February 08, 2022

A Cat Lady with a Cause


A Cat Lady with a Cause
Who wouldn't want to help these cuties? Flickr user Krzysztof Belczyński

Having saved over 600 cats from homelessness in the past seven years, Tatyana Zelenskaya has bought a house in Novosibirsk for the many kitties still waiting for more permanent residences.

For many years, Tatyana has taken cats in and worked towards getting them adopted. But when the amount of critters became too large for her apartment, she decided that she needed another place to keep them.

The house, which has been affectionately dubbed the "Cat's Kingdom", is currently home to 108 kitties. All eight rooms of the building are occupied by formerly homeless cats, some of which live in cages while others roam the halls freely.

Tatyana pays for her charitable project by collecting donations and working as a psychologist. It is difficult to imagine how she manages to take care of so many pets, despite getting help occasionally from family members and volunteers.

Recently, Tatyana has been working hard to decrease the amount of animals that she looks after to 50 so that she can take a much-deserved break. Hopefully giving them away shouldn't be too hard, considering the going price for cats these days.

You Might Also Like

Worth a Pretty Kitty
  • January 12, 2022

Worth a Pretty Kitty

How much would you pay for a feline once caressed by the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin?
Great Cats! Should She Be Canned?
  • December 11, 2021

Great Cats! Should She Be Canned?

One brave Russian journalist has done great service for the world’s population of domestic cats by taste-testing their vittles.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Driving Down Russia's Spine
June 01, 2016

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Fearful Majesty
July 01, 2014

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Faith & Humor
December 01, 2011

Faith & Humor

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955