Mewswire: The newsletter of CatHobbyist.com
January 2010

A new year

For many of us, the last year has been a tough one. Rising unemployment and housing problems have seen many families struggling to provide for themselves and still be able to do right by their family pets. Organizations aimed at sheltering, re-homing, fostering and providing medical support to companion animals have seen a decline in donations, and those with endowments and other forms of investment have seen their revenues plummet, too.

And yet -- shelter and rescue adoptions on the United States have never been at higher levels, providing foster care has enjoyed a surge in popularity, and kill rates in many communities are at all-time lows. The love we feel for our pets is, apparently, a powerful force to reckon with, even in hard times.

CatHobbyist.com's parent site, PetHobbyist.com, and its sister site, RescueNetwork.org, are happy to be partnering with an historic Ad Council campaign, The Shelter Pet Project, to make sure people are aware of all the wonderful animals available for adoption through shelters and rescue groups. We hope you'll visit the SPP and become part of its three-year multi-media campaign to get dogs and cats into forever homes.

We've also begun a series of special guest chats on Ending Pet Homelessness in America. Last month, we welcomed Ryan Clinton of FixAustin.org, and tomorrow, Jan. 4, at 9 pm Eastern Time/6 PM Pacific Time, we're happy to present an evening with Holly Lewis, president of The Alliance of Wisconsin Animal Rehoming Efforts (AWARE), to discuss how to start rescuing pets in your community, and how to create valuable networks between shelters and rescue organizations.

To join the chat:

If you are a registered user of our site, you can enter the chat room at this link:

http://chat.pethobbyist.com/login.php?room_id=1001

If you're not, you can go here:

http://chat.pethobbyist.com/login_guest.php

Then select "Auditorium - Special Events" from the menu, type in your desired screen name, and come on in!

You don't need to download or install anything, but you do need to have Java enabled in your browser. If you're having trouble entering the chat room, you can find help at this link:

http://www.pethobbyist.com/chatfaq.html

We'll see you Monday evening -- bring your questions!

The 2009 Top Ten in the CatHobbyist.com Bookstore

What books made the biggest impression on our users in the last year? Check them out in the Catobbyist.com book store!

The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care: An Illustrated Handbook

That Yankee Cat: The Maine Coon

Whole Health for Happy Cats: A Guide to Keeping Your Cat Naturally Healthy, Happy, and Well-Fed

First Aid for Cats: An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet

Complete Kitten Care

Understanding Cat Behavior

Cat Vs. Cat: Keeping Peace When You Have More Than One Cat

Twisted Whiskers: Solving Your Cat's Behavior Problems

The Stray Cat Handbook

An Unlikely Cat Lady: Feral Adventures in the Backyard Jungle

Follow us!

Did you know CatHobbyist.com's parent site, PetHobbyist.com, is on Twitter and Facebook? And believe us, cats are front and center when we tweet and post, especially since we spun our busy reptile and amphibian site, kingsnake.com, off into its own social media sites.

We hope you'll follow us on Twitter and become our fan on Facebook -- it's a great way to keep up with cat news and special events!

That's it for now! Have a safe and wonderful New Year with your families, furry and otherwise!

All of us at CatHobbyist.com --

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