# Hi from Japan



## gardencat (Jul 6, 2013)

Hi. I live in a rural part of Japan. I am owned by a very spoiled and vocal 7 yr old Chinchilla Silver as well as 10 yr old Himalayan. They need lots of daily care due to knots and are total fluff making machines. But provide so much love and joy, they are always worth the effort! They are always kept indoors, as it is far too dangerous with many wild cats outside. They are too busy sleeping and eating most of the time to be bothered with anything like things outdoors anyway. They sometimes have a peek out the door, but after a sniff or two, become totally disinterested and return inside to sleep. This is lucky, since it is a little dangerous outside. Being Japan, there are many, many wild and farm cats everywhere. They survive on their own and cannot be mixed with house cats. Unfortunately, we are in a well protected bamboo area next to a hidden road which makes it very easy for horrible (ex)owners to dump their poor little city bought kittys when they outgrow their honeymoon period of cuteness. It is so sad!!! We have already saved so many extremely cute, smoochy kittens and found new homes. (We even revisited some owners and happy to say that most of the cats are now living lives of TOTAL loving luxury! They deserve it after what they went through!!!). It costs us money to take them to vets and find owners, but what is the alternative? We don't have the heart to just leave hungry, ill-prepared kitty meowing in the garden to fend for for itself in the wild. We have continued to care for three extra cats who were left by themselves too long before we found them too. We de-sexed, de-ticked and got rid of fleas, but they are too wild/old (and one too ugly!!!.. He is like Brutus!) to give away. They are our outside garden friends now. We are never allowed too close to them, but they know we usually save them a day's hunting. They are never allowed anywhere near our clueless indoor princesses who know nothing of the realities of living in the real world outside. We found another very hungry young kitty just recently. He's a wild cat's kitten who lost Mum, so won:t be able to give away. Another garden friend??? I have a question about him, so part of my reason to join this forum. We took video because he was just toooo cute!! Anyway, a long introduction.. sorry! Hello all on this forum!!! (I hope to post my question and maybe someone can help me soon.)


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## JungliBillis (Mar 20, 2013)

Hi and welcome! That is so good of you to save those poor feral cats, dumped by their irresponsible owners.


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## bluemilk (Oct 3, 2005)

OO! Rural Japan! Are there lots of ryokan (inns) where you live? Sounds like you've gotten into the inn business! lol! Anyway,welcome to the forum!


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## wallycat (Nov 10, 2012)

Welcome!
If you can catch the kitten, they are easier to tame when they are so young. I am curious if there are other feral cats besides your "garden friends" since you indicated they were spay/neutered and yet there is a kitten!! The little guy may have a chance if you want to expend the energy. As others have said, a very kind thing of you to do with the outdoor cats.


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

Thank you for having a heart and helping those that trusted humans and were betrayed.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

Hajimemashita!  

You're doing a great thing taking in these cats and finding homes for them... the wild ones (we call them feral) can often be tamed if you work at it. All of mine were feral, they had been owned by someone in the past and had stopped trusting people. It took months/over a year to gain their trust, feeding and socializing them daily. They were adults though, kittens can be much easier to tame. It's a very rewarding experience to take a feral cat and turning it into a loving kitty.

I look forward to seeing your video. Hopefully someone can help answer your questions.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Welcome!! I lived in Japan for 3 years in Iwakuni (near Hiroshima). My son was made - and born - in Japan!!


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## Jetlaya67 (Sep 26, 2012)

Welcome! You are very kind for taking care of the unwanted ones and finding homes for the other ones. I would lone to see pictures of your house fur babies and your garden friends.


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## gizmothecat (Jun 26, 2013)

Japan has Shibas....i LOVE Shibas

isnt cat island in Japan??? i saw a video on it once. welcome to the group. i agree a young kitten would be easier to tame:wolfie


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## gardencat (Jul 6, 2013)

Wow! Thank you so much for such a warm welcome everyone ! I didn't expect any responses. I am humbled.... I hope to get to know each of you more on this forum over time

I am also so happy there are obviously so many other people in the world who have such big hearts for cats.



Jetlaya67 said:


> I would lone to see pictures of your house fur babies and your garden friends.


 This is a video of our indoor Chinchilla Silver "hunting" the best way he knows how after years indoors. In reality, he wouldn't have a clue what to do! 

Fur cat hunts fur seals - YouTube


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## gardencat (Jul 6, 2013)

To answer some questions... 

Yes, there are many "feral" cats in our area. They are everywhere in Japan. Not all, but many of these cats have short stubby tails only about 4 inches long and the last bone in the tip is bent sideways. (It feels horrible to stroke that last bit of tail ... lol.) 

These kittens/cats are extremely hard to give away, as everyone knows they were once totally wild.... Some farmers and other people feed and keep them as outside cats if they find them, but would rarely set out to adopt one from elsewhere if they wanted a family cat. 

We "know" around maybe 6-7 of the regular extremely wild ferals which often patrol the territory here. They can be pretty scary, vicious cats!!! They often have lots of disease too, but we can't do much for them. They take off the moment they see you. It is just part of Japan... they are everywhere and have been for literally centuries or more! Basically, realtively few people bother or care for this type of feral wild cat as the thinking is they are are equivalent of a racoon or weezle (??? as best analogy I can think of.) 

The garden cats we adopted are slightly different. They are cats which were obviously dumped and were pet cats at one stage in their lives. Alley cats usually learn the skills to survive from their Mums early on, but these cats have to learn once dumped and usually do not cope well. They get beaten up by the neighborhood ferals if not found and partly protected quickly. The three garden cats we have are these ones. Ex-dumped, but left in the wild to fend for themselves for too long to become family cats. 

They have slowly learned to trust us, but are still always very timid and not easy to touch. 

The new little kitty I spoke of however, is around an 8 week old alley alley cat with a bent tail. He obviously lost his Mum (maybe died of hit by car??) and he was crying very loudly all day and night in the garden area for a week or so before he would even start to consider food from us. We tried to give food to him, but he just always ran OVER the food dish and ran away. Too young and no hunting skills. 

He was so hungry and thankful when he finally found the food the first time. We were so happy! We are making progress and so relieved after so sad and constant calls for a Mum last week.... 

This is him: 

Nyan, nyan, nyan .... so hungry! He's talking. It's so cute! We are repaid for our effort simply because we see he is finally soooooo happy to eat !!!! ....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu2FLqsR_as


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Ha! What a beautiful cat!! and such a great hunter!


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Marcia said:


> Ha! What a beautiful cat!! and such a great hunter!


I was referring to the chinchilla! The kitten looks SO happy to be finally eating a decent meal! I hope he comes around often for other needs like companionship and affection. You are kind to help him/her.


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## gardencat (Jul 6, 2013)

Thanks Marcia. Our Chinchilla also seems to have a similarly close relationship with the weatherman's map pointer.


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