Monday June 20th was a great day with many volunteers. Selena's dad, Blane, had recently come to Japan to help out, Tamy and her mother stayed for a few days, and of course, Susan, Selena, and myself for in Inawashiro. With so many great volunteers we got a good deal of organizing done.
However, we were quite worried about one of the kittens from the litter rescued with their mother. The black and white girl (recently named Stella) was losing weight unexpectedly. We needed to go to a veterinary clinic anyway to take Koo and Lee because they both had abscesses (we discovered Lee's that morning). So we went to Koriyama City to a veterinarian recommended to us by Miwa with the Lee, Koo, Stella, and the black cat from the litter. I was a little concerned considering my previous experiences with Japanese vets.
My concerns were quickly alleviated by the animals for adoption signs in the waiting room of the Koriyama vet clinic and by the way in which the technicians handled the cats. The veterinarian examined the kittens and took a fecal sample. He diagnosed roundworms and even asked me to confirm by looking at the microscope! When we told him that the kittens were being housed with other kittens who certainly also had roundworm infections he even gave us medicine for all of them! For Koo and Lee he flushed the wounds with iodine and asked if I would do this for the next few days. It was really great to be included in the treatment plan for the cats by a Japanese vet!
We took the cats home and everyone was in the Dog Cafe at Club LOHAS. We pulled out some donated wine and made a night of it!
On Tuesday June 21st, we took care of more organizational issues. A new volunteer, Sylvia, arrived and she had some IT experience. She fixed our internet for us while Blane and Selena worked on fencing for the dogs. While everyone was busy doing that stuff, I vaccinated all of the puppies, Samu, and the kittens and dewormed everyone. A very productive day!
On Wednesday the 22nd (Chicken Wednesday!) I took Blane and Sylvia to feed the chickens. It was a fairly uneventful drive, only one cop stopping us to check IDs. We quickly took care of the chickens, but heard frantic barking in the distance. I hadn't heard barking from that direction before so we headed down there to see what was going on. We found a house with 5 dogs chained outside and 3 cats roaming. They all had food and water, but one of the cats looked really emaciated. Other animal rescue groups had posted flyers on the door of the house, but the owner had also posted a flyer telling us not to remove the animals. There wasn't really anything we could do, so we just left a flyer on which Sylvia wrote that we could help them obtain free veterinary care for the animals.
Driving out of Namie we stopped at Amano san's house to drop off the cat food she had requested and to ask her about the house with the animals. She told us that she, too, was quite worried about the animals and had previously admonished the owner for the way in which they were being kept. She promised to speak to them again and see if the owner would release the animals to JEARS.
Also on our way out we trapped a cat! I had seen this orange tabby roaming the road in front of the Tsushima Junior High School. Someone had set up a feeding station there, but hadn't fed in a very long time. When we saw him this time, I got out of the car with a can of food and he approached me staying about 10 feet away at all times. We put down a cat trap and trapped him within 5 minutes! We've since name him Stanley! He was clearly someone's pet who probably evacuated. He's shy, but sweet.
Sorry I can't figure out why it uploaded sideways. But here is Stanley!
Thursday June 23rd was just an animal care, laundry, and Denny's day! Also, Sylvia left which made me really bummed :(
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