I’m delighted to announce that The Conscious Cat won the coveted Nose-to-Nose award for Best Cat Blog!
The BlogPaws Pet Blogging and Social Media Nose-to-Nose Awards were created by the founders of BlogPaws to judge pet bloggers and people who write about pets online for their expertise, creativity, performance and achievements in one or more of 12 categories. Judging is done by a panel of industry professionals.Continue Reading
Allegra, Ruby and I are excited to announce that The Conscious Cat won the 2014 Pettie for Best Pet Blog! This is our fourth Pettie win in a row, and we owe it all to you, our readers and friends.
We’re even more excited that this award comes with a $1000 prize, which will go to Kitten Associates, a Connecticut-based rescue group founded by my dear friend and fellow Pettie winner Robin Olson of Covered in Cat Hair.Continue Reading
I’m delighted to announce that I was awarded three Certificates of Excellence in the Cat Writers Association’s annual contest. Each year, the contest recognizes the best of the best in the field of professional writers, broadcasters, photographers, and graphic artists who have chosen cats as their subjects.
The certificates were awarded for the following articles:Continue Reading
I’m delighted to announce that I was awarded three Certificates of Excellence in the Cat Writers’ Association’s annual contest! The contest showcases the very best in the feline field of professional writers, broadcasters, photographers, and graphic artists.
The certificates were awarded for the following articles:
I’m excited to announce that The Conscious Cat won a Muse Medallion for Best Website in the Cat Writers’ Association’s annual contest!
The contest showcases the very best in the feline field of professional writers, broadcasters, photographers and graphic artists. The Muse Medallions were awarded at the association’s annual conference in Los Angeles earlier this month. I wasn’t able to attend the conference this year, and just received my medal in the mail.
I’m very proud of this award, but it really belongs to you, my readers. Without you, I wouldn’t be inspired to write and blog every day and to bring you all the information you need to keep your feline family members (and yourself) happy and healthy. Thank you for being a part of the best community of cat lovers on the web!
The Conscious Cat was awarded four Certificates of Excellence in the Cat Writers’ Association’s annual contest! The contest showcases the very best in the feline field of professional writers, broadcasters, photographers and graphic artists.
The Conscious Cat received a certificate for the “Website” category.
I also received Certificates of Excellence for three individual articles in the categories of “Online Article – Health and General Care” and “Online Article – Behavior and Training.” The winning articles are:
BlogPaws, the first online pet community to establish a conference designed entirely for pet bloggers, recently announced the First Annual BlogPaws “Nose-to-Nose” Social Media Pet Blogging Awards. Nominees will be judged by a panel of professionals on their expertise, creativity, and performance in one or more of 12 different categories.
I enjoy bringing you all the information you need to keep your cats and yourself happy and healthy, and I love the community of cat lovers this blog has created. If you appreciate us as much as we appreciate you, I’d be very grateful it if you would take a moment to submit a nomination for us.
Nominations will be accepted through Sunday, May 6.Continue Reading
I am honored and excited excited that The Conscious Cat was named as one of the Top 5 Pet Blogs by SheKnows.com, one of the top 10 most visited websites for women!
“Cats are some of the most widely loved — and misunderstood — creatures out there. Luckily, websites like The Conscious Cat exist to give us feline lovers information we didn’t know we needed. For example: Did you know that you can over-vaccinate your cat? Neither did we, until the Conscious Cat told us. The blog came out of author Ingrid King’s love for her adopted cat, Buckley. She even wrote a book about the experience of adopting Buckley and the grief she went through when she succumbed to heart disease. Another must-read for all cat lovers.”
Allegra, Ruby and I are excited to announce that The Conscious Cat was voted Best Website About Cats in the 2012 About.com Reader’s Choice awards!
There were five nominees for this category. The original criteria stated: “The ideal website should be informational, covering topics such as cat care, health, behavior, and other topics, but written in an understandable manner for the lay person. A touch of humor here and there doesn’t hurt.”
According to Franny Syufy, About.com’s Cat Guide, “The Conscious Cat offers all that and more.”
From a reader’s nomination: “Informative without being preachy, easy to follow (very important), entertaining, engaging (inviting readers to participate and provide feedback), down-to-earth and from the heart.”
Says Syufy, “although the voting remained close throughout the entire voting period, The Conscious Cat took an early lead and coasted through easily to the end, with 44% of the vote. Well done!” Continue Reading
You did it! We are thrilled to have been nominated for not just one, but two categories in Dogtime Media’s 2011 Pettie Awards: Best Cat Blog and Best Overall Pet Blog! Thank you so much for your support – it means so much to know we have so many loyal readers and fans!
And now we need to ask for your support again: we need your votes! Please take a moment to vote for us. And when you’re done, please ask all your cat loving friends to vote for us, too!
You can vote once or twice a day – voting closes July 29.
Voting more than once or twice a day is not allowed. According to DogTime’s Christina Kwan, “we aren’t capturing email like we were in the nominations phase. However, my tech team has assured me that there is something in place to prevent someone from sitting at the computer all day long submitting votes. Telling readers to go and vote once or twice a day is fine, but not excessive voting.”
