"My nephews and nieces think I’m crazy,” says Bella, who has fed stray cats in the same spot in Tiong Bahru since before Singapore was a country. She believes that cats have their own language, just like people. It’s just that most humans don’t understand it. After more than 60 years of feeding and caring for cats every day, Bella can read every miaow, hiss, twitch of an ear, swish of the tail or flash of the eyes better than any vet or animal psychologist could.
“Some of them – the miaow miaow miaow calls – I understand. When the mother is calling her kittens, I know what she’s saying. The vet would not know, but I know,” she says, while petting an extremely well-fed tortoiseshell curling around her legs