collective that people who no longer wish to take care of their cats drop them off where she and her husband live, because they know they’ll be taken care of.
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When asked why she does this, as she doesn’t even like cats, Cik Zie said that she pities them. One night when she chose not to feed them, she saw that they were waiting for her.
It’s not their fault, she added, that people get bored of having a cat and then abandon it.
Those who would like to help Cik Zie may do so with donations, or even by helping them go around feeding the cats.
This would be “enough for me already,” she said with a smile. /TISG