MSI Press Blog

  The late great Bobolink (very missed) would have wished everyone a happy international cat day.  In celebration of these sweet furry critters, please see our many blog posts on cats and our Caturday posts. Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter (recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, and more -- stay up to date)   Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC?  We help writers become award-winning published authors. One writer at a time. We are a family, not a factory. Do you have a future with us? Turned away by other publishers because you are a first-time author and/or do not have a strong platform yet? If you have a strong manuscript, San Juan Books, our hybrid publishing division, may be able to help. Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start?...

  Bobolink With six cats, I know there are good reasons to adopt a cat. This week, I found someone who found  29 Compelling Reasons to Adopt a Cat,  along with some awfully cute pictures. For more Caturday posts, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter (recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, and more -- stay up to date) Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our  author au pair  services will mentor you through the process. Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% ...

  Happy Cat was so named because of his cheerful, laid-back, cool, and chill nature. An outdoor who always kept his distance, he approached us for help when he came down with a lung disease and was close to death. At the time, he was somewhere between two and four years of age. That was 2012. He has been with us since, joining our cat family of four at the time, and welcoming new cats into the fold as the family grew to six in number. Happy Cat was the beta cat, grooming and nurturing the other cats, especially the new ones. All the cats are indoor cats only; Happy Cat helped our rescued cats adjust to being inside and having a family. First after Happy Cat came Snyezhka . He knew her from his street days, and he seemed so happy to show her around the house. He groomed ger several times a day, and they slept together. After Snyezhka came Bobolink , afraid to venture forth from his cubby on the cat tree in the cat room; one full day with Happy Cat took care of that. Happy Cat lured...

  Bobolink looking up at his owner in pain, fear, trust, and love at a vet visit. It started three months ago. Our feather-duster-tailed, aqua-blue-eyed, quietly affectionate, FIV cat, Bobolink began losing weight really fast. Blood tests showed autoimmune hemolytic anemia . Incurable. Marginally treatable. Pills from VCA, ointments and powders from Chewy, and specially compounded liquids from Sherman’s Apothecary did little to compensate for a worrisome and continuing red blood cell count of 13 (28 is considered the lower limit). After a couple months, Bobolink had regained the weight he had lost, but his weight and appetite fluctuated by the day. He became my lap cat, chair cat (he fit nicely beside me in Carl’s big lazy-boy), and bed cat, following me everywhere as if attached. Then, two weeks ago, his weight dipped very low, and he lost interest in food. One day, I left the room and returned to find him lying in a puddle of pee and looking up with scared, confused eyes. VCA in...

Bobolink (below) and Wooper (above) are bunked on the catio. We have had two cats lose their fur, each for a different reason.  Wooper licked all of hers off until she had alopecia. Our vet tried one medicine after another. Nothing worked. Another vet suggested it was anxiety, but it turned out it was not. We stumbled upon it by accident when we learned how to give a cat massage. Wooper loved the massage. She would ask for me, and she would want a deep massage. Normally standoffish, she would come and tap one of us on the shoulder. That was her way of asking for a massage. After a few weeks of massaging her, we noticed that her hair was growing up. She now has all the fur she ever had -- but she still wants her massages. Bobolink , a long-haired domestic cat, is sick. He, it turns out, has amyloidosis, in addition to FIV and autoimmune hemolytic anemia. His prognosis is not good. Tonight, I found him lying in a pool of pee, looking up with sad, surprised, and apologetic eyes. I cle...

  Bobolink in his kennel at the pet hospital. We should have known there was a problem with Bobolink that related to anemia. A feral cat that we domesticated (over a long period of time, he was always a little skittish until November when he wanted to crawl up in my lap or snuggle next to me all the time, literally all the time. In hindsight, he was cold; he was seeking warmth. Even though I am anemic at times and understand the cold feeling, the thought did not register that cats can be anemic as well. Then, he lost two pounds nearly overnight. Clearly, something was wrong. Worried that his FIV had turned into AIDS, we took him to the vet, who, through a blood test, discovered that he had autoimmune hemolytic anemia, a disease in which the cat's body eats its own red blood cells. Little is known about the causes. The vet suggested some possibilities that seemed not on the mark. I suggested FIV, but she said that was not likely. However, I have since found some vet sites on the In...

  Blind Cat Rescue has written and shared on its blog a wonderfully helpful article for owners of FIV+ cats. (Our 4 yo FIV+ cat, Bobolink, is pictured above. He gets along well with our other five cats, and in four years, none have been infected by him. It is very unlikly that this would happen -- encouraging for people who would like to adopt FIV+ but are afraid. No fear! Read HERE ! For more Caturday posts, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  X ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to or...

  When our alpha cat, Murjan , died, I thought that Happy Cat, Murjan's best pal and truly a pal to all the cats, would take over as alpha, keeping all the remaining six cats in line. That did not happen. Happy Cat earned his name by his mellowness. Our biggest cat at 16 pounds, he is our gentlest.  Integrating cats into healthy cat families and growing happy cat families is indeed tricky business. But it is easier with a beta. Happy Cat has shown us that again and again and again and again. Simone lived under the bed. She had been afraid of her shadow ever since we rescued her from human bullying on the street. Born a stray, she found houses intimidating, but there was safety under the bed. Of course, she would come out to eat, and we would cheer whenever she chose to spend some time in the sun. Then, a couple of years later, along came Happy Cat. While Simone still finds security in being under the bed, she comes out a lot more often and interacts with Happy Cat, the only ca...

  his is a series of Caturday posts on the topic of taking in  feral cats .  General information (from previous posts): For a few decades, we have rescued feral cats. In fact, with only one exception, our "domestic" cats have been ferals that we brought inside to join other ferals, already domesticated, as part of a bonded cat family. Right now, we have five cats (alas,  Murjan , the single non-feral cat we had, died from cancer last fall, and Intrepid , closely bonded to Murjan, died three years ago from the same kind of cancer), all of whom get along pretty fabulously. Of course, all of that is easier said than done, and the bonding took time -- lots of it. Here are some of the things we did to create our cat family, some of which is not at all typical of what others have done, but it has worked for us. We don't trap the feral cats at all; we win them over and invite them in. We do this by feeding them a distance from the house and walking away, then moving the dis...