BlogPaws - The Pet Social Media Resource

Cat Delete Your Files?

Guest post by Caroline Golon

When was the last time you backed up the data on your computer? If you’re like me…it’s probably been a while. And when you did back it up, exactly where did you save your files? I saved mine on my external hard drive. But, I’ve recently learned, that’s not enough.

If my computer crashed today, I’d be toast.  First of all, there’s the last month of data I haven’t saved and second, external hard drives aren’t enough protection. They can crash, too. In fact, mine recently did. If I hadn’t rushed out to buy a new one, I would have been extremely vulnerable to losing my data.

Announcing the Jackson Galaxy-Moderncat Catification Lounge at Blogpaws!

by Caroline Golon, BlogPaws Co-founder and Mom to Romeo and Pugsley

Kitties rejoice! Your humans will be treated to an uber awesome experience at BlogPaws this year, completely designed for your benefit. 

The Catification Lounge at BlogPaws is the creation of Kate Benjamin of Moderncat and Jackson Galaxy, a team passionately dedicated to helping cat parents create ideal home environments for indoor cats. 

Come hang out in the Catification Lounge, where you’ll see the hottest cat products on display. Take home loads of info to catify your home and to share with your readers to help them catify theirs. Meow! Pick up tip sheets featuring Jackson’s cat behavior advice and Moderncat’s environmental enhancement design tips. And, snag some cool cat swag, too! 

Flat Pets Take Over BlogHer

Caroline here. Yvonne and Tom are livin' large at BlogHer in San Diego this weekend. I'm totally envious about this for many reasons but the biggest reason is that I would love to see the looks on people's faces when they see this group of Flat Pets moseying around the conference.

What's a Flat Pet, you say? A Flat Pet is a cut out photo of your pet, mounted on foam core with a little easel on back so your Flat Pet can stand upright and see everything going on around him. Flat Pets are perfect traveling companions because they are easy to transport, don't cost anything extra to fly and are allowed virtually everywhere. Plus, they're hilarious (at least I think so) and Flat Pet adventures and photos make great blog fodder. Just sayin'.

If you want to learn how to create a Flat Pet, don't miss Bev Van Zant's session at BlogPaws 2011, where she'll teach you how to create your own. Bev is the creator and blogger at Flat Tyler so she is the gal we want leading this session! AND the first 10 people who RSVP to me - caroline (at) blogpaws (dot) com - will be able to make their very own Flat Pet in the session. That's right, we'll actually be making 10 flat pets while the class observes. It's going to be awesome.

But back to BlogHer....there's a really nice contingent of the BlogPaws community in attendance and that alone would be worth the trip. But alas, the timing wasn't good for me so here I sit on my couch, getting fun photos emailed to me. Sigh.

Meanwhile...Tom and Yvonne are accompanied by Flat Wibby Wabby, Flat Chester, Flat Emily and Flat Olive. They could have at least taken a Flat Caroline, don't you think?

 

 

 

The Bideawee Ball and Flat Pets

by Caroline Golon, BlogPaws co-founder

There’s nothing like roving pets, bloggers, cocktail dresses and celebrities to properly kick off the week. That’s how Monday night went for me at least, thanks to a kind invite by IAMS to the Bideawee Ball in NYC. I was joined by fellow BlogPaws community members, Michele Hollow and her husband Stephen, Lana Vitsup and Carol Bryant (and Dexter!)

Bideawee, which means “stay awhile” in Scottish, is one of the oldest pet welfare organizations in the New York City area. Since 1903, they have been helping homeless pets through adoption services, a vet clinic, community education, training and much more. It’s a darn impressive organization.

Success Stories Keep us Inspired

Every day I see this community jump in to help each others' causes in many ways, from financial support to social media promotion. It's what makes pet lovers so special. As important as it is to rally the community around your cause, it's equally important to show the results of your hard work. Showing impact keeps the momentum going, gets people excited and fosters continued support. 

Sharing results makes your supporters want to help more. When we can see the impact of our participation we're proud to have contributed. And that's an addictive (in a good way!) feeling.

Our friends at PeoplePets.com just posted a wonderful photo gallery of pets who have been featured on the site in the past and have since found their forever homes. Each slide shares a story about that pet's journey. It made me feel so happy just scrolling through the photos and glad to be a PeoplePets.com fan. 

BZTAT recently rallied the gang to help a local parking lot kitty named Okey.  BZTAT did a great job sharing updates on the cat's progress, which made everyone who contributed to her care feel responsible for the success and that much happier that they helped. And after BZTAT shared the latest, that Okey is now safe inside with her, the donations continued to help with Okey's ongoing care.

Lynn and Frugal Dougal post the results of the Pawpawties and anyone can see the huge impact these monthly gatherings have made for so many animal organizations across the globe. Scan the results and tell me that doesn't make you want to keep attending!

So when the excitement of the promotional part of the campaign is over, don't forget to showcase the impact you and your supporters made.  Results fuel the fire of compassion and keep the circle of giving strong!

Photo of Pesci courtesy of PeoplePets.com