These are some of the silliest reasons pet owners have offered for dumping their furry friends, said Ms Deirdre Moss, the executive officer of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) here.
But they are why 9,328 animals - cats, dogs, rabbits and hamsters - were left at the SPCA between July last year and June this year.
Of this number, more than 3,000 were dogs. And among abandoned dogs, over half were pedigreed.
To stem this flood, the SPCA gives talks at schools - from primary to tertiary - to spread the message about responsible pet ownership.
It is an attempt to tackle the problem at the source - the SPCA lacks the space and resources to care for every animal left at its premises in Mount Vernon Road.
Of the more than 3,000 dogs it received from July last year to June this year, over 2,000 had to be put down.
All licensed pet dogs are required to be micro-chipped, but the SPCA still finds 80 'lost' dogs each month with no information on them.
Barely one in 10 of all animals the society gets is adopted or claimed by owners.
Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD), a non-profit organisation which rescues stray and abandoned dogs, has a no-kill policy, but it has to rely on its network of 20 to 30 dog owners to help look after them temporarily.
The ASD has close to 100 dogs at its adoption centre in Lim Chu Kang and elsewhere.
Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times
