MSI Press Blog

  And now, the fifth post in the series of Caturday posts about cats trapped in war zones. Cats are not political (nor are dogs or any other animal for that matter--nor, generally, the people caring for them, nor this post). In peace and where people watch out for them, cats enjoy being loved and learn to return love. Yet, cats (and other animals) do get find themselves struggling in war zones. They, just like people who have done nothing to bring harm to anyone else but just happen to live there, suffer the consequences of evil descending unexpectedly from sources external to them. Like people, cats and other animals suffer when they are homeless and without food or winter. And they are often completely forgotten when war (or natural disaster, for that matter -- they drown in floods and burn in fires) breaks out. Like people, they have to dodge bullets, bombs, and other dangers. Unlike people, they are often not calculated into humanitarian outreach efforts Let the Animals Live  shelt

  And now, the third post in the series of Caturday posts about cats trapped in war zones. Cats are not political (nor are dogs or any other animal for that matter--nor, generally, the people caring for them, nor this post). In peace and where people watch out for them, cats enjoy being loved and learn to return love. Yet, cats (and other animals) do get find themselves struggling in war zones. They, just like people who have done nothing to bring harm to anyone else but just happen to live there, suffer the consequences of evil descending unexpectedly from sources external to them. Like people, cats and other animals suffer when they are homeless and without food or winter. And they are often completely forgotten when war (or natural disaster, for that matter -- they drown in floods and burn in fires) breaks out. Like people, they have to dodge bullets, bombs, and other dangers. Unlike people, they are often not calculated into humanitarian outreach efforts Sulala Animal Rescue , loca

  A couple of months ago, in a Cancer Diary post, we shared the ways in which cats get cancer. When our first two cats, Intrepid and, pictured above, Murjan, came down with cancer (small cell lymphoma), one of which died within four months and the other which lived an additional 2.5 years, we were in shock. We were aware that cats could get cancer because of our experience with MSI Press author, Sula , parish cat at Old Mission.  But then it really hit home and in big numbers.   First, Intrepid and Murjan .  Then, two other cats have since been diagnosed with cancer.  Happy Cat beat skin cancer, after only one round of freezing it off his nose.  Snyezhka is now a one-year cancer survivor at the Animal Cancer Center in Monterey, Califonia, where she sees Dr. Teri Arteaga, who is also Sula's vet oncologist.  That totals 2/3 of our 6 cats! Different cancers, different cat backgrounds (all are adopted street cats), different cat breeds. No idea of causes, either, but clearly no cat i

  Finally, the second post in the series of Caturday posts about cats trapped in war zones. Cats are not political (nor are dogs or any other animal for that matter--nor, generally, the people caring for them, nor this post). In peace and where people watch out for them, cats enjoy being loved and learn to return love. Yet, cats (and other animals) do get find themselves struggling in war zones. They, just like people who have done nothing to bring harm to anyone else but just happen to live there, suffer the consequences of evil descending unexpectedly from sources external to them. Like people, cats and other animals suffer when they are homeless and without food or winter. And they are often completely forgotten when war (or natural disaster, for that matter -- they drown in floods and burn in fires) breaks out. Like people, they have to dodge bullets, bombs, and other dangers. Unlike people, they are often not calculated into humanitarian outreach efforts In this post, we share the

  Excerpt from Surviving Cancer, Healing People  by Sula -  One of Fr. Jerry’s homilies was so very interesting that I had to get up out of the pew and go down and listen to him. He was talking about the animals and what they brought to the baby Jesus. He talked about what the donkeys brought and what the camels brought and what the sheep brought and what lots of other kinds of animals brought. That homily interested me much more than any other homily I had heard from Fr. Jerry although all his homilies are good. All the people who take care of me agree, which is almost everyone when you count all the people who love and pet me. But, he did not say anything about what the cats brought! That made me very curious. I wanted to know what the cats brought. I wanted to hear more of the homily. I wanted to hear it clearly. I really wanted to hear what the cats had brought to Baby Jesus. So, I walked up to where Fr. Jerry was standing and talking and sat down in front of him, eager to hi

  Personal experience from the editor: When three of our six cats were diagnosed with cancer, it was at a late stage. (The number is normal; 50% of cats over the age of 10 end up with cancer.) Even talented feline oncologists cannot turn the clock back. They can try to stop the clock, but sometimes the damage is too great.  We lost Intrepid to cancer three years ago (and wrote a book about him). He survived only a month of chemotherapy; he was diagnosed too late, and several important organs were in the process of failure: kidneys, pancreas, stomach. His older "brother" (not biological) who came from Jordan as well was diagnosed at the same time.  Murjan  managed to survive three years on chemotherapy, but by the time he died last Sunday, he was on seven medicines, periodic hydration, and down to 5 pounds (from 16). He fought valiantly, but ultimately the cancer won. Likewise, our young Lynx Siamese cat, Snyezhka, has breast cancer, diagnosed at stage 4, treated with surgery,

  Our white cat Murjan (pictured here) had a very thick fur, but one day a bald spot showed up. and then it grew larger. The vet scratched his head and gave us some salve. But the spot grew even larger. Now, we could see it right off, without even having to look for it through his fur, and the fur around the bald spot pulled out easily making the bald spot even bigger.  We took Murjan to a specialist. The specialist scratched her head and then gave us flea medicine for all the cats. By then, Murjan was not the only balding cat. Two others among the six started showing the same signs. So, the specialist asked us to bring in one of the other cats, too. She was able to pull a larger patch of hair from that cat to analyze -- and sent both samples to a lab. It turned out to be scabies. No one had considered that because these were indoor cats. However, a neighbor's cat had come into the house and spent some time with our cats. That cat was an outdoors cat, and the neighbor did not pay a

