Helpline

Someone suggested this to me and I decided to give a try. What is it? Simple.

All you need to do is write your problem to me. I can't guarantee a good answer but I can try. If you want to remain anonymous that's fine with me. To remain anonymous, just write your problem in the "comment section" without putting your name. If you want to be brave, just email me your problem (my email is at the right bar).

For starters, let's come up with an imaginary letter from someone that reads something like this:

Dear Steph,

I have a problem. My problem is this. I have a cat and dog at home that doesn't seem to get along very well. I have read books on cat/dog training but still they will fight whenever they see each other. Furthermore, I stay in a small HDB flat. So the chance of one meeting the other is actually quite high.

Once I came back from NTU and saw poor Brownie (the name of the cat) injured. Toodles (name of dog) was injured too! I asked my mom and she said that Brownie and Toodles had fought while I was in NTU. I can't help but cry when I see both my darlings hurt.

What should I do?

Guardian of Brownie and Toodles.

Okay the above is just an example okay. I may not know much about cats and dogs. All I know is that they fight. But sometimes there are some pairs that just seem to get along well.

What would my reply to this letter be? Hm...let me see...a rough (I emphasize ROUGH) reply would be this:

Dear Guardian of Brownie and Toodles,

First of all, I must say that it's a commendable feat to have a pet cat and dog at the same time. It's not easy but hey, if you love both animals I guess it will be fine.

Maybe you can try this. Allow both animals to spend more time together. Like bringing both animals out to the park at the same time (I know that people walk the dog...but walk the cat? That would be something new). You see if Brownie sees Toodles and vice versa, they will be familiar to each other and not treat the other as an enemy.

Another way would be to place their sleeping place in an area. Then decrease the area slowly until they are just next to each other. Let's say you place Brownie at one corner of the room and Toodles at the other end. After one week, decrease the distance between both sleeping places by a certain distance (this distance will be the maximum distance between Brownie and Toodles without them fighting). Repeat this until they are just beside each other...aww...ain't that cute.

Well, I am not animal expert but the above are two points that you can try out.

By the way...Toodles just sounds...weird. However, that's just my opinion :)

Regards,
Steph

The above is just a rough reply.

So I hope you get the idea. I don't know why my friend suggested this idea of me being "Aunt Agony" but hey...why don't give it a try?

Remember, you can tell your problem via the comments or to my email.

Oh yah, if your problem is fictitious, it's fine with me too.

I wonder who will be the first...and what will the problem be...hm...(that is IF anyone wants to write to me that is...lol.)