My apology

CatArtist wrote:

We've given each of our cats a
position in our upcoming "company" depending on their unique
personalities and the blog is written primarily by the kitties. For
instance, my 17-year old formerly feral Callie is the cranky old
"catministrative assistant" (she was part of a litter that took refuge
in our garage and we tamed and kept them all); our tail-less wonder
Oscar is the "maintenance manx"; our two giant boys Atlas and Somber
are the official corporate bookends and paperweights; my beautiful
little ragdoll Lucy is the corporate spokesmodel ... and so on.

Cute! But shouldn't her name be spelled LuCeE*? (That joke will
only make sense if you've seen the movie "LA Story" with Steve Martin.)

What's the name of your rescue group? And what part of which country
do you do it in? (That should have been two questions: which country
are you from, and where in that country do you do your cat rescue work?)

Joyce

Sharolyn, I see what the others saw right off the bat " E-commerce cats get
down to business creating gifts for cat lovers "

Something like that would have made me think it was a sales site right off.
I will say thank you in advance for your work with ferals and their rescue.
Every Rescue I have done has brought me such a feeling of fulfillment there
are really no words to describe the feeling. I would love to open my home
to every stray I find but at last I have money but not enough to fulfill my
dreams.

A belated welcome on my behalf not all of us jump the gun but in their
defense every day their is someone doing something "forgive the pun" that
acts like a cat lover but wants to sell something.

You would not be the first to offended the group as others have said. I
have many of times and here I am almost 2 years later. Welcome to the RPCA
Sharolyn


"CatArtist" wrote in message
ups.com...
Well, Matthew, I don't HAVE a sales site! All I have is a parked
domain for a site that late this year will offer artwork done by my
sister and I to raise funds for both a local and a national animal
rescue organization. The only thing I have is the blog we've started
about our 15 rescued cats, and that's what I mentioned in my first
post to the group. I thought your group would enjoy our blog as much
as all our other visitors have. We've given each of our cats a
position in our upcoming "company" depending on their unique
personalities and the blog is written primarily by the kitties. For
instance, my 17-year old formerly feral Callie is the cranky old
"catministrative assistant" (she was part of a litter that took refuge
in our garage and we tamed and kept them all); our tail-less wonder
Oscar is the "maintenance manx"; our two giant boys Atlas and Somber
are the official corporate bookends and paperweights; my beautiful
little ragdoll Lucy is the corporate spokesmodel ... and so on. And
Rocky, our CEO (Cat Executive Officer) was rescued at 1 day old when a
raccoon killed his stray mother and littermates. I bottle fed him so
he has no clue that he's a cat and he definitely runs the show around
here.

I've had such fun writing the blog and posting tons of pics of our
kitties, but since I joined here I've been made to feel that its no
better than spam. But it isn't. It's an expression of the overwhelming
love I feel for these entertaining little furballs, a way to tell
their stories and show them to the world, and our hope is that it will
lead to helping rescue organizations find loving homes like ours for
the millions of strays out there who need them so desperately.

I guess I'm wondering why I even want to be a member of a group that
is so quick to insult new members, and closes its mind to something
that is fun, entertaining, and helps cats in need -- before anyone
even takes the time to check it out! I have to tell you, taming feral
cats is a breeze compared to joining this group!

Sharolyn


Also Sharolyn you post appeared as spam which is a huge no no in this
group.
As another poster pointed out you should have told us about your rescue
blog
than before the other sales part

You are welcome here with your stories at anytime

"Matthew" wrote in
om...



I can answer about that I checked the other newsgroups I belong to most
all
of them. This is the most active with an higher average of post

"CatArtist" wrote in message
roups.com...
Mark & Jill,

Gosh, I'm having a hard time believing this! I don't know what else I
can say. I'm just a cat lover who has 15 rescued cats in residence
right now, and I thought the best way to introduce them all was to
invite you to visit their blog. I've joined many groups and posted on
many blogs, and in no instance but this one have I been blasted as
"clueless," "exploitative," etc. -- even after I've apologized. Our
blog does have one post about the cat portraits my sister does,
primarily as a way to raise urgently-needed money for cat rescue
organizations, but overall it's a celebration of my cherished kitties.
Of the thousands of people who have visited our new blog, not a single
one has ever reacted negatively.

