MSI Press Blog

When people hear that we live with a large and peaceful cat family, their first question is often, “How do you manage to get them all to get along?” The second is, “Aren’t some of them from the street or shelters?” The answer is yes—our family includes cats born feral, cats adopted from shelters, and cats who were clearly abandoned by former owners. Integrating them takes time and care, but with the right approach, they can not only settle in, but thrive as part of a loving feline household. Over the years, I’ve come to notice distinct differences—and some striking similarities—among these three backgrounds when it comes to adoption and integration. Understanding those patterns helps enormously when preparing to bring a new cat into an established family. 🐾 Different Beginnings, Different Needs Feral Cats These are cats born outdoors, often to generations of unsocialized cats. They may never have had a positive interaction with a human before being rescued. They tend to rely hea...

  Tiger, the great and powerful orange tabby has been untouchable for 14 years. When his owner, my disabled daughter, whom he fiercely and forcibly protects, moved from her apartment back home with me. Tiger would not go into his carrier. No way. No how. Not chasable. Not touchable--put claws all the way through my shoe and my son's glove, his teeth baring in a loud, prolonged threatening hiss. Not enticed by food even after eight hours of packing and alternately encouraging Tiger to be part of the process and let us put him in his carrier--one big enough for a large dog, anything else being unthinkable that he would enter. We contacted a friend with a feral cat trap and made plans to leave Tiger alone overnight in the empty apartment and try to catch him with the trap after being hungry for even longer. But, Tiger is a smart cat. As my son and I headed out of the apartment, followed by my daughter in her wheelchair, Tiger went into the carrier and looked at us. He was not to be se...

  A cat rescuer friend called urgently. She had just been told by the local shelter that she had to take back and find a barn or some safe street local (Those exist? Right?!) for the tiny kitten who was "unadoptable." He was so scared in his tiny cage that he would not move from one spot -- not to eat, and, ugh, not to pee. Could I take him, asked my friend? After all, I do have a reputation of domesticating feral cats and integrating new cats into our healthy, bonded cat family.  I thought I was at the limit of household cats - 6. But the house is big, and one never notices the lot of cats because we have a cat room and a catio as well as five other rooms. And they are quiet, well integrated, happy. I am pretty good with the patience required to integrate a new or shy or feral cat with the others. So, the little black-and-white kitten moved in. We called him Moo because his coloration was that of a Holstein cow.  Within a couple of hours, he was following Bear aroun...

  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,...