TokyoProgressive has been presenting news and commentary in English and occasionally Japanese for more than 20 years. In order to pay for expenses related to hosting (including the free websites we provide to progressives and educators), we have long asked for donations, but the reality is that only 2-3 people have contributed a maximum of 200 U.S. dollars in those 20 years.
However, this time we are making a special appeal for one of our cats. Some of you know that we have 10 rescued cats, included one whose hind legs had been severed by someone. Her siblings too had been abused and rescued by Japan Cat Network. In addition, we also do TNR in cooperation with an NPO in Fukuoka prefecture in order to stabilize the feral cat population. This involves neutering the cats and then returning them to the environment, where they are looked after by volunteers.
Of course when we speak of funding a news site, the reality is all our other day to day expenses limit what we are able to do, and now that I am retired from my university jobs there are even more limitations. Food and medical care for our own cats as well as the donations we make to the Catnip NPO representative a substantial portion of our limited income (only one of us now has a full time job). We are also involved in a project providing food and medical care to people living in poverty, which consumes time, if not money.
But now we have a special case, that of one of our “rescues,” Blackie, a 3-and-a-half short-tailed cat, suddenly became ill with breathing difficulties on January 2, 2018. Trial and error with one doctor, and since yesterday, a cardiologist, has narrowed down the diagnosis to Restrictive Cardiomyopathy, the rarest and most severe form of this disease. Blackie uses a rental oxygen tent at times and takes 3 medications. The cost in the one month we have been treating him has come to about 3000 U.S. dollars, and so we have resorted to something we don’t like doing but felt we had little other alternative. We are now living on savings.
https://vimeo.com/252833245
If you are burdened with expenses or other things you donate to, please do not feel you have to donate to Blackie. There is only so much one can do. However, if you can spare anything, please consider sending whatever it is to go toward Blackie’s care. We have already received 400 dollars of a temporary goal of 4000 dollars. We aim to give Blackie a good quality of life for the estimated 6 months to 1.5 years he has left to live.
Thank you.
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