Maybe newcomers just aren't easily accepted here, or maybe I really am
clueless - I admit I'm rather stunned at what has happened. But we've
gotten off to such a hostile beginning that I don't think I could ever
feel comfortable here, so after one last attempt to apologize, I'll
unsubscribe and stay in friendlier territory. Please believe that the
furthest thing from my mind was to offend or anger anyone, nor did I
join this group with "blatant disregard" for its focus on cats or to
find "cheap advertising." Now I think I'll go snuggle up with my
kitties and try to forget all this unpleasantness. :-(

Sharolyn

Actually, it is your clueless attempt to inject a commercial sales
attempt
into the group.

There is nothing wrong with ANYONE mentioning their cat-based blog
here,
new or otherwise. If the URL is to an actual cat based blog, and not
to
a
sales brochure, that is great. If you have a cat based blog, and it
has
a
link to your sales page, that is great. If the URL, or your posts here
are
nothing more than an attempt to sell us something, we generally get
****ed
off at your blatant disregard for the main focus of the group - our
cats.

It is good that you have cat related artwork. I wish you luck. But we
are
not a captive market to be exploited in your attempts to find cheap
advertising.

Please feel free to introduce your cats, and be part of our community.
Feel free to put a .sig on your cat related posts, saying "we have cat
artwork athttp://blah.blah.com" if you like. Some of us may even check
it
out.

Hugs and Purrs,
Mark
--
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted
text -

"jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt" wrote in message


What's the name of your rescue group? And what part of which country
do you do it in? (That should have been two questions: which country
are you from, and where in that country do you do your cat rescue work?)

Joyce////

Not sure where Sharolyns rescue group is, but she hangs out on another
Yahoo feral group that I belong to. She's got some gorgeous kitties that
she rescued as ferals (9 in total I think), as well as rehabbing and
rehoming lots with family and friends.

Like us, she's been subjected to kitty cat maths! One more won't hurt!


Welcome to the group Sharolyn.

Helen M




--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

Hi Joyce,

First, my thanks to everyone for your welcomes!

I'm not an organized rescue group; my sister and I just come from a
lifelong family tradition of rescuing animals. Since childhood, we've
always had up to 15-20 cats, nearly all rescues. We always say rather
than doing TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) we do TNK (Trap, Neuter, Keep).
Over the past few years, we've taken in as our own, or found homes
for, probably more than 100 cats, along with dogs, bunnies, raccoons,
birds and even sugar gliders. We're down to 9 cats and 1 dog right
now, after 4 kitties went to live with my nephew, 2 with a friend, and
2 moved to Rome, Italy with my daughter.

I live in Indiana, and the stray/feral problem in our city is severe.
The animal control division has been disbanded, we don't have a
significant no-kill shelter, and the Humane Society has lost funding
from the city. So my sister and I have joined a grassroots effort to
force city government to adopt a mandatory spay/neuter policy and re-
fund the Shelter. We're creating quite a stir. Through this I've met
so many people who are doing what we do -- taking ferals & strays into
their homes. One couple now has 35 cats! So basically, the city has
left private citizens to take care of the problem. And now there's a
new mandate that if a private citizen has more than 6 cats, by law we
have to pay for a kennel license! We're coordinating with Best Friends
to find homes for pets that would be taken from owners who fail to
abide by a new spay/neuter program. I'm also planning to contact Alley
Cat Allies to see how we can work together to do TNR campaigns here.

What we're doing individually with our art is to divide a significant
portion of all proceeds between local efforts, including the Spay/
Neuter League, and Best Friends on a national level. We're thinking
about joining forces with the couple who has 35 cats to not only
donate funds from our art sales to them, but to seek grant money so
they can set up as an official no-kill shelter. Any suggestions from
the group about what we can do here to help the city's stray cat
overpopulation would be most appreciated!

Sharolyn



What's the name of your rescue group? And what part of which country
do you do it in? (That should have been two questions: which country
are you from, and where in that country do you do your cat rescue work?)

Joyce

CatArtist wrote:
Hi Joyce,

First, my thanks to everyone for your welcomes!

I'm not an organized rescue group; my sister and I just come from a
lifelong family tradition of rescuing animals. Since childhood, we've
always had up to 15-20 cats, nearly all rescues. We always say rather
than doing TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) we do TNK (Trap, Neuter, Keep).
Over the past few years, we've taken in as our own, or found homes
for, probably more than 100 cats, along with dogs, bunnies, raccoons,
birds and even sugar gliders. We're down to 9 cats and 1 dog right
now, after 4 kitties went to live with my nephew, 2 with a friend, and
2 moved to Rome, Italy with my daughter.

