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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

a fluffy white and brown cat in a gray camouflage recovery suit

Animals

Melon’s Odyssey On The Black Market For Life-Saving Cat Medicine

Kathryn Xu

Clementine the tuxedo cat looking like a snake.

Life's Rich Pageant

How I Became An Itinerant Cat Tutor

flat-headed cat, small wild cat, camera trap, southeast Asia, Thailand

Creaturefector

What Would You Name This Cat?

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

Dan McQuade

A cat on a fake baseball card. He's grey and little and next to a keyboard. There is a wood border around the card, with the Toledo Mud Hens logo in the corner, and a Defector logo in the other corner, and WEBLEY: Toledo Mud Hens

The Newest Toledo Mud Hen Is A Purrfect Midseason Addition

Diana Moskovitz is Defector&#8217;s investigations editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99

Diana Moskovitz

A photo of two cats, Chuck and Purrle. Chuck is a brown and golden striped tabby, toward the back, while Purrle is a black cat toward the front. They are sitting next to each other on a bed.

Meet Chuck And Purrle, The Newest Members Of The Defector Pet Family

A grey tabby cat with some white features on the bottom of her head in a small yurt-like cat cave. She has one paw out, and is looking at the camera.

Oh No, It’s Another Emotional Story About My Cat!

Alex Sujong Laughlin

An Interview With My Cat About His Most Annoying Behaviors 

Barry Petchesky

I Have Created A Turkey Fiend

Lauren Theisen

view of 'Cats' stage pre-show from above. there's a long runway dividing the audience in two

Defector Up All Night

Defector At The Theater: A Revamped ‘Cats’ Is Better Than Ever

A photo of Lilly the cat. She's smokey with black and white coloring, a little white bib, and green eyes. She's sitting atop a blanket atop our couch looking quite regal.

For Lilly, Always There

A drawn still from Diana's Piano. It looks hand drawn, maybe even even pencil marks. A red-headed girl with a white cat next to her plays a grand piano in a pink-ish void.

“Diana’s Piano” And All The Cats I’ve Loved And Lost

An extremely fluffy gray cat called the Pallas Cat snarling at the camera

World’s Crankiest Cat Found On World’s Tallest Mountain

Split image: My cat on a t-shirt; next to the same shirt in the 1995 film Hackers (with a different cat)

Arts And Culture

I Put My Cat On A T-Shirt That References The Movie ‘Hackers’ And You Can’t Stop Me

Kelsey McKinney

An illustration of several people, each one passing some juicy gossip on to the next one.

Podcasts

How Many Cats Is Too Many Cats?

This Is So Stupid

I’m Sorry, The Cat In ‘Stray’ Is An Uggo

Patrick Redford

Video Games

The Draw Of ‘Stray’ Is That It’s Fun To Be A Cat

Oakland Coliseum Trying To Figure Out What To Do About The 30–40 Feral Cats That Have Taken Over

Kalyn Kahler

American Flag Finally Put To Good Use At Sporting Event

My cat, on the rim of a sink, next to a running faucet

Life Lessons

Is Drinking 40 Sips Of Water With Your Hand, Like A Cat, Every Morning “More Efficient” Than Using A Glass? An Investigation

A title card. It has a man (Dan McQuade) holding a giant fat cat. He's wearing a Garfield hoodie (the man, not the cat). The header says "DEFECTOR: Dan McQuade in Cats Love Me. Episode 1: Lasagna."

Cats