Fat cat contest, it's wrong!

Hello,

I just read the January 2005 issue of Cat Fancy magazine. They have an
article about trimming down your fat cat. Within the article, they
have a contest for the "fattest cat." The three fattest cats will win
cash prizes.

This burns my bisquits--instead of helping cat owners maintain (or
lose) their pet's weight, they are encouraging it! A better contest
would have been to *help* the three biggest cats lose weight.

If you want to write magazine and let them know how you feel, the
email is:

Rene

Hello,

I just read the January 2005 issue of Cat Fancy magazine. They have an
article about trimming down your fat cat. Within the article, they
have a contest for the "fattest cat." The three fattest cats will win
cash prizes.

If you want to write magazine and let them know how you feel, the
email is:

Rene

I don't like Cat Fancy at all. At best, it's a storybook with nice pictures.
The way they prostitute themselves to their advertisers makes me sick. I quit
reading it long ago when they ran an article about the "possible advantages" of
feeding zoo cats DRY FOOD. With a big endorsement and advertisement by Iams of
course. I didn't see the article you mention, since I don't read it regularly,
but did you look to see which advertiser sponsors that contest?

Sherry

Sorry to follow-up my own post, but I wanted to add that instead of a
subscription to Cat Fancy, your money is much better spent on Cornell's Cat
Newsletter. Particularly if you're not interested in purebreds and just want
good, solid cat health/behavior articles. There is some good stuff in there,
and you know it's reliable information.

Sherry

itty (Sherry ) wrote:

Sorry to follow-up my own post, but I wanted to add that instead of a
subscription to Cat Fancy, your money is much better spent on Cornell's Cat
Newsletter. Particularly if you're not interested in purebreds and just want
good, solid cat health/behavior articles. There is some good stuff in there,
and you know it's reliable information.

Another good one is Catnip, from Tufts University School of Medicine. They are
similar to Ca****ch, Cornell's newsletter, although in some ways I think they
are actually more accurate.

As for Cat Fancy, I think they don't have much choice but to cater to their
advertisers, as many magazines must to survive. Cats magazine and the Whole Cat
Journal did not survive financially, so that leaves Cat Fancy and they appear
to be on shaky grounds as well. Your modest subscription fee does not keep a
magazine like that afloat; they need advertising dollars.

As for Cat Fancy, I think they don't have much choice but to cater to their
advertisers, as many magazines must to survive. Cats magazine and the Whole
Cat
Journal did not survive financially, so that leaves Cat Fancy and they appear
to be on shaky grounds as well. Your modest subscription fee does not keep a
magazine like that afloat; they need advertising dollars.

I've worked in print media all my life and am familiar with the practice of
sucking up to the advertisers and politicians. Maybe that's why I notice it so
much in Cat Fancy, and hate it just as much. And you're right; your
subscription fee is usually just gravy to the publication; however; they depend
on your subscription itself to raise their circulation numbers so that they
*can* hook the big advertisers.
If anybody likes reading Cat Fancy, that's fine; as long as you're reading it
for the pretty pictures and cute stories and taking the other stuff with a
grain of salt.

Sherry

itty (Sherry ) wrote:

If anybody likes reading Cat Fancy, that's fine; as long as you're reading it
for the pretty pictures and cute stories and taking the other stuff with a
grain of salt.

I hope readers do take their health-related articles with a grain of salt
because I agree they are often rife with mistakes, but I suspect many cat
owners don't know about the veterinary school newsletters.

It's curious to me that the Fancy Publications do manage to survive when their
competitors have failed. All the Fancy Publication magazines seem to be at
least partially devoted to purebred animals--is popular interest that strong?

From: ospam (Yngver)

Another good one is Catnip, from Tufts University School of Medicine. They
are
similar to Ca****ch, Cornell's newsletter, although in some ways I think they
are actually more accurate.

I got a trial issue of either Catnip or Ca****ch, I honestly can't remember
which. They had an article about laser surgery. A vet was saying how great
laser surgery is for declawing cats. Needless to say, I did not take their
publication.


