Lots happening, as always…First, 2 new little rescues as of late last Friday night. The jury is still out on what color they might be under all of that dirt, but for the time being they are both grayish white. David saw them on his way to the station after teaching English classes at the YMCA. They were huddled in an unused gated stairway alcove, near the garbage area of a large supermarket. No mom in sight, and around 7 or 8 weeks of age. David gave them a bit of food and called me to bring out a trap, so I jumped on the train at around 10pm to head out there. The kittens were so hungry that they were eating any twigs or debris surrounding the food that David initially put down. He didn’t want to give them too much food right away, because they weren’t friendly enough to easily pick up, and we needed to be sure that we could lure them into a trap. It ended up taking longer to catch them than we thought. The alcove was just a few feet from the edge of a very busy road, and the kittens would dart out to investigate the trap and then back again quickly. We caught one within a short time, but the other became much more wary without the sibling along side it, and we waited over an hour before being able to finally catch it. Back to home and to the shelter after midnight, luckily catching one of the last trains!

These two seemed very unsocialised at first…terrified of any sounds or approaching hands (one actually bit David during the initial transfer from the trap). But not really hissy, scratchy or growly. We tried the usual slow petting using a wand toy, gradually changing to a hand, and then picking the kittens up to hold for short periods. They ended up improving very quickly, given how scared they were at the onset. They have stopped reacting to noises, have started to play together and with us, and will eat even if we are near the cage. They seem to love their new cushy life! Yesterday Hitomi came to look at what we thought might be her new hard cases, and was pleasantly surprised. The kittens will go home with her tomorrow, and I’m sure they will still benefit from the “Hitomi Circle” as we now call it! We’ve decided not to bathe the two for at least a week or so, as we don’t want to push our luck with making friends with them. They seem to be covered in the kind of grime we see associated with cars and parking lots,giving a charcoal coloring to what looks like white fur underneath. Now lightening in color every day, and we’ve applied Revolution to take care of the flea problem. One kitten had some eye discharge, but the vet thought that medicated eye-drops would take care of that and it has improved using the drops in a very short time. They already look like new kittens!

One of the ladies with a rescued kitten in Tokyo that we’ve been helping long-distance has had a terrible time getting to the bottom of a serious health problem that the kitty wasn’t getting over. The initial vet diagnosed Herpes and treated with antibiotics, drips, etc. but when David was out in Tokyo he had a look at the kitten, and he told her that the problem didn’t look anything like Herpes. The kitten was literally gasping for breath, and David thought it looked more like some internal injury. The woman went back to the vet and asked that the kitten be X-rayed, which was done and resulted in the vet giving steroids for severely infected lungs. The kitten improved slightly but was once again struggling to breathe and unable to eat soon after. Somewhere along the line a second vet at an emergency clinic looked at the kitten and continued the course of treatment set out by the original vet. It took a third vet (a few weeks later) to find the broken ribs and hernia that had most probably resulted from being hit by a car! This poor woman had been nursing the kitten along, going to the vet near daily for treatment that was in no way going to solve the problem. Very frustrating. It does look like a surgery will be able to now repair the damage, but it’s hard to imagine the pain and trauma that this kitten had to endure getting to this point. Of course besides that, is the great cost and stress accumulated by the very dedicated rescuer. I just hope that the worst is over and that the kitten is now on the road to a much happier life.

I’m planning to go out to Tokyo this coming weekend to take a few kitties for adoption and fostering, as well as to meet up with a representative from another NPO. We have some ideas for collaborating in the future, which I find very hopeful. A Tokyo site has been such a hard nut to crack, but perhaps if we don’t have to manage the new site on our own, we’ll have a much better chance of getting something up and running there. Urban areas have a larger pool of potential volunteers and adopters, as well as being much better for scheduling events. David went out to Osaka Sunday evening to meet with volunteers and talk about that sort of thing, as well as cat welfare in general. Louise is determined to get things more organized in Osaka, which would be nice, and of course Gina has been a fostering/TNR dynamo there. I’m so grateful for all of the newfoster families in Kansai and Tokyo…we never would have been able to rescue the large number of kittens this year without them. 2 new foster placements in Kyoto, with Gino and Guinness probably going to one. Still working out potential adoptions, and will be sending whoever is left out to the other.