Jia Xuan & Tara

Cat, female, 4+ years

Adopted Apr 2021

Multi-cat household

Jia Xuan has been a volunteer and supporter of Metta, and interacted with cats for the first time when she came to help out at the shelter. She had always been a dog person, but turns out she loves cats too! Her flatmate and fellow volunteer adopted a cat, Valentine, in Aug 2020, and the 2 friends offered to foster another Metta cat Taragin in Dec 2020. Taragin was a sickly, weak cat that we all thought would not live long. We were so grateful that Jia Xuan and her flatmate agreed to nurse Tara.

After months of feeding her medicine everyday, Jia Xuan built a bond with Tara and her sweet meows and model stance. As a cat with chronic lung disease, she realised it would be pretty tough to find an adopter who would be willing to go through the hassle of feeding medicine to Tara everyday, so she decided that it would be best to adopt her. Jia Xuan had never thought of buying a pet before, as she always knew that there are many pets out there who need a loving home.

Things were challenging at first - Valentine was really unfriendly to Tara. They did not get along at all and the flatmates wondered if they would ever be friends. Also, as Tara’s lung condition was chronic, Jia Xuan was worried about her health and if she would eventually recover. (Till now, she is still on daily medication.) Naturally, there were also concerns about the costs of taking care of a cat with health problems as Tara would have to go for regular checkups and medicine.

Thankfully, Tara has since shown tremendous improvement in her health. Though she still coughs at least once a day, it is being managed. Vet visits are not as frequent as feared, and other than that she has been pretty low maintenance. Her relationship with Valentine also evolved. Though they are not friends, they still enjoy chasing each other and play-fighting.

These days, Jia Xuan is more mindful of how much time she spends at home and tries to be home more to feed Tara or hangout with her. With all this loving attention, Tara has become confident - from being soft and timid, she’s became more vocal, always demanding for door to be opened or to be fed. She also learned to do 1 trick! She knows that she has to “high-five” her food bowl before it’s put it down for her to eat her wet food. She uses her right front paw to hit the food bowl lightly. And, despite being actually quite clingy, Tara refuses to be hugged or carried for more than 1.5 minutes. Jia Xuan calls her “not a lap cat but a side-by-side cat, she likes to snuggle up beside us.”

Because of Tara, Jia Xuan’s sister got a cat too - a kitten named Luna! Her humans found out that Tara can be friendly! When Luna was brought over to socialise, Tara started grooming Luna, to everyone’s delight. She’s been very loving towards Luna and her humans realised Tara actually enjoys grooming her. How sweet!!