Feline takes on blogosphere

The blogosphere just got a lot more interesting, thanks to one gossipy shelter cat.

Hissy Elliott//Courtesy Oromocto SPCA

Hissy Elliott, a three-year-old feline living at the Oromocto SPCA since last May, started a blog last week to chat about shelter activities and the goings on in her life and the lives of her shelter pals.

“There’s usually always something to chat about,” said Tracy Marcotullio, manager of the Oromocto SPCA.

“There’s always something going on at the shelter.  And if there’s nothing going on, (she’ll) just talk about her and the other animals.”

Marcotullio and the staff at the shelter came up with the idea for the blog, called Shelter “Mutt”erings, for their new website, to be launched in a couple of weeks.

“We thought it would be fun to do the blog from the eyes of a cat or a dog at the shelter and we thought of Hissy Elliott because she’s been with us the longest,” she said.

Hissy Elliott will try to update her blog daily.  In her first blog entry she told readers she started the blog to “earn her keep” at the shelter.  She prides herself on being opinionated and “very smart.”

In subsequent blogs, she has introduced other animals living in the shelter while adding colourful commentary and of course encouraging readers to visit the shelter with a pocket full of treats.

Hissy Elliott//Courtesy Oromocto SPCA

She may, at times, feature guest bloggers while she takes a rest.

“Maybe if there’s a special animal that Hissy might let do the blog for the day,” Marcotullio said.

Marcotullio, who admitted to being the real blogger, said creative ideas like this tend to draw more support.

“I think that from our perspective, we don’t want to be doing the same things all the time.  That gets boring.  You end up just being in the background.  But the more fun things you can find for people to do and the more creative ways you can find to fundraise and bring awareness, the more people will listen,” she said.

“We were hoping maybe it would get (Hissy Elliott) adopted because it’s kind of fun.”

If that happens, Marcotullio said another shelter animal will take over the blog.

The shelter will start tracking the number of visitors to Hissy Elliott’s blog once the new website is up and running.  As of now, she has 12 followers.

You can find Hissy Elliott’s blog at http://sheltermutterings.blogspot.com/

Short URL: http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/?p=5847

Posted by Jody Nabuurs on Apr 8, 2010. Filed under News, This Week's Edition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.