MSI Press Blog

One of the most impressive cat advocacy and assistance organizations, Alley Cat Allies , may be far less known than their ability to help those who are casting about for help -- or for cats languishing or being killed in shelters. They are a wealth of information, connections, and guides to resources.  They also truly advocate, especially on behalf of cats in kill shelters. It is so unfortunate that many pet owners who can no longer care for their cats for reasons of health, finances, regulations, and the like often turn to shelters, assuming that their cat will be re-homed. All too often that does not happen, but, rather, the cat is euthanized. SPCA, for example, euthanizes, yet most people I know do not think that they do. People tend not to check out shelters in detail but operate on hope and assumption as if it were fact. Alley Cat advocacy is so needed for these situations. The following is from their "about us" page, but all their pages are equally rich. If you love cat

  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

  This is a series of Caturday posts on the topic of taking in  feral cats .  General information (from previous 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, and  Intrepid , closely bonded to Murjan, died three years ago from the same kind of cancer, and, most recently, Snyezhka , who had been valiantly fighting three kinds of cancer, died from a saddle thrombus, probably related to her chemotherapy but, of course, no one is going to suggest that and it really does not matter since knowing exactly what caused the reason for her death won't bring her back). All five of our feral cats get along pretty fabulously -- and they also got along well with the three predecessors. Of course, all of th

  his is a series of Caturday posts on the topic of taking in  feral cats .  General information (from previous 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, and Intrepid , closely bonded to Murjan, died three years ago from the same kind of cancer), 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 clo

  Just sharing some thoughts, for Caturday, on our experiences with rescuing street cats and integrating them into our cat family. Food  Most street cats (all of them, in our experience) are not fussy eaters (unlike some domestic cats). Generally, once they are inside and have food at the ready, they don't really trust that will always be the case. We had one cat, who really was close to death from starvation, who did not leave the food bowl for two weeks, except to use the litter box. He would eat from it, sit beside, view the world from it, and sleep beside it. Eventually, he got the idea that the bowl would always be there, and he started exploring his environment. Litter Box Most street cats have little trouble adjusting to a litter box since they look for dirt outside for doing their business. We have seeded a little box with the litter of another cat if we are going to keep a newly rescued cat separated from the other cats for a while. Once our family of cats got big enough a

  sons, Zain and Zayed, helping to care for the cats This is an update on the dire straits of the Animal Friends Shelter in Gaza. With 57 cats (and growing, because of the kindness of the brothers who operate the shelter toward street cats, that they try to take in or otherwise feed on the street -- or, better stated, share their own food with) and war all around, even resilient people lose their strength without the help of friends and strangers.  Brothers Tamer and Samer Skaik stayed behind in Gaza City to care for the cats and move them to safety (if there really is any such thing there) when the city was repeatedly bombed. As food has become more and more scarce, they have been reduced to one meal, mostly bread, which they share with the cats. (Note: for those who have not read the papers, the aid trucks from Israel and elsewhere are being hijacked, assumedly by Hamas soldiers, and the people of Gaza have to pay high prices, which many do not have, on the black market or have nothi

  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

  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

 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