<p>Cats may have nine lives, but their time on Earth is often cut short by kidney problems -- so people in Japan who want their feline friends to live longer have donated nearly $2 million to the search for a cure.</p>.<p>As the coronavirus pandemic hit the economy last year, scientists at the University of Tokyo lost their corporate funding for a study on preventing kidney disease in cats.</p>.<p>But thousands of Japanese cat lovers mobilised online to donate to the researchers after an article about their plight by news agency Jiji Press went viral.</p>.<p>"I lost my beloved cat to kidney disease last December... I hope this research will progress and help many cats to live without this disease," one woman wrote in a message alongside her $20 donation.</p>.<p>Another donor, who gave $90, said: "I recently got a kitten. I make a donation in the hope that it will be in time for this cat."</p>.<p>Domesticated cats and their bigger cousins in the wild are highly prone to kidney problems because of a genetic inability to activate a key protein discovered by the Tokyo researchers.</p>.<p>The protein called AIM helps clean up dead cells and other waste in the body, preventing the kidneys from becoming clogged.</p>.<p>Immunology professor Toru Miyazaki and his team are working on ways to produce the protein in a stable quantity and quality.</p>.<p>They hope to develop a new remedy they say could double the current feline life expectancy of roughly 15 years.</p>.<p>"I hope that ultimately veterinarians will give (cats) jabs every year like vaccines," Miyazaki told the AFP-affiliated AFPBB News.</p>.<p>"It would be good to give them one or two doses every year" of AIM, he said.</p>.<p>Around 3,000 unsolicited donations were sent to the team hours after the article was published in July.</p>.<p>This surged to 10,000 in just a few days -- more than the total number of donations the university usually receives in a year.</p>.<p>And by mid-September, the amount donated had reached 207 million yen ($1.9 million).</p>.<p>"It was the first time I understood first-hand how much my research is anticipated," said Miyazaki.</p>.<p>His team's research on how AIM -- short for apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage -- functions in the body was published in 2016 in the journal Nature Medicine.</p>.<p>They are also developing pet food containing a substance that could help activate the non-functional AIM in feline blood.</p>.<p><strong>Check out the latest DH videos here:</strong><br /><br /></p>
<p>Cats may have nine lives, but their time on Earth is often cut short by kidney problems -- so people in Japan who want their feline friends to live longer have donated nearly $2 million to the search for a cure.</p>.<p>As the coronavirus pandemic hit the economy last year, scientists at the University of Tokyo lost their corporate funding for a study on preventing kidney disease in cats.</p>.<p>But thousands of Japanese cat lovers mobilised online to donate to the researchers after an article about their plight by news agency Jiji Press went viral.</p>.<p>"I lost my beloved cat to kidney disease last December... I hope this research will progress and help many cats to live without this disease," one woman wrote in a message alongside her $20 donation.</p>.<p>Another donor, who gave $90, said: "I recently got a kitten. I make a donation in the hope that it will be in time for this cat."</p>.<p>Domesticated cats and their bigger cousins in the wild are highly prone to kidney problems because of a genetic inability to activate a key protein discovered by the Tokyo researchers.</p>.<p>The protein called AIM helps clean up dead cells and other waste in the body, preventing the kidneys from becoming clogged.</p>.<p>Immunology professor Toru Miyazaki and his team are working on ways to produce the protein in a stable quantity and quality.</p>.<p>They hope to develop a new remedy they say could double the current feline life expectancy of roughly 15 years.</p>.<p>"I hope that ultimately veterinarians will give (cats) jabs every year like vaccines," Miyazaki told the AFP-affiliated AFPBB News.</p>.<p>"It would be good to give them one or two doses every year" of AIM, he said.</p>.<p>Around 3,000 unsolicited donations were sent to the team hours after the article was published in July.</p>.<p>This surged to 10,000 in just a few days -- more than the total number of donations the university usually receives in a year.</p>.<p>And by mid-September, the amount donated had reached 207 million yen ($1.9 million).</p>.<p>"It was the first time I understood first-hand how much my research is anticipated," said Miyazaki.</p>.<p>His team's research on how AIM -- short for apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage -- functions in the body was published in 2016 in the journal Nature Medicine.</p>.<p>They are also developing pet food containing a substance that could help activate the non-functional AIM in feline blood.</p>.<p><strong>Check out the latest DH videos here:</strong><br /><br /></p>