{"id":15751,"date":"2015-11-18T00:10:33","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T05:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=15751"},"modified":"2015-11-18T10:51:00","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T15:51:00","slug":"betterwithpets-summit-part-2-the-lessons-learned-and-putting-them-into-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/betterwithpets-summit-part-2-the-lessons-learned-and-putting-them-into-action\/","title":{"rendered":"#BetterWithPets Summit – Part 2 – The Lessons Learned and Putting Them Into Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is sponsored by Nestle Purina\u00ae<\/a> and the BlogPaws<\/a> Professional Pet Blogger Network. I am being compensated to\u00a0help spread the word about the third annual\u00a0BetterWithPets<\/a> campaign but Zee & Zoey’s Cat Chronicles only shares information we feel is relevant\u00a0to our readers. Purina is not responsible for the content of this article.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Nestle Purina<\/p><\/div>\n

Attending a Purina Better With Pets Summit<\/a>, while an amazing experience, is also an overwhelming one. So much insightful information shared in the span of a day by so many experts \u2013 how could I possibly come back home and do justice to all I had learned in a mere blog post or two? The theme centered on the emotional connection between people and their pets, especially as being defined by the new generation of millennials. Rather than debate what to discuss, I decided to go with the obvious – my favorite subject – cats.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s what panelist and Purina Behaviorist, Sandra Lyn said that really caught my attention and what I want to focus on – that the shift in households with the largest cat population has changed from baby boomers to millennials – millennials being those individuals born sometime between 1981 and 1997 that have never known a time without digital technology. She said key to the emotional connection was to figure out how both the cat and the millennial get the best out of the relationship because when that happens, both parties benefit.<\/p>\n

Although I\u2019m young at heart, in reality, I\u2019m the bag of food on the shelf that\u2019s formulated for mature cats. I was brought up in a world where we communicated in far more than 140 characters and when we took a picture of something, we had to wait several days, if not weeks, for the photos to be developed. Sharing meant printing duplicates and mailing them out to Grandma. A headline was about something that could have happened days before, not in real time, and going viral probably meant a trip to the doctor, not a marketing phenomenon.<\/p>\n

\"chris-joe\"<\/a>

These were my boys in 2013 celebrating Christmas at my house. I am happy to state they are well-adjusted millennials that have been brought up knowing the enrichment pets bring to our lives.<\/p><\/div>\n

But just because I might not always like or understand the technology that defines the millennial world, it doesn\u2019t mean I can\u2019t embrace and successfully use its far reaching capabilities when it comes to cat welfare. Sandra said it best \u2013 think of the hyper social world we live in, in terms of bite size servings \u2013 like a super vitamin packed with a powerful boost of vital information.<\/p>\n

In real terms, that means if Twitter gives me 140 characters, then I have to make the best of use of each and every one of them – not only to grab the reader\u2019s attention, but to impart a useful and lasting message or relevant call to action. For example, when Marty Becker, D.V.M. was discussing the importance of placing cat cages in shelters high up from the ground so that cats feel safe and secure, I tweeted the message\u00a0\u201cCats like to get high! No, not that kind of high- they need high spaces to feel safe & secure!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s most important about that tweet is that it\u2019s instantly catchy, but quickly, before any attention span is lost, it immediately explains why cats like to get high, not implying that cat\u2019s actually like to get high on drugs. If I shortened the headline to \u201cCats Like to Get High\u201d to use on a blog post, for example, that would be irresponsible of me. While definitely attention getting, there is no guarantee the post would be read in full and I would not want the takeaway being that people think it is okay to get cats high on drugs.<\/p>\n

We see these kinds of dangerous and misleading headlines all the time \u2013 one of the most recent being the study<\/a> by the University of Edinburgh and Bronx Zoo, suggesting that domestic cats are neurotic and sinister and want to kill us. Seriously? Cats got a bad enough rap as it was a couple of years ago when a study<\/a> was released in the journal, Nature Communications, that free roaming and feral cats were responsible for killing up to 3.7 billion birds annually in the continental United States. Studies like these take whatever facts seem to suit them the best and then either distort or misrepresent the rest, wreaking havoc with the gullible mainstream public that doesn\u2019t know any better. In cases like this, Mikel Delgado, Certified Cat Behaviorist, explained that we must do our best to fill in those social gaps with education.<\/p>\n

