A very unhappy tail! Feline named Sushi is dubbed the ‘world’s saddest cat’ due to a rare skin disorder that causes his face to droop.
Sushi, a five-year-old cat from Sao Paulo – whose breed is not known – finally found his forever home. That’s great – so why does he look so sad?
The main reason is he suffers from a very rare condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), which affects the connective tissue in his body.
The genetic condition affects the connective tissue due to a lack of collagen leading to unusually stretchy and fragile skin. Because of the condition, Sushi, having loose, sagging skin, which makes him look rather miserable.
Sushi was rescued as a kitten after being found on the street; he was later adopted by Larissa Yamaguchi in 2016, who found out about his condition.
When his mom heard about Sushi, she knew nothing about EDS. ‘My friend who rescues animals sent across some photos of Sushi, he was a tiny black cat and I knew I wanted him straight away.” Larissa remembered, ‘In the first picture I saw he looked like a normal black cat, but when he arrived, I knew that he had a different face. But I didn’t think it could be a genetic condition.’
For four years, Larissa was not aware Sushi had EDS even though she visited several vets as his skin was sensitive and he used a lot of different medications but nothing helped.
Until she read a story about a similar cat on the internet, she realized Sushi had the same illness. ‘After finding a similar cat online, we found a cat dermatologist and it was quite a shock even for her. She said that the last time she saw a cat like Sushi was more than 10 years ago!
‘I was scared but then we found out that we could handle it and it wasn’t fatal.’
This disease causes Sushi has extremely dry and itchy skin and requires regular moisturizing, a special diet, clothes, and soft collars.
Larissa said: ‘EDS affects each animal in a unique way. Sushi’s face skin is very flexible, especially his cheeks, and his arms too. It can affect organs and articulations but in Sushi’s case, it affects only his external skin.
‘The main issue is the compulsive scratching because the syndrome makes his skin dry and itchy, so he often tries to scratch the fragile parts. So Sushi has to wear a collar so he doesn’t scratch his itchy skin.
‘We have to be very careful or the wounds can turn into a really bad infection that takes a lot of time to get better.’
In spite of his sad air, Sushi lives a happy life with his three cat siblings and is well looked after by Larissa. But, his appearance means some people either get shocked or scared.
She added: ‘People say he looks sad all the time. Some people get shocked or scared, some love his face at first sight and others laugh at him..’
This prompted his mother to use Instagram to bust myths about EDS in cats and shares information about the syndrome. She said Sushi is happy as can be in spite of his skin condition.
Now Sushi already has over 2600 followers on Instagram.
