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Sunday 22 April 2012

Singapore Cats

I am at present writing a romantic suspense with a hero, Danny, who is a Singaporean policeman. I had a wonderful week in Singapore last year and saved up loads of memories. One of the things I saw behind the lovely Scarlet Hotel where we stayed, was a backstreet with loads of healthy stray cats. My detective hero is a good guy, and has taken in a stray who helps to stop ease his loneliness (see what I did there guys, I made him a super caring but lonely guy - you're just desperate for him to meet the woman of his dreams!). I have yet to find a suitable oriental name for my kitty character, but it will come. The most amazing thing about the real strays I saw was they had these small stubby wierd little tails. Some of them were fan shaped - most odd! I used to take a stroll behind the Scarlet Hotel very early in the morning and one day, I encountered the reason why the cats gathered there. A young woman, would pop into the local supermarket on her way to work and pick up food for them. The cats would gather really early as they knew exactly where she would feed them, and a little crowd would wait for her. I understand there is a programme of sterilisation in Singapore so that the street strays don't get out of hand. All the same, they were lovely to look at because unlike some of the strays I have seen on the streets of Istanbul who were very ill and quite distressing to behold, in the main the Singapore strays were pretty healthy. I understand the stubby-tail thing is genetic, they are just a species of cat in the way that gingers or jellicles or manx cats are a species. Anyhow, here's a photo of a cat like Danny's.

6 comments:

margaret blake said...

What a lovely blog. I love the short tailed cats, they look so attractive.
I like the tail-less Manx cats too.
Good to hear that people care for these strays.I can't wait to read your new book, sounds intriguing.

Rena George said...

I love the idea for the new book. I'm not a great cat person, but your Singapore-based detective sounds really different and exciting.I can picture him already.
Will this be a PN, Cara, or something longer?

Cara Cooper said...

Something longer, Rena - about 70 - 100,000 words I hope. In other words, a full length novel. I have written a 70k novel but never did much with it. This one feels much more likely to be something I can place. But then, they all do at the beginning, before it goes horribly wrong and sags in the middle. I'm still at that hopeful stage where it's all perfect (and ahem, largely unwritten!)

Cara Cooper said...

Hi Margaret

They have a concerted programme of sterilisation for the poor little cats and you can tell which ones have been 'done' by a small nick in their ears. A little undignified for them I think. But that sort of efficiency is Singapore all over. A photographer has done a book with lovely photos to record them all before the phenomenon of the stray cat disappears from the streets. It is better that there is a proper programme but it was still lovely to see them.

Flowerpot said...

Lovely picture, Cara - and great idea for a book. In Greece they do terrible things to stray cats...

Rena George said...

Sorry to change the subject, Cara. Just wanted to thank you for stopping by my shiny new blog. I was a bit slow in finding you over there.