Secrets of Facebook Groups For Cat Lovers
Secrets of Facebook Groups For Cat Lovers and You Know Your Cat Loves You Because…
Marketing cat books is harder than ever. I have a sweet spot for cat writers and have reviewed hundreds of cat books over the years but have cut back. Authors, bloggers and regular cat lovers frequent Facebook groups for various reasons. I’ve long wanted to write a tell all about cat groups but didn’t want to dish the dirt on how catty they can be.
When a new cat book writer, Jeff Parks pitched me about writing a guest post about cat groups on Facebook, I couldn’t resist. It turns out his funny, illustrated book (co-written with Nina Brissey) is clever, and wound up being Clyde’s last quasi book review. The black and white illustrations by Mark Sean Wilson are a delight. No one mentioned it, but I think they are purrfect for coloring.
Welcome to the crazy world of cats on Facebook. Take it away, Jeff. FTC disclaimer: This guest post is not sponsored but there are Amazon affiliate links.
I co-wrote a fun illustrated book recently. It’s called, “You Know Your Cat Loves You Because… The Sweet, Silly, and Scientific Ways Our Cats Show Us How Much They Love Us.” In writing the book, I decided to join several Facebook groups devoted to cats. I thought it would be a good way to immerse myself in the subject of my book. I also thought it would be fun to hang out with people who adored cats as much as I did.
My experience with these groups was not exactly what I expected, and if you’ve ever thought about joining a Facebook group devoted to cats, I want to give you some pros and cons about them. For while there is a lot to recommend these groups, there are also plenty of reasons to stay away.
Pros
You’re Part Of A Positive Community
I love cats. You love cats. Well unsurprisingly, Facebook cat groups love cats too and are filled with terrific people who want to share their love of cats with other like minded folks. And that’s great, because it isn’t always easy for us to share our fondness for cats without people judging us.
Unfortunately there are all kinds of dumb, commonly accepted stereotypes of cats and their owners. We’ve heard them all before. Cats are aloof and not affectionate, or they don’t care about their owners. (I wrote my book partly as a response to this myth) There is also the ugly trope of the “single cat lady” and more. I can promise you, no one in these groups will be judging you. Well, they might judge you, but they’ll judge you to be awesome!
Cute Pictures/Videos/Memes
When you join a Facebook group devoted to cats, you get all the adorable pictures of cats you can handle. If you’re like me, you can spend a lot of time just looking at pictures of cats doing cat stuff. Plus, there are always funny memes and funny videos featuring our furry friends. Nearly every group has a surplus of all the cute cat media you can ever want. Just be careful, because before you know it, you’ve spent five hours in a group delighting in all manner of cat media while day turned into night.
You Get To Ask and Answer Fun Questions About Cats
One of the great things about these groups is how involved they are. You can ask a question like, “What is your cat’s favorite toy?” or “Where is your cat’s favorite place to hide?” and get a ton of responses. If you like watching your Facebook alerts blow up, then post a fun question and watch them go off like never before. I once asked a group “What human words does your cat respond to so you know they understand what they mean?” and got well over a thousand responses.
You Can Give Or Get Great Advice
You can get great advice on all things cat related. If you want to find out what people think about the newest cat foods or best flea remedies, you’ll get plenty of answers from Facebook cat groups. You can also share advice, and it’s almost always warmly received. And if you have a non medical, but serious question about cats, you’ll usually find great advice. Common questions I usually see are “what is the best way to introduce new cats to each other” or “how do I adopt a cat properly.”
You’ll Learn a Lot
You’ll find a lot of news articles and information pertaining to cats that you may have not known. This could be information about cat behavior, different breeds, best practices for litter training, or really anything. I learned new things every day, and many of them were personally useful.
Cons
Grisly Images of Abused Cats.
I don’t know why, but a lot of people in these groups post pictures or videos of animal abuse. Nobody likes animal abuse, and in these groups, members can only watch in horror as a cat gets hurt or is shown hurt. It’s not like anyone can get involved, so unless they just like making people upset, I’m not sure why anyone would post videos or pictures of abused cats.
Bad Advice.
Sometimes, group members will ask other members what they should do if their cat is displaying symptoms of illness. Most people do the right thing and urge the original poster to call a vet, but others will attempt to give well meaning, but not always verifiable advice. In my opinion, you should never ask for advice on what to do if your cat is displaying symptoms of an illness. You should always call or go to the vet.
This problem with getting bad advice also pertains to seemingly innocuous questions people will ask about how to best stop their cat from scratching furniture or biting them. In groups like this, you have novice and experienced cat people, so it’s not surprising to see contradictions or wide gaps in advice, however, some advice I’ve seen is actively harmful to cats.
