MSI Press Blog

Snyeshka, who ironically died of cancer shortly after, with Carl in hospice.   Near the end, Carl dozed a lot. Even when he was awake, he was not talking. By his side at nearly all times were two of our cats, Happy Cat, who was pretty well known as Carl's cat and was actually at Carl's feet when he died, and Snyezhka, shown above with Carl, who spent much time with him during his very last days--as if she knew. (They say cats can sense death.) Since Carl could not or was not motivated to talk but we were pretty sure was aware of what was going on (other than during his long dozes), we did the talking in order to maintain communication as much as possible. There is a lot of medical evidence that hearing is the last sense to go, so we counted on his being able to hear. Once in a while, he confirmed that with a tiny laugh or a small. We had friends, colleagues, and authors whose books he designed send their memories of how he had made their lives better. I read those to him. One o...

  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...

  Our beloved Murjan , aged 18, in his final days of lymphoma - such a devastating disease. If you have been following the MSI posts on cancer, here is another article to peruse -- my only complaint is that it does not include immunotherapy, which saved one of my cats, Snyezhka , in advanced stage 4 breast cancer, putting her into remission for several years. She actually died from a saddle thrombosis, probably unrelated to the cancer:  What you need to know (and do) when your pet has cancer . For more Caturday posts, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter 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 ...

  Today would have been the 54th anniversary for Carl  and me. Last year, I spent it in the cemetery with Carl, as I did the year before. This year I cannot because I am in Bandung, Indonesia, but perhaps that is just as well.  On our 51st, he was alive, but not well. Three weeks earlier, he had fallen, been xrayed, and found to be in the advanced stage of cancer of unknown primary , with liver, lungs, bones, and stomach completely riddled with cancer cells, blood clots in his lungs, and his bones throwing off cells to create hypercalcemia, the reason he had fallen. It was a difficult time. We were just coming out of the covid months. We brought our CHARGE Syndrome son CB who had been living in group homes for 20 years home when they were not careful with protection from covid. At the same time, our spina bifida daughter, who lives about 30 miles to the south of us, independently, with a county-provided part-time aide lost her caregiver to surgery and no one wanted to tak...

I am sure our sweet Snyezhka (RIP) was in pain a lot from her multiple cancers, but she almost never showed it. Only when she ran frantically around the room as it to run away from her pain was it clear that she was hurting. Otherwise, she would snuggle for hours -- and I think that was also a way in which she was trying to make herself comfortable.  I recently found these two posts that might have been helpful at the time. They will certainly be helpful for our other cats in the future. How to Tell If a Cat Is in Pain: 8 Signs (msn.com) How to Comfort a Cat in Pain: 10 Tips (msn.com) For more Caturday posts, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter 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 proces...

  Our beloved 12-year-old cat, Snyezhka , a Siamese mix whom we rescued from a life on the street when she was 1-2 years old, pulling her from a fight with two tom cats that she seemed to be winning in spite of unfair odds, has appeared in Caturday posts before. So, if you want to see more information about her -- and more pictures -- just click on the link. Snyezhka went from street cat to lap cat not immediately but gradually, with time, gaining confidence in her relationships with the humans and other felines in our house. She immediately recognized Happy Cat because he had been rescued from the street before she was, and they had bonded. That helped her to blend into the family (of six cats and three people) fairly quickly. She became my lap cat, always snuggling up to me even when there was not a lap available. Clearly, she loved her family. She had no desire to go back on the street nor to take even a step outdoors when a door was left accidentally open although she loved sit...

  With rescued street cats (we have 6 of them, mostly older ones), the things inside them that are always unknown in the beginning start to show up as they grow older. Jack is the simplest and healthiest—and youngest. Just missing an eye. Happy Cat has recurring skin cancer. Wooper has IBS and asthma. Bobolink (Boulder) has feline AIDS. Simone si reacting positively to a new medicine, injected once a month, for arthritis; after 16 years she is now jumping up on the bed and snuggling in with me for the night, which she was unable to do with just cosequin. She also has two cysts that cannot be removed without surgery, and the vet considers the surgery at her age too risky so we do at-home management of the cysts. And then there is Snyezhka. Snyezhka survived breast cancer—discovered four years ago and in remission for the past two. We thought she was in good shape until four months ago when lung cancer struck. The immunotherapy did not work, and she has been just on Metacam, an NSAID...

  Our gentle, loving, lap-sitting, bright-eyed, Siamese-mix Snyezhka, rescued from the streets a decade ago when she was a couple years ago, is in remission for breast cancer (thanks to immunotherapy) but now struggling with lung cancer (immunotherapy did not work so now she is on steroids) and liver cancer (this was last night's ER surprise).  She has been in the ER, with the vet, or with the oncologist three times in the past three week. Financially draining, yes, but even more emotionally draining, bringing back memories of the last five months of Carl's life -- one cancer leading to another and then to another in all too rapid an order until the end came, not unexpectedly although abruptly. Snyezhka is falling in that same path -- dozing more than awake, eating less and less, and losing her balance. She collapsed last night, rolled of the top of the sofa where she was sleeping, then staggered across the cushions, and rolled onto the floor, and staggered under a chair and ...

Our sweet little Snyezhka, who survived breast cancer and overcame diabetes, only to be diagnosed with lung cancer -- two tumors in her left lung. So far, so good. One chemo compound was not effective, but the cancer did not grow. Snyezhka is on another compound; it is holding the cancer at bay although not putting it into remission. Prone to upper respiratory infections (URI), she is on and off clavamox regularly. It is usually effective. I was not surprised, then, when she started sneezing last week, but instead of a few day's build up, by evening of the first day, she was having difficulty breathing. We took her to the vet -- and the vet put her on oxygen immediately and then once again during the appointment. Clavamox came to the rescue, and she seemed better. However, just in case, I wanted her oncologist to know. We took her in, and the oncologist suspected -- and found -- pneumonia. I wonder what would have happened had we not had the second look. Word to me (and the wise): ...