Matcha

A Kyoto resident from Canada contacted us because she saw an injured cat in Uji. The cat had an eartip, so she had been part of a TNR project at some point. But she had what looked like a serious problem with her mouth. The kitty was very friendly. Yesterday we went out to check. It didn’t take long to find her. She was in the garden of a house where we saw several other eartipped cats hanging out.

We talked with the resident who told us that they had applied for city subsidies and a local TNR volunteer had helped get the cats to Zero No Kai for spay/neuter. But the injured cat had shown up only a couple of weeks ago, already eartipped. They began to feed her with the others. They were happy for us to take her for medical care and to find her an indoor home if possible.

We brought her back to the Rescue House in Kyoto. Today we went to Zero No Kai where she tested FIV/FELV negative, had a normal blood panel, and was expertly examined. The mouth issue is a rodent ulcer. She received treatment for that, and we got more parasite meds, since she would need a repeat. Matcha is one of the friendliest cats we have ever seen living on the streets. Though she is very socialized to humans, at around 5 years of age, she appears to have not lived indoors in a while. She’s very dirty and unfamiliar with the concept of a bed. She uses the litter box, but then pulls pellets out to make a nest to sleep in. That’s ok—we know it can take time to understand that comfort is there and available, after so long going without. We have high hopes that her painful and dark days are over now, with many loving and bright days ahead.