Photo/Illutration Veterinarian Takeo Yamaguchi with a stray cat to be treated in Kunitomi, Miyazaki Prefecture. Photo taken Jan. 19 (Osafumi Sato)

Takeo Yamaguchi's daily quest, from morning to night, is to bring the number of stray cats being euthanized to zero.

The 73-year-old veterinarian provides sterilizations at a bargain price, which has won him the admiration of animal activists nationwide who refer to him as a "god" in his field.

Annually, Yamaguchi averages 5,000 sterilizations across the nation for the paltry sum of 3,500 yen ($31.60) each, a steal given that the procedure normally costs between 10,000 yen and 30,000 yen.

“Stray felines by their very nature have no owners, so they require better top-class care than other cats,” Yamaguchi said. “That's because no one is there to help them even if their condition worsens afterward.”

Strays are returned to their habitats following the operations with the tip of one ear cut in a V shape to show they have been treated.

Sterilizing stray cats is the only way to stop them having more litters. The procedure also reduces the chances of the cats being put down.

Yamaguchi opened his veterinary hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture adjacent to Tokyo in 1974. About 10 years after that, he encountered what he refers to as his “feline of destiny.” The cat had a broken pelvis as a result of being hit by a car and had four dead kittens in her womb.

He managed to save her life with surgery, named her Gonko and opted to keep her as a pet.

The experience allowed Yamaguchi to witness firsthand the severe conditions that stray felines face in their daily lives, noting that they have to deliver their offspring even when they are suffering from hunger or exposed to rain and wind, as well as the risk of accidents.

“Sterilization enables strays to concentrate on their own lives,” Yamaguchi recalled thinking.

Around that time, Yamaguchi began performing sterilization procedures outside his hospital at the request of an animal welfare group. He empathized with the volunteers’ goal of “reducing the number of strays being euthanized to zero.”

Since then, Yamaguchi has concentrated his efforts at performing the sterilization procedure as cheaply as possible.

Gonko was always with him when he made his diagnoses or went out until she died.

His pocket notebook is now full of trip schedules for surgery sessions in Fukushima, Osaka, Miyazaki and other prefectures through to the end of the year.

“I will continue working until I die,” Yamaguchi said. “Stray cats’ lives are always in danger.”

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