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...

  Nellie is a neighborhood cat. Yes, she has a home, but she prefers to wander the neighborhood and hunt little critters on the hill behind our houses. Nellie does not lack for food. Whether it is captured critters or neighbors' handouts, Nellie eats well and has the solid weight (though not obesity) to prove it. Nellie is an outdoors cat. She spends her days outside, and when her owner calls her in, she is as likely as not to turn a deaf ear. When night descends and cold surrounds (fortunately, in California, it never gets to the point of perilous cold), Nellie should be home with her owner, but often she is not. We hear the owner calling, and we are pretty sure that Nellie hears, too. But Nellie does not respond with much alacrity. Sometimes she scampers seemingly deliberately in the opposite direction. That is when she becomes a true neighborhood cat. Any neighbor will open a door to Nellie on a cold night. Our catio has a covered box with a warm, fleece pillow that Nellie loves...