Death Announcements
For anyone who has gone through the pain of losing their cat, you know how hard it is. Many of us never really stop grieving. Seeing announcements of a cat passing on in a Facebook cat group can trigger our own grief and pain. Most people, along with the announcement, will also post pictures of their lost babies in happier times and sometimes also, after they’re gone.
These announcements are part and parcel of almost all groups I was a part of, (17 in all) and I do understand that for members, this is a way to share their pain with a community they know cares about cats like they do. Still, if hearing the announcement of a cat moving on to the rainbow bridge hits you hard, stay away from Facebook cat groups.
Trolls Stirring Things Up
Yep, trolls exist in Facebook cat groups too. I’ve seen people cursing each other out for having differing opinions on a subject. Also, sometimes a member will post a picture of their cat, then proudly say their cat’s name, and it ends up being a racist term or an expletive. Then the group goes back and forth arguing on something that should never be debated. Sometimes members will even threaten each other. It’s ugly stuff, and fortunately rare, but it does happen.
Posts About Disfigured Cats
This one really frustrates me. The most common type of this post is one where a cat is disfigured and there’s a caption on top of the photo saying something like, “People say I’m ugly. Do you think I’m ugly?” First of all, no cat lover is going to call or think of any cat as ugly. The posters know this. The comments are always the same underneath these posts, too. Cat lovers commenting on how the cat is not ugly and that they find the cat beautiful. It reeks of attention seeking and I see nothing positive about it. To be clear, I don’t find these pictures unsettling, but find the reason they are posted on these groups to be tasteless and insincere.
Have a similar or different view about Facebook groups? Tell us in a comment below.
Author Bio: Jeff Parks is a freelance writer and editor. He shares a home in Temecula, California with his spirited and wonderful cat, Mac. You can get his new book, “You Know Your Cat Loves You Because… The Sweet, Silly, and Scientific Ways Our Cats Show Us How Much They Love Us,” on Amazon.
35 Comments
Mitchell
“I’ve long wanted to write a tell all about cat groups but didn’t want to dish the dirt on how catty they can be.” This made me laugh so hard! Lol!
I have to say that one of my biggest problems with cat groups on Facebook is how no one is ever allowed to be happy. There’s a lot of guilt tripping involved, and it really brings down my mood. I’ve actually had to leave the majority of my Facebook groups because it was really making me less happy overall. I’m glad I found this blog, though! It’s quickly becoming one of my favorites.
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Katie Isabella
I love you Caren…you should know that. XX
I love my Cat Blogasphere, and I post to and for them. I love the family it has formed. I was treated badly a few years ago by three, but I moved on anyway— and love and still visit the ones who are genuine.
I will add that I detest pictures that you can never un-see…that depict cats or any animal being hurt in any way. The horror stays with me forever. That never helps. We are all aware that inhuman people exist.
Jeff Parks
The pictures of cats being hurt were the worst part of scrolling in a Facebook cat group. They would just show up as you scrolled. No warning. It seems almost every group I was a member of had horrible pictures show up. I pretty much stopped going to any of these groups because of it.
Caren Gittleman
Love you too and you aren’t one of the ones I was referring to, they KNOW who they are. Yes I visit when I can, I do not blog regularly anymore. Nor am I online everyday anymore either, Many blogs such as yours who use feedburner for delivery stopped coming to me last summer, there are a ton that don’t come ❤️❤️
Maggie
My favorite group is the one I belong to in person – as a volunteer at an animal shelter (Clyde being one of my favorite graduates). When you volunteer you get to hang out with cats and kittens, and meet like minded people.
That being said, this is a very nice and informative guest post.
xxoo
Layla
Thanks Maggie. You’ve always been good about avoiding drama and live you for it xo
Ellen Pilch
I am not a fan of FB in general. All the cons are why I try to avoid it. I agree it is tough to sell cat books.
Catscue Catmom
I detest the grisly stuff, that is my least favorite thing about cat groups – I’ve got down to just one that seems to be holding positive. Trolls I haven’t seen yet, but thanks for the heads-up!
Layla
Agreed. I can’t stomach the grisly photos either.
Jeff Parks
The grisly images are really troubling to me. It’s infuriating to me on multiple levels.I hate seeing any animal in danger.I don’t want to see an animal hurt, and most of all, I don’t want to watch the before and after on video of any animal being abused.
Chase - Furball Fables
Love this! And such a good idea to have the occasional guest blogger. I belong to two groups. I’d be curious what groups other cat lovers belong too!
Skeeter and Izzy
Layla,
this whole thing just reconfirms why I stay away from almost all “group” internet activities…………. not enough time and tooooooooooooooo much BS for us.
You find the good but sadly there is just too much crap out there these days. Some folks just thrive on causing pain and turmoil…have enough of it in real life don’t need anymore.
I do absolutely love Cat Wisdom 101!!!!
My babies and real cat life are worth so much more than time on the internet. We do soooooooooooo love a good book tho!!!!
