MSI Press Blog

  Precerpt (excerpt from prepublication book) from Raising Happy Cat Families by Luna Norwood -- Coming in from the Cold And then there is the situation where a feral cat literally comes in from the cold (often not by request). One moment, they’re out there, surviving in the chaos of open space, and the next—they’re dropped into a world bounded by walls, filled with strange smells, expectations, and no visible escape routes. For a feral cat, this abrupt shift in territory can be deeply shocking. Outdoors, territory is fluid and layered: open air, moving sunlight, shifting alliances, and the constant demands of self-defense. Indoors, by contrast, is static and enclosed. It smells of humans and other cats. Boundaries are suddenly vertical—cat trees, shelves, window sills—not horizontal. Social rules are tighter, proximity is unavoidable, and the absence of hiding places can feel like exposure rather than comfort. Some cats take this change in stride. Many do not. While some cats thr...

  Precerpt (excerpt prior to publication) from Raising Happy Cat families by Luna Norwood Snyezhka, a Siamese-Tabby blend, was an easy rescue. Night after night on our house surveillance camera, we would see this small tan cat stop by our downstairs door, where we left food for the street cats, and eat with relish. One night, I was in our basement area in the early hours of the morning when Snyezhka came up our hill and to the downstairs door for her nightly feast. As she ate, two large tom cats pounced on her, clearly ready to mate her. But she was not in agreement, and she fought them off. Half their size, with twice their spirit. I opened the door, quickly grabbed her, and brought her inside. She did not fight me. She appeared relieved to be safe from her suitors. She slept on a chair in the basement room all night. I placed a disposable litter pan near her, the kind that come with a removable lid, seeded it with some poop from one of our litter robots, and she used it a couple ...

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 ...