MSI Press Blog

  A new pleasure emerged this week. It turns out that Bear, who loves the outdoors but is an indoor cat, is quite willing to tolerate a leash. Now, he will take off like a dog, running with the wind and causing me take more than big strides to keep up. Both of us g on flat-out runs. Murjan , a much-beloved cat, who died in 2021 at the respectable age of almost 19 after 3.5 years of chemotherapy for lymphoma, loved to be taken for walks. (He never ran; he ambled -- perhaps the age made a difference since Bear is only a couple of years old.) Murjan even developed a special meow that sounded like "out" -- mwout -- that he would insistently repeat until the leash appeared and the door opened. the only other cat I have had who showed any interest in walking outside, but, supposedly, most cats can be trained to walk on a leash with patience and persistence although it's important to keep in mind that not all cats will take to it. Here are some steps to help with the process: 1....

  Learning the Ropes: Kitten Moo following big brother Bear (peek inside) into the litter robot For years, we have had one litter robot per room -- at times four, at times five. They held great promise of reducing the workload. Just plop in a bag, let the robot do its work for a few days, then pull out the drawer, toss the old bag now full of used litter, and plop in a new bag. Every seven minutes after a cat used the robot, the drum would turn and whisk the litter into the drawer with bag. Initially, they did work pretty good, but they quickly broke down. Nearly every day one or another robot has to be cleaned and repaired -- the pincers are not touching, the plates are dirty, litter is in the gears, etc. Sometimes, turning the robot off and then on gets it back on track; other times pressing cycle, reset, or reset & cycle works. Sometimes, a slap works. Other times, though, it is a matter of disassembling and completely cleaning the robot, typically a 20-minute task that cann...

  What is a  book jewel ? A sometimes-overlooked book with remarkable insight and potential significance. Each month, we share near-daily, or as often as possible, reviews of the monthly book jewel - short, succinct reviews that can be read in 1-2 minutes with links to the reviewer by reviewers whose words are worthy of being heard and whose opinions are worthy of being considered. Sometimes a couple of minutes contains more impressive thought than ten times that many. We will let you decide that. This month's book jewel is  Surviving Cancer, Healing People: One Car's Story , an award-winning book beloved by many.  Description: A cat with a divine mission, Sula has an uncanny ability to sense which parishioners at Old Mission San Juan Bautista (California) need her attention at any given Mass. But...is it really uncanny, or does St. Francis give Sula tasks during her daily conversations with him? Or is she led by God?Sula has developed a special bond with cancer surv...

  Murjan telling a story. Ever wonder what your cat's vocalizations and body language mean? You probably have a lot of it figured out, but if you are like me, some things are elusive. This article does a fab job of delineating all those sounds -- trills, hisses, growls, meows -- and body behaviors -- tail and ear positions, swats, and the like:  I Want It Meow . For more Caturday posts, click  HERE . Read more  posts about cats . Watch for Luna Norwood's forthcoming book,  Raising Happy Cat Families . 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 ...