  Excerpt from Tale of a Mission Cat   by Sula, Parish Cat at Old Mission --      About Me and My Predecessors Did you know that every one of the Spanish Missions in California used to have a Mission cat? Some still do. I am one of them. My name is Sula, and I am the Mission cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista. If you come to the Mission, you can meet me. It seems that quite not of my own doing, I have nonetheless become rather famous of late. Rather than chasing mice (really, there are no mice at the Mission these days, just people, whom I love to comfort; that is, after all, my mission), I try to raise money to save the Mission, which desperately needs to be retrofitted against earthquakes—and to have the roof repaired so that my home, the Mission, does not leak in the rain. How I do that is by giving interviews, writing books, and putting my pawtograph on my books, including at special event book signings. I like my vocation: helping people at the Mission. I also like my avocat

  Bashir Al-Bani, Orator of the Grand Mosque of Damascus ... Al-Bani’s delicate sensibility often surprised me. This quality could be seen not only in the way in which he seemed to be always worried about people who were suffering but also in his concern for animals, cats in particular. For over seven years, I worked as a Program Officer at the Syrian Office of the United Nations Development Program. In this capacity, I was responsible for a number of development projects supported by UNDP in Syria.  One day I was asked by Al-Bani about the feasibility of initiating a domestic waste recycling program in Damascus. I said I would investigate it but that environment was not one of the areas that I supervised. Little did I know that Al-Bani’s request was destined to be repeated with ever increasing momentum until the question, “What have you done about recycling?” became one that was automatically asked upon my arrival at his home.   “Why?” I finally asked, “are you so concer

  This is the next in a series of Caturday posts about cats trapped in war zones . Cats are not political (nor are dogs or any other animal for that matter--nor, generally, the people caring for them, nor this post). In peace and where people watch out for them, cats enjoy being loved and learn to return love. Yet, cats (and other animals) do get find themselves struggling in war zones. They, just like people who have done nothing to bring harm to anyone else but just happen to live there, suffer the consequences of evil descending unexpectedly from sources external to them. Like people, cats and other animals suffer when they are homeless and without food or winter. And they are often completely forgotten when war (or natural disaster, for that matter -- they drown in floods and burn in fires) breaks out. Like people, they have to dodge bullets, bombs, and other dangers. Unlike people, they are often not calculated into humanitarian outreach efforts. Network for Animals helps animals

  photo by Studio Lovejoy In honor of Caturdy, we share the bio of MSI Press author and Old Mission San Juan Bautista parish car, Sula -- excerpted from her book, Tale of a Mission Cat : About Me and My Predecessors Did you know that every one of the Spanish Missions in California used to have a Mission cat? Some still do. I am one of them. My name is Sula, and I am the Mission cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista. If you come to the Mission, you can meet me. It seems that quite not of my own doing, I have nonetheless become rather famous of late. Rather than chasing mice (really, there are no mice at the Mission these days, just people, whom I love to comfort; that is, after all, my mission), I try to raise money to save the Mission, which desperately needs to be retrofitted against earthquakes—and to have the roof repaired so that my home, the Mission, does not leak in the rain. How I do that is by giving interviews, writing books, and putting my pawtograph on my books, including

  Today is one of those days -- sitting up with a rescued street cat, sitting side by side to provide warmth, and periodically adjusting the steam vaporizer to reach Happy Cat's nostrils. Happy Cat is not very happy today. Ten days ago, he snatched and swallowed a blood pressure pill my son had placed on the counter while getting a glass of water. Happy Cat is a street cat rescue; he eats anything and everything. Or did, until today. Ten days ago, we had to take him to the vet for that BP pill snatch. He had his stomach pumped and was given charcoal to deal with the poisoning. He was put on IV -- and because of a panic attack, was put on oxygen. It was a tough day. Two days later, life became tougher. He started sneezing. Then, his nose started running. In days, he had trouble breathing. Back he went to the vet. That was two days ago. Again, he was put on oxygen for his panic attack (in spite of pre-dosing him with gabapentin to lessen it). Again, he was poked and probed. He was hy

    photo from Animal Friends Shelter Two weeks ago, our Caturday post focused on the  plight of animals and their caregivers in war zones .  It focused as the first in a planned series on Animal Friends Shelter in Gaza City.  Animal Friends Shelter Last Saturday, we updated the information available from Tamir and Samir, two selfless cat godparents weathering the war in Gaza City (and, of course, beyond).  This Caturday, we can report that we last heard from AFS yesterday. We know from the news reports that the Internet is not functioning in Gaza right now, but we hope and pray that AFS is able t continue caring for its family of cats, who, yesterday, were squabbling a bit over rationed food.   Animal Friends Shelter is on Twitter:  Animal Friends Shelter (@AnimalFriendsAF) / X (twitter.com) And for those who wish to donate (AFS is a charity) to help -- PayPal.Me . Now, with an invasion going on and the Internet is down, donations may take a while to get through and supplies may not b

  In my family, we rescue feral cats, integrate them into our human and cat family, and keep them indoors for their own safety.  Some of them get fat. We call it the feral rescue syndrome. Having to forage for food and not always finding it outdoors, they do not believe that food will always be there for them and overeat, especially if free feeding is allowed. Fat cats have a problem: they get diabetes; they get cancer; they have trouble walking and breathing; they could die younger than necessary. Our beloved Murjan, who crossed the rainbow bridge at the age of 19 -- not bad for a fat cat with diabetes and cancer (chemo for 3 1/2 years) -- actually became non-diabetic as he lost weight from attention to his diet. Unfortunately, while he put up a good fight, the lymphoma ultimately won out. (Cancer is something even humans cannot win with, in many cases.) With the vet's guidance, we put him on a weight-management cat food, DM. It comes in dry and set variants, and he got both. In f