Yesterday, I went to an old woman who asked me to trap a stray cat to spay.
Our group was registered as a city volunteer 2 years ago and she was the first client after we appeared on the city news magazine.

I visited her house and saw the black female cat, and thought that this cat was one of those we trapped and returned after spaying 2 years ago, but she claimed that this cat was another one, because her neighbor said this cat had given birth under old woman's house in last October.

She doesn't become forgetful - though she often says same thing - she remember many things clearly.But she didn't go out of the house and she didn't confirm the kittens by herself.
She stays in her house all day long and she can do her stuffs by herself.
But she has a respiratory disease and has to take on ventilator every time, so she can't go out alone.

 That's because I wondered if the cat really was another one...?


Another reason I thought the cat was same as we trapped before was that she was very cautious with the trap and she would never enter it.
I waited 30 minutes after setting the trap.The cat came and walked around and ate all food in front of the trap, then she sat next to the trap waiting the old woman came and feed her.
I doubted the cat knew of the trap!!

But the old woman kept going that cat was another one, so I waited more than 1 and half hour, but she ran away at last. So I had to give up yesterday.

I listened to her stories while we were waiting. I like to hear stories of old people, because they have had many experiences I never knew.

This time, she told about a dog she had kept by 5 years ago.
The dog was a male, Shiba mixed one and 17 years old when he died.He became senile and had many diseases.He walked around the house in the midnight, crying oddly, and failed to use his toilet.
The old woman had had hard days to take care of him.Finally the dog died on December 31th, the busiest day in a year here in Japan.She called a pet funeral company on the New Year's Day,  cremated the body and buried carefully as same as a human.
She said all family had cried and they still visit to his grave every year.

Then her grandchild wrote a composition about this story at her junior school, and she won the prize! Her teacher impressed with the composition very much and it was on the air at the local radio.
It was Great!! The girl had a very important experience, I think.

I found this news on WEB today.
The news said it's a very famous video so maybe you have watched.
It's very cute!! This is;


And another news is here.
It's "Year of the Tiger" this year, so in HongKong, the cats agility contest was held.

Looks like very robust!

Now I have many requests for TNR here and there.
I visited some feeders to check the situation and arranged when and how we could trap cats and bring them to vets.
I trap cats or kittens and bring them to spay/neuter almost every Saturday, but yesterday, I couldn't trap any cats at the all places where I was asked by the feeders.
It's always like this...it's getting more and more difficult to trap cats at the same place, because the rest of cats would learn what traps would do for them!

I gave up and had to arrange for next time, and I had no choice but to stay home and do households.
Then, I took a rest with my daughter, who just ended her first entrance exam for the university.
This is the photo of my daughter and our cat, Tamasaburo.

My daughter is loved by cats, everywhere and everytime.
She can hold the cats who are so shy that no family member could touch.

Tamasaburo looks like very happy to be pet by my daughter!

My co-workers and I went to a Japanese restaurant and ate expensive lunch than usual...

At first, the appetizer was served. It was marinated fish.

 

Then, the main lunch box with SOBA noodle came.
There were four boxes and SASHIMI, TEMPURA, boiled fish and vegitables, SUSHI in them.

And the last was dessert, a pudding with strawberry and black beans.
All of them tasted very good and we all satisfied.
We had a little bit gorgeous time!

Last time I wrote that there is only one shrine that worships cats in Japan, but it was not true.
I read this news today, it says "The stones statues of Cat God were found in the northern part of Japan."
This is the photo on the news site.

A long time ago, silk raising industry was very popular in this area.
So people used to worship cats, because cats attack mice, which is the enemy of silkworm.
People made cat shaped stone statues and put them in the shrines or individuals' houses.

Silk raising industry used to develop here and there in Japan, so I think the similar statues could be found other areas.
Then, I searched "Cat God" by google and found there are many shrines and temples related to faith of "Cat God".

Then, I bought this book at Amazon, named "Pathway of Cat God".

We have many many Cat God all of Japan!

We have a custom to worship cats.
"MANEKINEKO", (happy cats or welcoming cats?) is representative one.
It is a ceramic ornament which shapes cat, that raises one hand to invite people, money and happy.

This is the MANEKINEKO I found at the porch of a Japanese sweets shop.

And these were at the porch of a Chineese noodle shop.

Today I read a news about the only shrine in Japan which enshrine Cat as God.
The shrine is at Tokushima prefecture and named "OMATSU DAIGONGEN", which derives from the story of "BAKENEKO" or a monster cat.
"OMATSU" was a name of woman whose husband was a village mayor.
He borrowed money from a marchant and died soon after payed back money.
But the marchant didn't recognize that he payed back, and OMATSU claimed to the Lord but he  didn't listen to her either, finally OMATSU was put to death.

After that, a monster cat appeared on the house of the marchant and the Lord, and many terrible things happened.So people built a shrine to appease the soul of OMATSU.

Now a lot of test-takers for entrance exam visit this shrine, because this God is supposed to back up to pass the exam.

The last news is about a cat of Jesus Christ
What do you think with this? ;-)

My job started from Jan. 4th, as every year.
Our New Year's Holidays begin from Dec.28th to Jan.3rd, but this year 4th is Monday, so we have to work on full weekdays from Monday after a week of holidays.

It's on Wednesday yet...it seems to be veeeery long this week...

By the way, I found a funny news today.
"Tama", maybe the most famous cat in Japan who works as a stationmaster at the local railway station, became an executive at the railway company!

The original news is here.

Actually "Tama" is a popular name of cat here in Japan.
In the animation "Sazaesan", heroine's family has a white cat named "Tama".

Our cat is "Tamasaburo", named after the famous KABUKI actor, but we also wanted to include "tama" in his name.
But we call him "Sabu", not "Tama".
He won't work at all unlike another "Tama", he sleeps in front of the stove all day long!

Now it's the New Year's Day.
We had a cold morning and a little snow.
Our cat, Tamasaburo was waiting in front of the stove for it would be fired, when I got up.
We took OZOUNI and OSECHI, the new year's dishes like every year, and go to Shrine to pray for health and peace in this year, too.

The last year, I was a little busier than usual with my volunteer work.
It was anyhow achieved what I declared to do last year, to promote TNR in our region and to cooperate the animal control center with improving local cat situations.
And, it's amazing for me, as a person who would be soon bored, could have continued to write this blog for a year.
I think it's owing to the Enter Card, because I wrote my blog if someone might read it.
My "New Year's resolution" is same as the last year, and I have to work much harder this year.
Anyway, I'm going to take a rest in the New Year Holidays, so that I would work with new energy again!