Ahead of closure, The Cat Museum launches campaign to raise S$1m

SINGAPORE — With its lease at Purvis Street ending on June 10, Singapore’s only cat museum will be shutting its doors on June 10.

The Cat Museum is now appealing to the public to donate to them, as it aims to raise S$1 million for a down payment to buy a permanent space and reopen before the end of the year, it announced on Thursday (Jan 25).

Twenty-four cats residing on the premises have also been put up for adoption.

“If 10,000 heroes give S$100 or 100,000 gives S$10, we will hit our target,” said the Cat Museum’s founder Jessica Seet. “Many people have already shown us a lot of support and tremendous kindness. We hope more will feel that what we do is worth continuing, and we want to leave something for the next generation.”

The funds raised will be used for several purposes such as a permanent “Kitty Orphanage, Kitten Kindergarten & Nursery” and education programmes such as “Kiddie Cat Camps” to nurture compassion, kindness and responsibilities.

The company’s top priority, however, is to find pet owners to adopt the last 24 cats and kittens.

Over the next 100 days or so, The Cat Museum will be rolling out a campaign, “Save The Cat Museum – 100 Days of Hope” on several crowdfunding websites and events which the museum is organising.

The Cat Museum, which started in 2015, used to occupy three floors of a shophouse along Purvis Street. It now occupies the second floor.

In September 2017, The Cat Museum was told by the Ministry of National Development (MND) to stop using the third floor of its premises as a shelter and adoption centre for cats as it constituted the unauthorised use of the space.

The MND had then said that Ms Seet had “illegally converted” the third floor into a cat shelter and adoption centre, following inspections by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) officers early in 2017.

The second floor was approved for commercial use, while the third and fourth floors were approved for residential use. However, visitors have been heading to the third floor to see or play with the cats. They also bought tickets to enter the area, the authorised noted.

The URA had sent The Cat Museum an enforcement notice, asking it to turn the third-floor space back to residential use. The enforcement notice upset the landlord of the shophouse and Ms Seet’s lease for the third and fourth floors were not renewed after September 2017.

At the time, Ms Seet said she was looking for bigger premises for The Cat Museum. The MND added that it would do its best to help her if she is looking for alternative spaces for a cat shelter and adoption centre.