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For the last ten years, CatHobbyist.com has been presenting an annual online symposium about living with, keeping, raising, breeding, rescuing, and caring for animals. In celebration of this anniversary, we've extended Chat Week into Chat Month. More guests and dates are being added every day! Some of the chats have their own dedicated reminder lists, or just sign up for the Cat Chat reminder list to get them all:
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Our the current lineup includes:

Friday, February 1

Nathan Winograd
Author of "Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America"
Friday, February 1, at 9 PM Eastern, in the Auditorium
Nathan Winograd's 2007 book "Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America" set off a firestorm of controversy -- and inspired an army of animal lovers across the country, calling for serious reform of the American shelter system and an end to the use of killing as a tool of animal population control.
View the transcript of this chat here!

Friday, February 8

Joan Miller, Legislative Analyst for the Cat Fancier's Association
Friday, February 8, at 9 PM Eastern, in Cat Care Central
Joan Miller is legislative coordinator for the Cat Fanciers Association -- the largest feline registry in the world. From Joan: "The cat fancy and CFA's future is impacted by unduly restrictive laws, such as limits on the numbers of cats per household, mandatory spay/neuter, cattery licensing with high fees and intrusive inspection. While detrimental to the hobby of pedigreed cat breeding many laws do not solve community animal population problems. They do keep new people from coming into the cat fancy."
View the transcript of this chat here!

Saturday, February 16

Shirley Braverman of Save Our Strays
The ecology, management and public health benefits of feral cat colonies
Saturday, February 16, at 10 PM Eastern, in Cat Care Central
Shirley Bravermen, Director of Save Our Strays, is a journalist belonging to the Cat Writers Association and the Society of Environmental Journalists, with over 2000 articles published. Now retired, she devotes all her time to SOS as their newsletter editor, publicist, grantwriter, troubleshooter and liaison to national rescue groups. An expert on feral colony management, she shares her articles with national and local animal rescue groups and consults with politicians on feral cat management law. She'll be joining us to discuss the ecology, management and public health benefits of feral cat colonies.

Friday, February 22

Sandy Arora
Holistic Cat Care
Friday, February 22, at 9 PM Eastern, in Cat Care Central
Sandy Arora is the founder of Holisticat, the first mailing list on the Internet devoted to the care of cats using gentle means. The list, started in 1997, continues to this day and has helped thousands of cats with health, behavior, and nutrition issues. Sandy is also the author of "Whole Health for Happy Cats: A Guide to Keeping Your Cat Naturally Happy,Healthy, and Well-Fed."
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Amy Shojai
Solving Behavior Problems in your Multi-Pet Household
Friday, February 22, at 10 PM Eastern, in the Auditorium
Amy Shojai, author of "PETiQUETTE: Solving Behavior Problems in Your Multi-Pet Household," is a certified animal behavior consultant and nationally known authority on pet care and behavior. She began her career as a veterinary technician and is the award-winning author of 22 nonfiction pet books and more than 1000 published articles and columns. “I've been an equal-opportunity pet lover since birth. All kinds of furred, feathered, finned and fanged beasts have shared my life, but I must admit that dogs and cats top my list. I'm very grateful for my success as a pet writer, but feel even more fortunate that I truly love my work. Bottom line, I get paid to talk and write about dogs and cats -- wow!” Amy will join us to discuss "Solving Behavior Problems in your Multi-Pet Household."
Get more information and sign up for a free email reminder of the chat, here.

Saturday, February 23

Wendy Christensen, The Cat Herder™
Outwitting Cats: Tips, Tricks and Techniques for Persuading the Felines in your Life That What YOU Want is also what THEY Want
Saturday, February 23, at 9 PM Eastern, in Cat Care Central
Wendy Christensen writes and paints at Bobcat Mountain Studios, high on a wooded hillside in rural New Hampshire. She shares her home with her scientist husband, more than 10,000 books (including over 1,000 cat books) and the family of dear feline muses who daily inspire her. She is the co-author of "The Humane Society of the United States Complete Guide to Cat Care," and has won numerous Cat Writers Association MUSE Medallions and Special Awards. She's written extensively on a wide range of feline topics -- including veterinary medicine; health and care; behavior; lifestyle; cats in art, history, mythology and culture -- for a wide range of cat-themed publications. She'll be joining us to discuss her newest book, "Outwitting Cats," and offering "Tips, Tricks and Techniques for Persuading the Felines in your Life That What YOU Want is also what THEY Want."

Bob Walker, Making Your House "The Cat's House"
Saturday, February 23, at 10 PM Eastern, in Cat Care Central
Photographer and cat lover Bob Walker is famous for having created "The Cat's House," featured in the book as well as on HGTV. He followed that up with "Cats Into Everything," as well as the design for a feline retirement home/shelter to be operated by the National Cat Protection Society. Come find out how to enrich the lives of your cats, and make your house the cat's house, too!

Thursday, February 28

NEW TIME! Dr. Jeff Werber -- Lassie's TV Vet!
Microchips and Your Pet
Thursday, February 28, at 9 PM Eastern, in the Auditorium
From Dr. Jeff: "Like most little kids, all I wanted to be when I grew up was a veterinarian. According to my folks, that's all I ever talked about. Growing up in a household with dogs, this wasn't such an unusual dream. The unusual part about it was that I followed this dream into adulthood. With me, I think becoming a veterinarian was more of a calling than a mere childhood dream. Now, over 20 years out of school and practicing, I'm still in heaven! As many of you know, over the years my career has branched out into many different directions--all revolving around veterinary medicine and my love of our animal friends." Dr. Werber is Lassie's veterinarian, and has also cared for the pets of stars including Ben Affleck, Julia Roberts, and Mandy Moore. He is also a spokesperson for Home Again pet microchips.
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Friday, February 29

NOTE NEW ROOM! Thom Somes, the Pet Safety Guy™
Pet CPR, First Aid & Care for Dogs and Cats
Friday, February 29, at 10 PM Eastern, in Cat Care Central
"Preventable accidents are the leading cause of death and disability among pre-senior dogs and cats," says Thom Somes of PetTech.net. Join us as he discusses training that can save the lives of thousands of pets in emergency situations each year, and how to avoid preventable incidents from happening in the first place. Thom will also be letting our chatters know about the "Million Petizen Rally," where one million dollars is being raised for four pet charities.
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How to Attend

These events will be held in the chat rooms linked from this page. To access the chats:

There is nothing to download or install, but the system does require you to have java enabled in your browser settings. We strongly suggest you access the room before the chat, so you have time to address any difficulties you might have. You might want to drop by one of our regular weekly chats as a test run. If you have trouble, please visit our Chat Help Area.

More Information

There will be more information about the chats as it is available at the links in the right hand column. Simply click on the species in which you are interested for a more detailed listing. Some of the chats will even have free email reminders you can sign up for!