The Petties will be presented at an awards ceremony on August 26 at BlogPaws in Tysons Corner, Virginia. BlogPaws is the largest pet blogging conference in the country.
Please help make my dream of hearing the words
“And the winner is….The Conscious Cat!”
come true!
Allegra, Ruby and I thank you for your support!
I would also like to congratulate all the other wonderful bloggers who were nominated for awards! I encourage you visit all of the blogs, and vote in the other categories, too. Since many of these bloggers are good friends, I couldn’t possibly recommend who to vote for. I want everyone to win!
Pettie winners will receive a $1000 donation to a shelter or rescue group of their choice. Deciding which shelter to choose was tough – there are so many deserving groups out there. After careful consideration, I decided to split the prize money between two rescue groups if I win.
Casey’s House is a small private rescue group in Bluemont, VA, and is home to many elderly and hard to adopt cats. They are also dedicated to the promotion of Trap-Neuter-Return to help end the plight of feral and other abandoned cats. My connection to Casey’s House is very personal: Cindy Ingram, the founder of Casey’s House, rescued my precious little Buckley from a farm in southwestern Virginia, where she and about twenty other cats were kept in marginal living conditions. Since it all started with Buckley – the book, this blog, and so much more – it just feels right to donate a portion of the prize money to Casey’s House. You can find out more about Casey’s House on their website, and you can also read about my visit to this very special cat sanctuary here.
Kitten Associates is a Connecticut based group founded by Robin Olson of Covered in Cat Hair fame, whose blog was also nominated for Best Cat Blog and Best Social Integration Blog. I am in such awe of Robin’s huge heart and exceptional dedication to the welfare of all cats, which makes Kitten Associates a perfect choice to receive the other half of the prize money. Kitten Associates is dedicated to saving the lives of cats (and dogs, too!), supporting animal rescue organizations with powerful online marketing tools, and championing legislation for spay/neuter programs to end pet overpopulation. You can learn more about Kitten Associates here.
The Conscious Cat and Stacia Kelly at Mind-Body-Spirit Works have created the Animal Empath Award. The award is given to individuals who have dedicated their lives to making the world a better place for animals. It will be awarded once a month by Mind-Body-Spirit Works and The Conscious Cat. If you know one of these special human beings deserving of this award, please send a nomination e-mail to Stacia Kelly or Ingrid King for consideration.
Thanks to Stacia for creating the wonderful badge for the award, featuring none other than Buckley!
Our first award goes to Cindy Ingram.
Cindy Ingram is the founder of Casey’s House, a private rescue group in Bluemont, VA, that specializes in older and hard to adopt cats. Cindy has a special place in my heart because she rescued my precious little Buckley, the subject of Buckley’s Story – Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher, from a farm in southwestern Virginia, where she and about twenty other cats were kept in marginal living conditions.
Casey’s House is named after Cindy’s beloved tabby cat, who came to live with her when she was fifteen years old. At first Cindy refused her entrance to her house, as she already had two cats and two dogs at the time. Casey, however, was not a cat to take no for an answer. Casey’s “home” at the time was a colony of some fifty cats, and she was probably getting tired of either not getting to her food on time, or eating off of filthy dishes. Every evening, Casey would be waiting on Cindy’s porch, obviously hungry, so Cindy would feed her. Slowly, but surely, Casey became a part of Cindy’s family. Eventually, four of her feline colony friends came to join Casey. Says Cindy: “Casey taught me to reach beyond my self-imposed limits, and her house is the dream that now has become a reality”.
In addition to providing a safe haven for older cats, Casey’s House also promotes Trap-Neuter-Return. Through this program, feral cats are humanely trapped, brought to a veterinarian to be evaluated, spayed or neutered, vaccinated and ear-tipped. Cats that are friendly to humans and kittens are adopted into loving homes. Healthy feral cats are returned to their outdoor homes. Casey’s House spayed and neutered more than 200 cats in 2009, making a significant contribution to controlling the overpopulation problem.
Cindy created a wonderful environment for the cats. There are very few cages, most of the cats live in a large open room, filled with carpeted ramps, cat climbing towers, and lots of soft pillows and blankets for them to sleep on. New rescues and those with potential health conditions are kept in separate areas until they’ve been checked out by a veterinarian. What was really amazing to me was how peaceful the energy in that large room felt. All the cats seemed to get along, there was no hissing, posturing, or fighting. Cindy said in all the years she’s done this work, she’s only had one incident with two cats fighting. Casey’s House truly is a safe haven for cats in need.
Like all non-profit organizations, especially those helping animals, Casey’s House is struggling in these tough economic times. If you have a favorite shelter or rescue group that you support, please consider making a donation to them – they need your help now more than ever. And if you don’t already support a shelter, perhaps you’ll consider making a donation to Casey’s House in Buckley’s memory. Cindy and the cats at Casey’s House will thank you.
