May 11, 2008
"Be careful," the slim tanned woman warned. "This is a stray cat
will claw and escape. She roams the street and will go up the
apartment block to get fed by a family. I had great difficulty
catching her and caging her."
The abnormally large dew claw on the left fore paw of this
green-eyed cat grew and grew, digging deep into her flesh. This
woman looked as if she was in a hurry too, in my view of her
body language.
"Put the cage on the table," I said as she tried to coax the cat
out of the cage put on the floor. "It is hard to get her out and
if she escapes, it will be harder to get her."
My assistant managed to get the cat out by gripping her scruff
of the neck. He held her hind paws. She looked frightened and
did not fight back yet. I could just snip off the ingrown nail.
However, her ears were all black with dirt and possibly ear
mites.
"Are you in a hurry?" I asked as her restless body language and
looking out of the surgery indicated a woman in a hurry.
"Yes," she said. "I rented a car."
"Why would you be in a hurry? The car has been rented for the
day." I forgot that cars can be rented by the hour nowadays.
"I rent the car by the hour. It is $9.00 per hour."
Probably more than 30 minutes had passed while she waited her
turn and while we tried to catch the cat.
"Your niece does have some resemblance to you," I referred to an
animal activist I met and whom we had a common ground for
conversation.
"And why should there not be a resemblance? " the lady said.
"She is my brother's daughter."
"You know, I can't locate the Brazilian monkey reserve in the
internet you spoke about during the dinner," I reminded her. She
had said that her friend's son loved staying in a visitor's
facility in Brazil and even picked up monkey poo, at a dinner
where she and her animal-activist niece and others were present.
"Oh, it is in Bolivia," she said. "Check the internet."
She had many ideas for her niece as to revenue generation to
sustain an operation to take care of stray animals.
"Vets should give back to the community," she said.
Vets ought to provide free service for all the street dogs and
cats too as part of the giving back to the community. She told
me of her ideas for her niece too.
"Do you really know the challenges of animal welfare work faced
by other animal activists? Your ideas are sound. But they may
not be acceptable?
"Why don't you put your ideas to work by starting your own
(animal welfare) project? I can help out whenever possible. In
this way, your ideas are put into practice."
"Singapore has no land," she said.
"Well," I countered. "If you really want to give back to the
animal community, you will find a way."
She had a brainwave as she told me about a prospective
benefactor and location. If this brainwave works, it will be
good. As for her cat, she was kind enough to pay for the cat to
be treated.
I hope she will be successful in the execution of her ideas. The
success of any project is in the execution. The devil is in the
details.
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