Koji & Akira

Koji & Akira
by Joanne Schneider

Koji and Akira were dumped on the streets of a Detroit suburb in 1997 where they roamed, fending for themselves, for a couple of months. They were caught by a policeman who turned them in to the local shelter. When they came into JCCARE Akira's weight was 11 pounds. In March of 1998 I agreed to adopt both boys. It probably should have come as no surprise that these guys were wild! So wild that I could almost see why somebody had taken the easy way out. They feed on each other's energy and can be quite a handful at times. I have to admit that it never would have occurred to me that a Chin, left without proper guidance in their formative youth, could have this type of wildness in them. My cats lived in terror and rarely touched floor for the first few weeks Koji and Akira lived with me. Apparently chasing cats was a fun break from the job of survival.

Picking the boys up was a trip. I had barely walked in the door and sat down when Akira was in my lap and Koji in my sister's. I wasn't even seated yet when I watched them bound over. Oh yes, these boys are athletes with spring-loaded legs! When I took them to my vet for a health check and shots Akira weighed 13 pounds. A couple of weeks later when they went in for their second shots he was up to 15. I was alarmed at how much weight this boy had put on so quickly -- after all, at 13 pounds it never occurred to me he wasn't where he should be! My vet reassured me that based on what he felt, no, I shouldn't be alarmed at the weight gain, pointing out we had no idea where he should be. By the time he got his shots a year later he had settled in at 18.8 pounds, a weight that seems good on him.

It took patience, at first, to channel their energies and tame that wildness. It was obvious that they hadn't even been taught the rudiments of good behavior so it was no wonder their owners had felt the need to dump them. My mother thought they were too wild and I should think about sending them back. But I could see progress and wanted them to have a fair chance. Unlike when I brought them home I could see they were beginning to respond to my talking to them and I realized that sometimes they were even listening when I'd tell them not to chase the cats. Oh, not that they still don't from time to time, but they will also sleep with the cats and share in mutual grooming.

Probably three months later I went on a short day trip with the boys. Things that just absolutely drove them to a frenzy at first they now took in stride. Even my mother reluctantly admitted that they had come a long way and that it was obvious they loved me. I now affectionately refer to Akira as my stone-headed heathen because he gets dead set on what he wants sometimes. He has a food fetish that seems to stem from the time he spent on the streets and has helped himself to all manner of interesting food choices, including a bag of flour, packets of seasoning and raw noodles and rice. And he lives for bread! But he's my clown and when I try to scold him he gives me this look like "What me? I did something wrong?" and you just have to melt. Koji on the other hand is a serious boy who has a very tight bond going with me. If we're out somewhere and I leave his sight he keeps up a constant call to make sure I can find my way back to him. These boys who were apparently "too much to handle" and were simply disposed of have turned out to be real heart-warmers with just a bit of consistent discipline and lots of love.