So in my example of cats liking to get high, the best case scenario would be if I wrote an informative blog post and designed a compelling photo graphic to go with it. Then I could attach the photo to my Tweet and share the link to the blog post by using a program like bitly<\/a> to shorten the url and drive traffic to my blog.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_2483\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The same photo could be used for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. and the best part is that all of these social platforms encourage sharing and conversation \u2013 conversation where, if myths and inaccurate are present, they could be politely corrected or debated. I learned that a long time ago from my own life lessons – we can never assume that everyone knows as much as we do about a particular subject and as a devoted cat advocate, I make it my mission to\u00a0educate any time I can.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s actually true for all of us and you didn’t\u00a0need to attend the summit to learn that lesson. Every single day in our everyday actions and language, we educate whether we realize it or not (good or bad). I learned this lesson firsthand as I was getting ready to leave the summit with Robin Olson of Covered in Cat Hair<\/a>. We were on our way to the Koneko Cat Caf\u00e9 in SoHo and were interrupted by two staff members of the Brooklyn Expo Center who wanted to compliment us on our leopard attire (yes, I let other people wear leopard print). We told them we were going to a cat caf\u00e9 and they were fascinated.<\/p>\n

One of the ladies made a joke about wanting to open a bar for dogs, thinking it would be cute if dogs could drink. We very politely (but firmly) explained how dangerous that was \u2013 even in jest – which led to a conversation on certain foods that were toxic to pets and so on. She had no idea and was horrified \u2013 clearly she did not want to do anything to harm an animal, but she didn\u2019t know any better. And that is my biggest takeaway from the summit \u2013 I am a social influencer and I have the power to help ensure that the emotional balance between people and their pets is as healthy, safe, loving, and beneficial as possible.<\/p>\n

Once again, I thank Purina for the incredible opportunity to attend the Better With Pets Summit. As a way to wrap it all up, I thought I’d share some of my favorite graphics I have created over the years that I have shared on a social level – I think they all highlight quite vividly just how powerful social media can be to sharing positive and informative messages about pet welfare. Enjoy and have a great weekend!<\/p>\n

\"Kittens-early-spay\"<\/a>

One of my biggest “don’t assume everyone knows everything” is the subject of early spay\/neuter. At one point in my life, I did not know all the facts and now it is a subject that I try to educate on as much as possible. This graphic I made back in 2012 really got it all started for me – leading me to write for Cat Fancy Magazine on the subject.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"AnalogyBlack-Cat-Day\"<\/a>

I’ve used this simple graphic about black cats for various occasions over\u00a0the years. It’s by far one of my most successful and has been shared thousands of times worldwide.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"love-bond-commitmentfor-2014media\"<\/a>

A very simple message with a very simple picture is all it takes to initiate positive and compelling conversation about the love we share with our pets. This was for National Pet Week.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Rev-Declaw-poster\"<\/a>

Declawing is one of the most sensitive and controversial subjects about cats there is. Rather than be adversarial, by creating a very heartfelt and compelling graphic, I was able to encourage some very helpful and positive conversation to those who might not have known how detrimental declawing can be to the health and well-being of a cat.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"shelterorange-cat-1\"<\/a>

Sometimes the most effective way to communicate with people is to spoof something that is popular at the time. I created this graphic for Adopt a Shelter Cat Month when the new season of the wildly popular show “Orange is the New Black” was beginning.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is sponsored by Nestle Purina\u00ae and the BlogPaws Professional Pet Blogger Network. I am being compensated to\u00a0help spread the word about the third annual\u00a0BetterWithPets campaign but Zee & Zoey’s Cat Chronicles only shares information we feel is relevant\u00a0to our readers. Purina is not responsible for the content of this article. Attending a Purina […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,3,1100],"tags":[1062,1265,838,1070,595,1071,1061,1072],"class_list":["post-15751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-blogging-writing","category-inspiration-healing","category-wordless-wednesday","tag-better-with-pets","tag-cats","tag-dog","tag-millennials","tag-pet-bond","tag-pet-lover","tag-purina","tag-wellness"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/DSC_2483.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15751"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15770,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15751\/revisions\/15770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}