MSI Press Blog

  This is a series of Caturday posts on the topic of taking in  feral cats .  General information (from pervious 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), 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 ...

  Our beloved 12-year-old cat, Snyezhka , a Siamese mix whom we rescued from a life on the street when she was 1-2 years old, pulling her from a fight with two tom cats that she seemed to be winning in spite of unfair odds, has appeared in Caturday posts before. So, if you want to see more information about her -- and more pictures -- just click on the link. Snyezhka went from street cat to lap cat not immediately but gradually, with time, gaining confidence in her relationships with the humans and other felines in our house. She immediately recognized Happy Cat because he had been rescued from the street before she was, and they had bonded. That helped her to blend into the family (of six cats and three people) fairly quickly. She became my lap cat, always snuggling up to me even when there was not a lap available. Clearly, she loved her family. She had no desire to go back on the street nor to take even a step outdoors when a door was left accidentally open although she loved sit...

  There is no single right answer to the question of how a cat should die. There is only the intersection of your cat’s needs, your own capacity, the medical realities, and the emotional truth of the bond you share. Some deaths are unmistakably clear. Some are agonizingly ambiguous. And some are shaped by forces we don’t like to talk about—like money, pressure from veterinarians, or the fear of regret. This is an attempt to name all of it. When the Cat Makes the Decision for You Some endings are so stark that the human role becomes one of witness rather than decider. Snyezhka’s saddle thrombus A saddle thrombus is one of the clearest, cruelest crises a cat can experience. Paralysis. Sudden terror. Pain that cannot be relieved at home. A cat who cannot stand, cannot flee, cannot understand why her body has betrayed her. Snyezhka, a breast cancer survivor, who, a year later, was viciously attacked by breast cancer again, along with metastasis to the lungs, liver, and kidneys ...

Bobolink's last loving and painful minutes, nestled against owner, Luna .   Integrating New Cats When Older Cats Are Dying Integrating new cats into an established cat family is always a delicate dance, but it becomes even more complex when one of the older cats is nearing the end of life. The emotions in the household shift—grief, vigilance, and quiet respect settle in—and the dynamics between the cats can change in ways that are subtle, profound, or both. In most cases, the cat who is dying has been part of the family for many years, often serving as a social anchor. The newcomers, in addition to finding their place among the living members, must navigate the emotional space left by the one who is leaving. Snyezhka, Happy Cat, and the Distance of Newcomers When Snyezhka was dying from breast, liver, and lung cancer, it wasn’t the new cats who stepped in to care for her—it was Happy Cat, her longtime companion and the beta heart of the household. Happy Cat washed her when she coul...