Luvs
Skeeter and Izzy and the Feral Gang >^O-O^< (Fat Cat with Reading Glasses MOL)
Layla
Thanks for your vote of confidence😻You’re wise to stay away from the drama for what really matters — cats! xoxo
Timmy Tomcat
We are not big on FB in total but do belong to a group that is pretty positive and is all folks who blog about cats. Yes we cat bloggers are a bit more knowledgeable so no problems like you say and mainly positive
Great post and like the book too
Jeff Parks
There are some good groups out there, but I found you have to figure out which groups are really your people. Also, I’m glad you like the book. The biggest thrill in writing the book is seeing how cat lovers respond to it.
Lola The Rescued Cat
There are definitely pros and cons to cat Facebook groups. Our mom had to leave a few of them because of trolls and just bad advice being thrown around. There are some very nice, welcoming ones, though.
Cathy Keisha
All groups including cat bloggers have girlish “cliques” and TW isn’t part of them. She’s gotten f’ed over enough by those pretending to be furrends like one incidence this week. Life is short and we’re only in a handful of groups and don’t follow most of them. The ones we pay the most attention to is 1Bike1World and the Aleppo Cat Man. No “I Love Cats” groups for us.
Layla
I love Aleppo Cat Man too. Thank goodness there are well moderated and kind groups.
Emilia
I love 1Bike1world too – lucky cat!
Eastside Cats
The bestest cat group I belong to, is the cat blogging community, where we communicate through our posts and comments. On FB, things get much dicier, and the horribly bad advice, the ‘on death row’ posts, and some of the condescending attitude, can be daunting. I’m pretty good at hiding posts, or scrolling past. If I’m upset enough, I’ll unfollow or leave the group.
Caren GITTLEMAN
I just adore Jeff (thank you Layla for sending him to me!) and am so happy to see him here. I think one of my biggest issues and frankly now I find it to be hilarious…………is whenever I post in a cat group that has CAT BLOGGERS as their members………I am promptly ignored. Yep!! It’s all good because it ties into when I was contacted YEARS ago (via phone and one was dying to meet me for breakfast when I was in NYC and another feigned friendship at the airport in NYC), for my opinion (back in 2014) and I was promptly stabbed in my back (oh it feels sooo good to FINALLY let this out and to let the individuals involved know that I KNOW who they are, because I have kept this in for SIX YEARS)…………since I blog so rarely now, it’s time to finally let it loose!! As a result of events that took place in 2014 I am marked as “stay away from her”…….so, whenever I post anything in a CAT BLOGGING group I am promptly ignored. Yes, MEAN GIRLS DO EXIST and SOME (NOT ALL, there are MANY cat blogging women that I hold in high esteem and adore….the 3 listed above KNOW who they are) are disguised as cat bloggers.
Layla
Oh Caren, I’m so glad you felt comfortable enough to share. There is a dark, less than purrfect side to all groups and I share your pain xoxo
Jeff Parks
Caren, thank you so much for the compliment. I think you’re pretty great as well. As far as FB cat groups go, I knew enough from other types of groups I had been in, to stay away from anything that could court people being jerks. I mainly posted fun questions to these groups, and made a point to stay out of all posts that had people arguing.
ATCAD ~Scylla, Chimera, Yin, Yang, Fenris & Tuiren
Interesting observations, it makes us sad when our friends have gone to the Rainbow Bridge, but we are glad that there is support for the humans left behind. It really helps to know that others are thinking of you when your furbaby has to leave.
Layla
Agreed 100%. One of the joys of blogging is having groups to share to highs and lows of being a cat parent.
Summer
My human does not make enough use of most groups – there are only so many hours in the day! She is a member of a couple of cat groups, but she only visits if they pop up in her feed.
Layla
I think we’re in the same two groups 😻
easyweimaraner
we currently have group wars, because of trolls and people who join groups only to destroy them… maybe this is the trend this time and it says a lot about the way we currently walk ;O(
Erin the cat princess
Oooh, well I like the sound of these. Sounds like Feline FB groups mirror life and other groups, just in a more condensed and maybe intense way. Put cats together and they will hiss and sort it out. Put humans together and they’ll fight and swear and form another FB group to moan at the others!
Thanks for sharing what definitely sounds like a winning combination for books.
Purrs
ERin
Layla
That’s an astute observation, thanks. xox
Connie Marie Poulson
Great post, I am down to 2 that I follow. I’ve cried each time one of those lovely cats has passed. I love finding out new facts about mine, you always learn something new!
Layla
Wars? Trolls are a sad reality which is why I stay away from fb most days. Life is too short to engage in hate.
Layla
Glad you enjoyed it!
Jeff Parks
I’m glad you liked it Connie. I learned a lot too by mingling in some of these groups.