Stray Cats Visit Residents' Houses in Choa Chu Kang

Furry felines enter high-rise dwellers’ homes and dig up their plants, much to their dismay.

By: Tung Jing Qi

Though she has been living in Choa Chu Kang for more than a decade, Ms Lim Cheng Siew has never encountered any problems with stray cats before until last month.

The Singapore Permanent Resident first realised that a cat had entered her house when she looked into her room near the walkway outside her house and found a pair of glossy eyes staring right back at her. Having a fear of these animals as she was not sure if they would attack her, she could only shoo it off.

These cats have been entering the homes of high-rise dwellers like Ms Lim and most of the residents are not happy.

Ms Lim says she felt angry when she found out that the cats have been digging up the soil and leaving their feces in her potted plants outside her corridor as she had to pick up after the mess they made.

Ms Lim had to repot her plants after the stray cats dug up the soil and defecated in them. | PHOTO: TUNG JING QI

According to an email interview with Ms Ng Shu Yi, the rescue manager of Love Kuching Project, which is a community-based cat rescue group in Singapore, “There are cats smart enough to take the lift”, which explains why cats have made their appearance among high-rise households up to 12 storeys high.

Ms Ng continues on to reassure residents that stray cats are “less likely to cause injury or disease than any other animal”, and residents do not need to be worried of being attacked by them.

Mdm Alice Yeo, 62, a cat-feeder, has been feeding cats every day without fail at the void decks of Choa Chu Kang for the past seven years, and she has received countless complaints from neighbours asking her to stop feeding the cats. Their houses have also been visited by these felines, which Mdm Yeo believes is due to the absence of care and attention that these cats have.

Two stray cats roaming around the void decks and neighbourhood of Choa Chu Kang in the late afternoon. | PHOTO: TUNG JING QI

However, contrary to popular belief among residents that the feeding of cats contributes to this problem, Ms Ng reveals that feeding stray cats actually helps to limit the problem, as it removes the stray’s need to find food.

Even though Ms Lim managed to shoo the cat away in the end, there are proper ways of preventing felines from visiting houses.

According to Cat Welfare Society’s website and the interview conducted with Love Kuching Project, it is recommended that residents fill a spray bottle with cold water and squirt the water on the cat when it enters a flat. However, residents are cautioned not to corner the cat while spraying water on them, so as to give them an escape route.

Ms Ng also advises residents to only hire a trapper if the feline is stuck in their room, or refuses to leave.

Even though stray cats have brought inconvenience to many residents, there is still hope that residents and these furry felines can live together harmoniously.

Ms Ng says there is “a need for us to respect nature and the environment around us, and for people to understand this”, and that this can be accomplished through posters informing residents what they can do when they see a stray cat near their home.

Mdm Yeo also said in Mandarin, “These cats are not actually dirty: humans are dirtier, our mouths and hearts are dirty.”