The Neko-chan eats some hot dog

Stray animals are very rare here in Hokkaido. Probably because animals are so expensive.  Who would lose one after paying 198,000 yen for a kitten? Dogs wear cute costumes and are always on their leashes with their people.  Cats are usually in houses, although I have seen a cat or two walking on a leash.  Recently we’ve noticed a skinny, rough looking black and white neko prowling around the neighborhood. Ted was sitting out on the balcony reading this weekend when he called me to see the cat. It looked like it was eating a bug (maybe the one that flew in our apartment?) or chewing on some grass. We tried talking to it in English and Japanese and it looked up at us. It probably felt pretty safe since we were on the third floor. Ted threw it some chunks of hot dog. The hot dogs didn’t go right to the cat, since they were coming from the third floor on a windy day, but the cat finally found them and ate them.

It didn’t seem to be in any hurry, but continued on its way after eating its little treat.