MSI Press Blog

  Happy Cat (right) protecting Jack (left) as they get ready to take a nap Nobody wanted Jack. He came off the street in a sweep of feral cats headed for the SNIP bus—scruffy, furious, and with one bulging, badly infected eye that had clearly been hurting him for a long time. The eye had to come out. While he recuperated, the SNIP team tried to find him a home, but no one wanted a feral alley cat who hissed, snarled, and made it abundantly clear that hands were not welcome. One of the SNIP volunteers took him in temporarily—something between fostering and triage—to let him heal and calm down. She tried everything. She even put a glove on the end of a three‑foot stick to get him used to touch. But Jack wasn’t having it. No shelter would take him. No adopter wanted him. And she was terrified to put a one‑eyed cat back on the street. So she called me. And that is how one‑eyed Jack found himself in a house full of cats. I set him up in the cat room—food, water, beds, toys, a sunn...

  Some cats are picky. Some are dramatic. And then there’s Jack—our one-eyed, dry-food-devoted street rescue who nearly starved himself rather than compromise his culinary principles. Jack came to us with a fierce spirit and a mouthful of trouble. After Jack had dental surgery to remove several painful, loose teeth, we expected a brief recovery period followed by a return to normal eating. What we got instead was a three-day hunger strike, a crash course in feline psychology, and a reminder that sometimes, cats know best—even when it seems absurd. 🩺 The Warning Signs Jack had dropped a pound from his already small frame before the tooth extraction. He was already having trouble eating; that is why we went ahead with surgery as soon as the vet discovered the tooth issue. After the surgery, Jack was hungry, affectionate, and active—but couldn’t eat. We tried everything: Baby food (syringed in, with protest) Lickable treats (rejected) Softened kibble (ignored) Crushed dry food...

  This 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, and, most recently, Snyezhka , who had been valiantly fighting three kinds of cancer, died from a saddle thrombus, probably related to her chemotherapy but, of course, no one is going to suggest that and it really does not matter since knowing exactly what caused the reason for her death won't bring her back). All five of our feral cats get along pretty fabulously -- and they also got along well with the three predecessors. Of course,...