MSI Press Blog

  Happy Cat, Bear, and Jack, well behaved and sharing a calm moment Let’s be honest. Cats don’t really do obedience . They weren’t bred to fetch your slippers or roll over on command. In fact, if you live with cats—as I do, with a feline family of eight—you’ve probably figured out by now that they expect you to do the fetching. That said, even in a cat-run kingdom, someone has to keep the peace. That someone is usually me. People sometimes ask, “Can you really control cats?” And my answer is: absolutely, yes —but not the way you’d control a dog. You can’t force cats, but you can teach them. You can set limits. You can build social expectations. And you can absolutely keep a lid on chaos without being a tyrant or turning into the Cat Nag. Start with Names: Yes, They Can Learn Them The first step is making sure every cat knows their name . Not just sort of knows it when treats are involved— really knows it. This means using the name consistently and always making it clear you're ta...

Well, we were 11 a month ago. Now we are 9 and soon to be 7. A guest, Nellie, went home to her mama after just a week's stay. Her siblings, Ella and Ebony, will go home soon to their mama's new home, which was still being built when she moved away as our next-door neighbor -- and it was important to keep the cats in known territory until they could get to permanent new territory. And then, on February 8, our beloved Happy Cat succumbed after a four-month struggle with a brain tumor. Seven, nine, or 11 does not matter. Our snake is always the charmer for keeping cats in order, stopping any cat spat, and even herding cats as a group in the direction they need to go. Meet our snake: Duster. Duster is a can of air spray for cleaning computers. It puts out a hissing sound just like a real snake, and cats do not like snakes. All the cats scat not only when they hear Duster, but even upon seeing Duster. Often, I just need to hold it, and they calm right down. And, in a desperate momen...