MSI Press Blog

  When our alpha cat, Murjan , died, I thought that Happy Cat, Murjan's best pal and truly a pal to all the cats, would take over as alpha, keeping all the remaining six cats in line. That did not happen. Happy Cat earned his name by his mellowness. Our biggest cat at 16 pounds, he is our gentlest.  Integrating cats into healthy cat families and growing happy cat families is indeed tricky business. But it is easier with a beta. Happy Cat has shown us that again and again and again and again. Simone lived under the bed. She had been afraid of her shadow ever since we rescued her from human bullying on the street. Born a stray, she found houses intimidating, but there was safety under the bed. Of course, she would come out to eat, and we would cheer whenever she chose to spend some time in the sun. Then, a couple of years later, along came Happy Cat. While Simone still finds security in being under the bed, she comes out a lot more often and interacts with Happy Cat, the only ca...

  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 at ou...

  In last week's Caturday post, I shared our death watch over Happy Cat . At 11:52 pm, I updated the watch. At that time, we lost Happy Cat. He had been dozing on the bed beside my paraplegic daughter, Fawn. Suddenly, he urgently scrambled to get into her arms. Then, with two big, agonizing gulps of air and a shudder, he crossed the Rainbow Bridge while cuddled in Fawn's arms. We hope he is now cavorting with his pals Snyezhka,  Bobolink ,  Intrepid , and  Murjan  who crossed before him. Happy Cat taught us some important in his last days, some important for cats and some important as well for humans: Near the very end, cats sense when they are going to die, and they prepare by looking for dark places. Happy Cat would go into cubbies that he was never interested in before. (It's a tip-off for owners.)  Near the end, owners sometimes are allowed a sense that their journey to the Rainbow Bridge is reaching its goal. I felt an otherworldly presence the day bef...

  Wooper by herself in the hallway The Would-Be-Only Cat in a Multi-Cat Household Some cats clearly—or subtly—present as preferring to be the one and only. Sometimes it's fear. Sometimes it's jealousy. Sometimes it’s both. These cats may coexist with others, but their emotional well-being and overall health often show the cost of that compromise. It can be difficult to differentiate between cats who are genuinely frightened of others and those who simply don’t want to share the attention of their beloved human. Either way, their needs are different from those of cats who seek feline company. Wooper is a classic example. We adopted her from our veterinarian’s office, where she had lived for a while after being rescued by the vet’s neighbor—found as a tiny, abandoned kitten in the grass. She was sassy with the clinic staff, which we took as a promising sign that she might handle the dynamics of a multi-cat household. At the time, we had two boys and one girl, and we hoped she mi...

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...