Who Pays for This? 是谁出的钱？

Do you see that one side of the cat's ear has been tipped? When you see a stray cat with a tipped ear, it means that the cat has been neutered/spayed. Do you know who pays for the sterilisation of these stray cats (also known as community cats)?

Recently I spoke to 2 ladies, one of which was my colleague who is in her mid-twenties and another, who is the owner of an art and craft shop and she is probably in her early fifties. And......I was appalled when they told me that the sterilsation of the stray cats in our Little Red Dot was done and paid for by the government.

This is truly a misconception. These cats were sterilised and taken care of by a group of dedicated caregivers who put in their own money and time to feed and sterilised them. This group of caregivers comprised of people from all walks of life including professionals, white collars office workers to the blue collars workers and non-working housewives and elderly.

Other than the vet fee, the cost of sterilising a cat would include transportation to and fro as well as boarding the cat (especially the females) for recuperation. Some caregivers may get reimbursement of the sterilisation fee from animals welfare groups such as the Cats Welfare Society or SPCA but they still have to pay for transportation and boarding out of their own pockets.

有没有看到这只猫的一只耳朵有一个缺口？这个缺口代表这是一只已经结紮了的流浪猫。那你是否知道是谁出钱结紮这些流浪猫的呢？

最近与我的同事和一位手工店的老板娘聊天才惊觉她们竟然以为是我们的政府为新加坡的流浪猫进行结紮的。

这是多么大的误解。其实新加坡的流浪猫（又称为社区猫）是由一群爱护动物的人士自掏腰包、出钱出力喂养和进行结紮的。这些人当中包括了传业人士、白领阶级、蓝领工人、家庭主妇和没有工作的老年人。

除了兽医的费用之外，结紮的费用还得包括车费和住宿费（由其是母猫都必须住宿让伤口愈合）。有一些没有经济能力的人士会向动物福利组织如猫福利协会、防止虐待动物协会等索取结紮津贴，但是他们还是得自行负责车费和住宿费的。