Story of Taro

I remembered the very day I became a foster parent for SPCA – Tuesday, June 6, 2001. I fostered two little kittens with cat flu but they were not too difficult to take care of.

On the weekend of the same week, when I was chatting away at Borg-Liu store, the store keeper came back and said that up on the slopes at Tai-Yuen, a blind kitten was sitting in a box next to the garbage bin. It had been raining on and off all day. If the poor kitty is left there to sit through another rain, kitty was sure to go. Running up the slopes, I found a very thin and tiny white and ginger kitty with eyes tightly closed sitting in the corner of a soaked carton box. An opened box of milk was beside him. Perhaps from a kind passer-by or a last gift from his owner – just someone who did not know that most cats could not take cow-milk. A few people were standing around the carton box. "I would like to help but I am afraid that he might infect my other cats!" "He doesn't have eyes at all….." Many were sympathetic but who would want a blind cat? There was no time to waste. It could rain again any time. So I picked up the box, threw away the milk and ran to the vet. But the vet's office was closed. I had to take kitty home and wait for the vet the next morning.

When we got home, I had to separate my foster kitties from this new kitty. Then I carefully cleaned new kitty's eye and found that his eyes were shut only because they were too swollen. He also had a wound on his toes and his fur was very, very thin. Little kitty was still very frightened and curled up timidly. Well, kitty needed a name. Looking at his closed eyes, I thought of Katsu Shintaro the famous Japanese actor who played the part of Zatoichi, the Blind Samurai. Shintaro was not blind - he only pretended to be blind, and so should this poor kitty. Taro was his name.

Taro's road to recovery was a long and winding one. The first vet diagnosed Taro as having an eye infection and cat flu but said that Taro was too young for medication. Suspecting that more could be done, we went to another vet. This time medication and ointment were given for his cornea ulcer and cat flu. The vet specifically said that the eye ointment had to be administered three times a day, but I had to go to work. The only way was to swap day for night – apart from once in the morning and evening, there was once in the dark of the night. The alarm clock was set at 4am. A few days later, Taro's eyes started to show despite a sheer white layer over them. But two weeks later, Taro started to lose hair on his feet and tail. Off to the vet again. This time it was fungus. When the hair started growing back, new eye ointment was needed. The flu was still not cleared and Taro had a fever. Even the vet frowned.

Poor Taro. Endless medicine and ointment, and he was still so skinny. He had the perfect figure modern ladies crave for. No baby fat at all. He would only grow longer and never any rounder. Others would definitely think that his owner was ill-treating him. He was also an introvert. Other kittens would be running around, playfully fighting. But Taro would only sit and watch.

By the time Taro was 2 months old, his health was still a roller-coaster ride. Only on asking, did the vet gave me a even bigger worry – he suspected Taro to have FIV, the Aids for cats. I felt doomed! The vet suggested sending a blood sample to the States for analysis, but needed to wait until Taro's health was more steady. As the blood test would cost a fortune, I sought a second opinion. The new vet suggested a simpler blood test could be done locally in the clinic. Only if suspicious results turned up should we consider sending the samples to the States. The wait for the test result was so hard to bear. To my relief, the result was negative.

Taro slowly grew stronger but his eyes were still a problem. Apart from the scars cornea ulcer had left him, Taro he had inward-grown eye lashes which poked at his cornea. If left untreated, he might go blind one day. . Taro had already gone through a cryo-operation to remove the inward-grown eye lashes but the problem did not go away completely. He might need another surgery in a few months' time. Now, whenever I reach for wet towels or eye drops for Taro, he would start playing hide-and-seek with me. But despite all the worries I had for Taro, I was glad that I picked up the box on that rainy day. Even the sickest kitten deserves a chance. Just take a look at these two photo, and I think you would agree with me.

Taro on his first day home	Taro at about 1 year old