Mother cat Shuri was a shy but resourceful cat who lived on the streets of Da Nang, Vietnam. Our team was impressed; she was able to survive for so long in a region where cat stealing is rampant. For a while Shuri was fed by a little boy and every day he noticed that Shuri was getting fatter and fatter. One day, much to his surprise, he discovered that she had given birth to five kittens.
It wasn’t long before the feeder received an anonymous call asking about the cats. The caller wanted to know if he would sell the cats for traditional medicine. He refused.
News broke that a boy was feeding a family of black cats, a delicacy in Vietnam called «Little Tiger». Black cats are often targeted for their supposed medicinal properties, and it wasn’t long before his phone started ringing constantly, with many people pressuring him to sell the cats. Luckily for Shuri and her babies, the boy kept their shelter a secret.
However, he became more fearful that thieves would steal the black cat family and sell it to a local cat dealer. Fearing the danger the cat family was in, a man called our response team to see if we could help. Without hesitation, we took the family into our care. When we picked them up, the kittens were staring at our rescue team and Shuri was very scared because she had spent most of her young life avoiding people.
When the family arrived at PAWS for Compassion, our local partner organization, the team found the kittens to be around 3-4 weeks old. The kittens were given the names Monkey, Emerald, Satcha, Ruby, and Saffre. Her mother was named Shuri.
When the cats grew old enough, we provided them with much-needed medical treatments, including vaccinations, deworming and spaying. At four months old, kittens Satcha and Monkey were welcomed into a loving family! Now the remaining kittens are around six months old and we are happy to report that they have since grown into little personalities and have proven to be quite mischievous.
Because black cats can be adopted for all the wrong reasons in this region, their adoption process is very strict. Our team will make appropriate arrangements to place them in the best home possible.
Black cats are in high demand in the Vietnamese cat meat trade. They don’t survive long on the streets. They are sold at the highest price for their supposed medicinal properties. Their flesh, bones, and organs are used for medicine and healing. Local Facebook and website pages are promoting black cat products for good health and well-being, as you can see below.