I live in Indiana, and the stray/feral problem in our city is severe.
The animal control division has been disbanded, we don't have a
significant no-kill shelter, and the Humane Society has lost funding
from the city. So my sister and I have joined a grassroots effort to
force city government to adopt a mandatory spay/neuter policy and re-
fund the Shelter. We're creating quite a stir. Through this I've met
so many people who are doing what we do -- taking ferals & strays into
their homes. One couple now has 35 cats! So basically, the city has
left private citizens to take care of the problem. And now there's a
new mandate that if a private citizen has more than 6 cats, by law we
have to pay for a kennel license! We're coordinating with Best Friends
to find homes for pets that would be taken from owners who fail to
abide by a new spay/neuter program. I'm also planning to contact Alley
Cat Allies to see how we can work together to do TNR campaigns here.

What we're doing individually with our art is to divide a significant
portion of all proceeds between local efforts, including the Spay/
Neuter League, and Best Friends on a national level. We're thinking
about joining forces with the couple who has 35 cats to not only
donate funds from our art sales to them, but to seek grant money so
they can set up as an official no-kill shelter. Any suggestions from
the group about what we can do here to help the city's stray cat
overpopulation would be most appreciated!

Sharolyn

Good luck with funding for the shelter, also the mandatory spay/neuter
policy.
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy and Bagheera)
Cats leave pawprints on your heart.
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk

CatArtist wrote:


I've had such fun writing the blog and posting tons of pics of our
kitties, but since I joined here I've been made to feel that its no
better than spam. But it isn't. It's an expression of the overwhelming
love I feel for these entertaining little furballs, a way to tell
their stories and show them to the world, and our hope is that it will
lead to helping rescue organizations find loving homes like ours for
the millions of strays out there who need them so desperately.

I guess I'm wondering why I even want to be a member of a group that
is so quick to insult new members, and closes its mind to something
that is fun, entertaining, and helps cats in need -- before anyone
even takes the time to check it out! I have to tell you, taming feral
cats is a breeze compared to joining this group!

Don't let them drive you away - some people react a bit too
quickly, without thinking first! Also, reactions frequently
owe more to the reactor's mood of the moment than to the
nature of the actual post. (I wonder how many of your
crtics bothered to look at your blog before objecting?)

Anyway, when it's posted to a cat group, I don't see how
cat-related advertising can be regarded as "spam", since it
is definitely "on topic". (You certainly find people
posting web addresses for their guest-houses and B & B's on
the travel group I post to, and few people seem to object.)

CatArtist wrote:
Hi Joyce,

First, my thanks to everyone for your welcomes!

I'm not an organized rescue group; my sister and I just come from a
lifelong family tradition of rescuing animals. Since childhood, we've
always had up to 15-20 cats, nearly all rescues. We always say rather
than doing TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) we do TNK (Trap, Neuter, Keep).
Over the past few years, we've taken in as our own, or found homes
for, probably more than 100 cats, along with dogs, bunnies, raccoons,
birds and even sugar gliders. We're down to 9 cats and 1 dog right
now, after 4 kitties went to live with my nephew, 2 with a friend, and
2 moved to Rome, Italy with my daughter.

I live in Indiana, and the stray/feral problem in our city is severe.
The animal control division has been disbanded, we don't have a
significant no-kill shelter, and the Humane Society has lost funding
from the city. So my sister and I have joined a grassroots effort to
force city government to adopt a mandatory spay/neuter policy and re-
fund the Shelter. We're creating quite a stir. Through this I've met
so many people who are doing what we do -- taking ferals & strays into
their homes. One couple now has 35 cats! So basically, the city has
left private citizens to take care of the problem. And now there's a
new mandate that if a private citizen has more than 6 cats, by law we
have to pay for a kennel license! We're coordinating with Best Friends
to find homes for pets that would be taken from owners who fail to
abide by a new spay/neuter program. I'm also planning to contact Alley
Cat Allies to see how we can work together to do TNR campaigns here.

What we're doing individually with our art is to divide a significant
portion of all proceeds between local efforts, including the Spay/che
Neuter League, and Best Friends on a national level. We're thinking
about joining forces with the couple who has 35 cats to not only
donate funds from our art sales to them, but to seek grant money so
they can set up as an official no-kill shelter. Any suggestions from
the group about what we can do here to help the city's stray cat
overpopulation would be most appreciated!

Sharolyn


Sharolyn,

Definitely contact Alley Cat Allies and Best Friends. You might also
want to (I don't know where you are in Indiana) check out the HELP the
Animals Shelter in Richmond, Indiana; one of the board members has a lot
of experience, and can probably point you to some help. Ask for Monica.)

Kudos for rescuing the ferals. I've only rescued and tamed one, but
often when I look at him, I think that is the best thing I've ever done
in my life!

Welcome,

Ginger-lyn