Madame Obi

 In the summer of 2024, I retired from work and regularly went shopping by bike - always trying to find new routes. Directly it was 3 km, but occasionally I used routes of 20 km.

On one of these routes I met an old cat. I thought it was a female, but another person said it was a male, so I called it "Obi" from OB, which means "old boy". Soon I found out that my first impression was better, and I had to choose another name. I named her "Madame Obi".

She looked malnourished and ate everything I brought her. She was living in the grounds of one of those abandoned houses in Japan. So no one 'owned' her and she got only a little food from passers-by. She was deaf and couldn't find food for herself. This was the cause of her malnutrition.

She wasn't wary of people which surprised me. Later I found out that many people who walked in the area knew and liked her.

Her coat colors are unusual - as if two different cat parts had been sewn together, the front is grey and the back is brownish.

She seemed to be lonely and craved to be petted. She also turned out to be a real laptop cat.

When I arrived she always came to sniff if I brought some treats for her. She was very good at finding out.

When it got colder, her life changed. First, someone brought her a blanket which she seemed to like very much.

But then in December, she got really sick, caught a cold and her nose was completely closed. She didn't eat or drink for days.

I started giving her antibiotics when a woman arrived and said she was taking her to the vet, where she stayed for a week. She had lost a lot of teeth in her life and had eye problems. She was lucky enough to be adopted by this woman just in time to become a Christmas story.

She now lives in a home where she is not afraid of being hungry or cold. Her eye problems have also been cured. May she live happily ever after.