Project #ALLthatmatters - Floral Garage Singapore X Animal Lovers League

Animal Lovers League, AKA ALL, is a registered charity and home to about 700 dogs and cats, and the animals under their care consist of vagrant strays, abandoned, traumatised, abused and rescued animals. In addition, ALL is a strictly no-kill animal shelter. 
As of late, ALL have been coping well with the supply of volunteers, but the constant problem is always money and space. As they no longer have space, they only take in sick or injured strays. Most of the time, the care of the existing animals in ALL are compromised when they encounter more dogs, as no other shelter would want to take more dogs in. And as they have been unable to rescue new strays due to the lack of kennels, the volunteers are very active in going around Singapore to feed strays that they cannot house. They also sterilise them to curb their rapid population growth. They go as far to Pulau Ubin to do this, and these intelligent dogs can recognise them really well. These efforts have helped keep the dogs under control. When they know where to expect food, they will not be a nuisance to the public by finding food at the 'right places' when they are hungry.

Most of the dogs under their care were taken in with complicated health issues. As a shelter surviving solely on donations and cheap boarding fees, they always find it hard to make ends meet. Their monthly rental is S$22,000, and they owe the veterinarian clinic, one located at Jln Gellengang that offers shelters in Singapore credit payment and a 30% medical fees discount, a total sum of S$35,000 till date. And with a debt so big, the clinic has begun to be stricter against ALL.

ALL aims to encourage the public to adopt instead of buying animals, and endeavour to rejoin the animals at ALL with loving and committed families. 

Dopey

Button

ADOPT, DON'T SHOP.

Dopey and Button are two of the many furkids up for adoption at ALL. If you still think that shelter rescued animals are less cute and lovable than those from the pet shops/breeders, you are wrong. Look at Dopey and Button, how are they any less worthy of love and care from a kind human as compared to those breed and raise as a product meant for cash? If you have been following my blog since the early days, you will know that I'm a proud bunny-mama to Jelly the bunny, a rescue bunny I've adopted from a bunny rescue shelter, with birth deformities (splayed hind legs). Still, that doesn't make Jelly any less adorable and lovable. (pictorial proofs here at @jellymollybun) 

Basically, from information we gathered from friends and acquaintance familiar to the pet shop industry, pet shops used to import many dogs from overseas. These dogs are treated as products, because it is indeed a product to be exchanged for cash. That being said, any product that is seen as a defect will be ultimately disposed. When the dog arrives in Singapore and the shop feels that the dog is not as cute as it is supposed to be, they either try their luck to put it up for sale or they immediately put it to sleep. Keeping the dog alive is an expense and it also takes up space. When the dog is 3 months old, it would fetch the highest price. They will slash the price once when its 6 months old, and another time when its 9 months old. Singaporeans will not pay more than S$1000 for a one year old dog, and therefore, the shop will put it to sleep. 
Some might angrily question, why not give it away instead? If the public knew of this 'giveaway' practice, everyone would just wait for it and not purchase anymore. So to minimise the killing, shops go to local breeders now, where they can view the puppy before purchase. In every litter of puppies, there will always be a rut. So it is safe to say that one puppy from every litter will be left to die from birth. It's also a common practice for breeders to pick award winning mother dogs and impregnate them with good looking males till she dies from exhaustion.

With that much being said, should anyone be a pet lover (or claims/thinks to be one), he or she would not need a S$5000 pure bred dog/cat to be happy. A very personal connection with any pet would suffice. 
ALL does not charge for adoption, but they will welcome any form of spontaneous donations. For more information on adoption of a furkid or even to sponsor a furry friend, do check out ALL's link HERE.

ALL's plight and love for the animals has also touched the hearts of the people over at Floral Garage SG, who have since started a project of their own to support ALL and send some love to those lovely furkids awaiting your adoption/sponsorship this Christmas season. 

From now until 25th December 2015, Floral Garage SG will donate 1/3 of of all their sales proceed of the following two bouquet/creation to ALL.

R02 - Spirited Away

C14 - Doggy

On a side note, Floral Garage SG is also having a separate project with Cotlands South Africa, to send some smiles over to the needy children of South Afria this Christmas season. To learn how you can be part of this project, just follow the link HERE.

Till then,
Mia Foo

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Mia's Bangkok Travelogue: Caturday Cat Cafe

One keyword I searched for while planning my Bangkok itinerary was: PET CAFES. 

So here's my review of the first pet cafe I've visited while I was in Bangkok, the Caturday Cat Cafe located conveniently near to my hotel beside Ratchathewi BTS station (nearest BTS station to Pratunam area).

(taken later in the evening when we left the cafe)

Getting to the cafe is really easy as it's located in the cluster of hipster eating places right beside Ratchathewi BTS. Just walk down along the main road towards the car park and head straight in.

With just an adorable cat-mascot with its fellow minion meowcots lying around, you definitely cannot miss it. 

There's a name list hanging by the door at the waiting area, be sure you head there to jot down your name first before you grab a seat to join the queue. 

And look who's there to snatch our seats join us while waiting in queue! 

 Cuteness was already oozing at the shoe-rack area with a wall of patrons' instant photographs taken with their resident cats and a meow-meow train. 

Even the tap and basin looks so cute! There's a cat perched on the tap! 

