MSI Press Blog

  Today is World Stray Animals Day —a day that asks us to pause, look around, and notice the animals who live at the edges of human life. The ones without collars, without homes, without guarantees. The ones who survive on instinct, caution, and the occasional kindness of a stranger. It’s not a guilt‑day. It’s a visibility‑day. Because the greatest danger to stray animals is not hunger or weather. It’s invisibility . When an animal becomes invisible, it becomes disposable. When an animal is seen, it becomes possible . Why This Day Matters Stray animals live in a world shaped by human decisions—zoning, traffic, food waste, shelter policies, spay/neuter access, and cultural attitudes toward animals. They navigate a landscape they didn’t choose. World Stray Animals Day reminds us: Every stray has a story Every stray has a temperament Every stray has a threshold of trust Every stray has a right to humane treatment And every community has the power to make life safer for...

 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), all of whom get along pretty fabulously. Of course, all of that is easier said than done, and the bonding took time -- lots of it. Here are some of the things we did to create our cat family, some of which is not at all typical of what others have done, but it has worked for us. We don't trap the feral cats at all; we win them over and invite them in. We do this by feeding them a distance from the house and walking away, then moving the dish closer and closer to the house and walking less and less far away, until they are eating at our feet, at which point they will usually let us scooch or kneel beside them. To get to this point may take weeks. Getting...