As for Cat Fancy, I think they don't have much choice but to cater to their
advertisers, as many magazines must to survive. Cats magazine and the Whole
Cat
Journal did not survive financially, so that leaves Cat Fancy and they appear
to be on shaky grounds as well. Your modest subscription fee does not keep a
magazine like that afloat; they need advertising dollars.

I really miss Whole Cat Journal, especially before that new publisher took it
over. They really had some good information in there. I do get Cat Fancy
because it was a gift from my employer. To me, it seems like a magazine geared
towards breeders.

Rene, thanks for letting me know about the fat cat contest. I will tell them
how I feel.

Lauren
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecatjournal.com/articles/claws.htm

olitter (PawsForThought) wrote:

From: ospam (Yngver)

Another good one is Catnip, from Tufts University School of Medicine. They
are
similar to Ca****ch, Cornell's newsletter, although in some ways I think
they
are actually more accurate.

I got a trial issue of either Catnip or Ca****ch, I honestly can't remember
which. They had an article about laser surgery. A vet was saying how great
laser surgery is for declawing cats. Needless to say, I did not take their
publication.

There have been a few articles about declawing in both newsletters, so I don't
recall which one may have said that. My guess would be Ca****ch, because Tufts
is pretty strongly anti-declaw. However, like a lot of the cat-related media,
they do tend to depict "both sides" of the declawing issue. Obviously you can
always find a vet to quote supporting "last resort" declawing (I've observed
that almost all vets who support declawing say they only support it in cases
where the owner has tried everything else and would otherwise abandon the cat,
yet in practice you sure see a lot of vets doing routine declawing.)
Tufts/Catnip often quotes Dr. Dodman for its articles, however, and of course
he is very much opposed to declawing.


As for Cat Fancy, I think they don't have much choice but to cater to their
advertisers, as many magazines must to survive. Cats magazine and the Whole
Cat
Journal did not survive financially, so that leaves Cat Fancy and they
appear
to be on shaky grounds as well. Your modest subscription fee does not keep a
magazine like that afloat; they need advertising dollars.

I really miss Whole Cat Journal, especially before that new publisher took it
over.

Yes, and I think I paid for about three years worth of issues from the new
publisher, and we've received what, maybe three issues altogether? Basically
she just took everyone's money who had subscribed to the original Journal and
gave us practically nothing in return.

They really had some good information in there. I do get Cat Fancy
because it was a gift from my employer. To me, it seems like a magazine
geared
towards breeders.

I could do without Cat Fancy myself, but I also got something like a five year
subscription as a gift. I do like the pictures of all the beautiful cats. I
wouldn't say it's really geared towards breeders because breeders already know
most of what's covered in the magazine, but I think it's more geared toward
people interested in purchasing purebred cats as pets rather than showing them.
I do like the show schedules because I like to go to cat shows.

I suspect Cat Fancy's philosophy is derived from Dog Fancy. Dog people as a
whole seem interested in learning more about all the different breeds.

Rene, thanks for letting me know about the fat cat contest. I will tell them
how I feel.

Lauren
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecatjournal.com/articles/claws.htm

"Sherry " wrote in message
...
Sorry to follow-up my own post, but I wanted to add that instead of a
subscription to Cat Fancy, your money is much better spent on Cornell's
Cat
Newsletter. Particularly if you're not interested in purebreds and just
want
good, solid cat health/behavior articles. There is some good stuff in
there,
and you know it's reliable information.


Excellent advice. Cornell's newsletter is "Ca****ch". Tuff's University
also puts out an excellent newsletter: "Catnip" - its a little more
technical but easy to understand.

Phil



Sherry

"Sherry " wrote in message
...
Sorry to follow-up my own post, but I wanted to add that instead of a
subscription to Cat Fancy, your money is much better spent on Cornell's
Cat
Newsletter. Particularly if you're not interested in purebreds and just
want
good, solid cat health/behavior articles. There is some good stuff in
there,
and you know it's reliable information.

I love Cornell, had no idea about the newletter though. I look at their
vet site all the time.