Uncle Ong, 72, with bad back & knees, still feeding 30 cats a day in Kallang & Hougang

Uncle Ong, the cat feeder who feeds 30 or so cats a day in the Kallang industrial area, as well as near his home in Hougang, told me that he does not worry about the future.

"No need to worry. Just do it. I just pray," the 72-year-old bus driver said in Hokkien and English, without any hint if he was completely sincere or just saying things an elderly person would say so as not to bother other people with their problems.

But I do know he has problems, having conversed with him for over two years.

Health problems

He is bow-legged, has a bad back and knees, and he has been taking medication daily for "nerve issues" that affect how straight he stands.

In the last few years, he has taken falls.

And yet, he is seen daily bending over repeatedly, for at least 1.5 hours each time, feeding cats and cleaning up leftovers.

All because he loves cats and cannot stand to see them go hungry.

Here is another cat — not only looking to be fed, but showing its happy to flop over and follow him around with its tail in the air.

The cat maintains this ritual with him daily.

Uncle Ong is the only one who can get near them because some of these community cats can be skittish.

Accounting for public donations

As 2025 is almost up, it is time again to account to the public how their generous giving has helped.

In short, all money from the public has been used to buy wet cat food and dry kibbles.

A big shout-out to Steven Chan, the owner of S&S Pet's Shop at Tampines Street 44, for overseeing the disbursement of cat food sold to Uncle Ong at discounted prices.

About S$8,000 in donations per year

The public has donated about S$8,000 a year.

Total donations have come up to about S$16,000 in two years.

Recap: The public has been helping out since the first appeal was made in March 2023.

Prior to this arrangement, Uncle Ong had been forking out more than S$400 a month just to buy cat food.

He earns "S$1,000-plus" a month, he said previously.

This is why updates on Uncle Ong appear periodically: To provide a snapshot of this one-man cat-feeding operation, which is still running like clockwork.

A back-of-the-hand calculation previously showed that he spends about S$0.70 feeding each cat per day, which comes up to about S$20 a day.

Costs have since stabilised after a bout of inflation.

Challenges

Sometimes Uncle Ong has to rescue cats that get injured as well.

This takes a physical and emotional toll on him.

He was devastated when one cat in Kallang got ran over and lost a limb.

The injured orange cat, who got adopted, was separated from its orange sibling, who is still a community cat in Kallang.

Cannot go on holiday

Moreover, as a result of showing up daily for about 18 years, Uncle Ong has almost no way of taking a proper break.

In the past year, Uncle Ong said his wife has been asking him to take a break and go to Thailand with her for a holiday, but he has been putting it off.

"I have to go for one week. I can ask workers here to help feed the cats. But I feel uneasy when I am away," he said.

Shout-out to dormitory workers

Uncle Ong has been getting help from the immediate community in the Kallang industrial area so that he remains a responsible cat feeder.

Dormitory workers who reside in the vicinity have been supplying pails of free water so that Uncle Ong can wash down the areas that were used for feeding cats.

The workers have declined to take money from Uncle Ong, who initially offered to give them a small stipend for their efforts.

How to donate

Those who wish to help Uncle Ong purchase cat food for his daily feeding of cats can do so via this link.

The products are labelled "Cats of Kallang".

The pet shop overseeing the donations will allocate the cat food that the public has purchased for Uncle Ong to pick up.

Donors who are keen to help by contributing smaller sums can contact S&S Pet's Shop at [email protected].

All media by Mothership