Living with Feral Cats with English-subtitled (2014/91min/color/stereo)

While domestic cats are loved and protected as part of the family, feral cats live and die 　　　 　neglected and unnoticed.  But why is there so much difference?  Feral, stray or tame, they are　all cats.  They are all alive.　　　 　　　　　　　Trailer
　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　

Feral cats are pet cats abandoned by their owners, or descendants of pet cats who are free to go around without being spayed or neutered.  They are cats forsaken by people. 

First, my daughter brought home Evi, a kitten her friend found abandoned in a parking lot.  Nine years on, I now have four cats at home, because I have taken in more and more feral cats that wandered into our garden.  In this documentary I tried to chronicle my days with those cats as they grew from kittens to adults; I also went visiting with a video camera in hand government facilities and workshops, volunteer groups, and vets—and my quest even took me to animal shelters in Germany and the U.S.A.  

With the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics, more and more old buildings are being pulled down.  That means that feral cats that currently stay in those buildings will no longer be able to live there.  And so I had to make this film.  We should learn to live with cats.  We should find a way.

If you love cats or hate them, if you live in an area with an excessive and increasing population of cats, if you wish to learn more about the community cats movement or to know what exactly a “cat volunteer” does, then this film is for you.  It gives you the very basic information about feral cats and what we can do for them.  (Photo: Cats seen inside a cabin located in a cat colony in Portland, Oregon)

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About the director:  Etsuko Izumi

About “Living With Feral Cats”    Etsuko Izumi

Before my daughter came home with a kitten her friend found abandoned in a parking lot, I had a dog, Toto.  He had also been brought home by the same daughter.  I held him in my arms when he left this life at 15 years and 8 months of age.  At that time, I was an extremely busy working mother, struggling under the responsibilities of bringing up three children singlehandedly.  So I hardly ever had time for Toto.  He was almost always alone in our garden.  After he passed, I had an overwhelming sense of remorse and guilt.  I had let him spend his entire life out in the cold and never let him inside.  And so when the kitten came to live with us, I was determined to keep him in the house and give him a warm shelter from elements.

Five years after we found Evi, we caught Shima, a feral female that wandered into our garden.  She egested all kinds of worms from roundworms to tapeworms.  As a feral, she must have been constrained to eat anything and everything.  What a will to survive!  I could not but be impressed by this frail-looking female.

Our fourth cat was a male cat and we named him Kuro (meaning “Black” in Japanese).  We were shocked when we found that he was infested with AIDS and leukemia.  The vet told us that the diseases had not been passed on to him by his mother, but the infestation must have been the result of fighting or mating. 

If Kuro had been neutered, he might not have fought or mated and might not have become infested.  When I made up my mind to keep Kuro as a member of my cat family, I also decided to make a film that would help the world know the fundamentals about feral cats.  I also wanted to record the efforts of volunteers, veterinarians, and government workers who are trying 24/7 in order to save and help cats.  I also wanted to collect information and meet people in the U.S.A. where as in Japan the government euthanizes cats and in Germany where euthanizing is banned by the government.  And the film just grew and grew.

While love of “kitties” is very much a part of our childhood, as we grow older, we learn to discriminate adorable pets from unwanted strays that present sanitary hazard.  Why can we no longer cherish them as we once did?  Are they really filthy creatures?  What are they really like?  The answers to these questions have not been readily available.   

It is not yet widely known that in Japan approximately 180,000 cats, including fit and healthy ones, are “humanely killed” before their time every year, by the government using carbon dioxide gas.  When you next see a feral cat in the street, I would like you to remember this film.　

Etsuko Izumi - Biography：Born in Tokyo, she majored in theater and drama at Waseda University and worked as an assistant director for a documentary company before going independent. To date she has written and/or directed more than 100 government and corporate videos, as well as many on such issues as women's independence, medicine and animals.  Funded by a corporate foundation at age 50, she enrolled in a diploma program at the New York University before making her first independent documentary feature, “Why We Japanese Women Live in New York” in 2006.      In 2007, “Psychologist Tsuruko Haraguchi—Memories of Her Days at Columbia University in the 1900s” was completed.  The film was invited to take part in the official selection of Tokyo International Women’s Film Festival, Aichi International Women’s Film Festival, Takasaki Film Festival, and Cameroun International Women’s Film Festival among others.      In 2009, “Psychologist Tsuruko Haraguchi” was awarded the Fumiko Yamaji Film Award.  　　 In 2011, Izumi wrote the drama film “Ekureru,” and in 2014, completed “Living With Feral Cats."