The cafe, stuffed not only with pretty furry felines, is also full of cute motifs and decorations. The place is also pretty small, hence always crowded. We reached at 4 plus 5pm and had 3 tables waiting in front of us. 

First page of the cute menu shows us the best faces of all their pretty cats. In the pretty small cafe, there's really a handful of cats roaming/napping all around. 

Caramel Hot Milk 

 Couldn't help but snap a picture of the mug. It's too cute!

The caramel left a strong after taste and made the drink a little too sweet, but still pretty good if you're a looking for something sweet and comforting. 

 Thai Iced Tea

The tea was really sweet, even for me, and T had a pretty tough time with it. 

And both our drinks came with such adorable coasters! 

Rainbow Crepe Cake with Raspberry Sauce

 The sauce is tangy and slightly sweet, making the crepe cake taste much lighter and refreshing (the infinite layers of cream is always daunting to me). The crepes are also very soft and smooth. It's no wonder it's one of their popular dessert choice. 

The motif of their meowscot drawn with cocoa powder added even more cuteness to the entire dessert, making this a truly instagram-worthy dessert. 

 Baked Pasta

You can't go wrong with a piping hot, cheesy baked pasta topped with pieces of ham. I didn't even know what exactly I was eating (T ordered it) but melty cheese, fusilli pasta and ham put together can't be bad, can it? 

And we also bought some tuna treats for the cute kitties! We didn't even need to get the tuna out to attract two very greedy kitties. 

 "Are you feeding me now?"

"Hey, I came first!"

"Then, I'm 3rd in line, right?"

"How about giving me a bite too?"

"Hieck, perfect vantage point. I'm gonna snatch them all while they're not looking!"

"Human, I demand that you feed me first!"

"FEED ME NOW. MEOWWW!"

"Nom Nom Nom..."

"It was so yums, meow!"

"What, you mean she ate my share?!"

"Hah! I knew this will happen that's why I didn't even bother to queue!"

"Heh, me too!"

"Okay, I'll go catch that pretty pink pen instead."

All the cats were simply gorgeous and have the softest fur. However, most of them are pretty aloof and doesn't enjoy being pet or play with you much. 

And if you really love the cuteness of their meowscots, you can also bring home some coasters, mugs or phone cases at pretty reasonable prices.

So, if you're a fellow cat lover and ever drop by Bangkok, be sure to check Caturday Cat Cafe out! 

For more information, visit their Facebook HERE

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Pet Asia and Aquarama 2015

This year, the 14th edition of the ornamental aquatic industry premier biennial event, Aquarama 2015 opens to trade visitors on 28th May and then to public on 30th May at Suntec City Convention Centre. This is then followed by the 5th edition of Pet Asia 2015, which is opened to both trade visitors and public from 29th May. 

And I'm really glad I managed to drop by on their last day! I missed the dogs (obedience competition) on 30th, but still managed to get wowed by all the pretty looking fishes and cute bunnies!

And yes, bunnies!

This 6 months old French Lop is one of the most popular bunnies exhibited, alongside a Flemish Giant and a Dwarf Hotot. 

And apparently, the overwhelming popularity has gotten to it. I was told that throughout the past few days, almost everyone wanted to carry it. It was dead asleep throughout the 3 hours I was there, and even when someone pet it, it remained sound asleep.

And so I decided to cuddle up with the pretty and adorable Dwarf Hotot, the famous eyeliner bunny! 

It was so tamed and well behaved in my arms, not like Jelly at all. =.="

Just look at them! Totally melt your heart, didn't they? 

This chinchilla totally grabbed my attention by eating hay in its dreams! Its cute eyes were totally closed while munching at the hay ball. 

Cavy, also commonly known as Guinea Pigs, are also pretty popular at the exhibition zone and it's not hard to see why. Not sure if it's because they're still young babies, but if they can remain as adorable as that (short fur, and palm-sized) forever, I'll love to get one as a companion for Jelly too! 

And of course, the highlight at Pet Asia 2015 on the 31st May is the National Rabbit & Cavy Show!

Look at the line up of contestants for the Fancy Rabbit Show!

And I couldn't resist but took a shot of this cutie kept in the cage right in front of me. She looks like a mini version of Jelly with red eyes! Hahaha!

All the contestants are judged by bunny expert for their demeanour, health and overall conditions and she eventually crowned 4 winning bunnies: Best Temperament, Best Fur, Best Condition and Best Overall.

And over at Aquarama, their ever-popular and widely respected competitions welcome a colourful newcomer: The Crystal Bee Shrimp Competition!

Was told that one of these 1.5cm long shrimp can fetch up to a whopping SGD $2000 and they have an average lifespan of only 2 years!

And of course, other than the newcomer, the other categories such as Betta, Goldfish, and Discus also have some amazingly beautiful contestants!

We were walking through the Discus aisle when I randomly said, "They look like...."

And T finished it for me: Pomfret.

 A goldish with chubby cheeks! How cute is that!

One of the prize winner for the Betta category. T was explaining to me why this Betta won instead of its neighbour (shape of the tail etc) but I really can't tell much difference. 

The only Lohan fish we saw, and it also left a deep impression with its monstrous sized head lump. 

For an animal lover like myself, this biennial event is a definitely must go! For those who have missed out on this year, see you during the next one in 2017! 

Till then,

Mia Foo

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