The Hear & Meow: Notes from Catster HQ

Ladies and gentlefurs!

It is with great pleasure that we announce the winners of the

2009 MAKE YOUR OWN DIGITAL GIFT CONTEST!

We've gone through all of the entries and (though it was a tough call to make) have decided that the following entries have what it takes to be featured in the Catster Gift Shop! And the winners are:

In the FUREVER STAR category: The Furever Crown!

Made by Catster Blade, this crown shall furever grace the heads of the Kings and Queens who run every pet-loving house: the dogs and cats! Nice work, Blade!

In the ROSETTE category: Mmm... Ice Cream!

Made by Dogster Murphy, this scrumptious-looking ice cream cone will keep your pals cool, even on the hottest of summer days... Way to go, Murphy!

In the SMALL GIFT category: The Hero Ribbon!

This hero's ribbon was made by Dogster Milo and Catster Sawyer and is for all the caring and strong fur friends in your life! Nice teamwork, Milo and Sawyer!

And in the LARGE GIFT category: The Summer Sleep Out Pup Tent!

This pup tent can sleep dozens and was made by Dogster Diamond and Catster Pearl. Summer days don't last furever, so invite your favorite pals on a camping trip today! Thanks, Diamond and Pearl!

HUGE THANKS to all of the Dogster and Catster members who submitted virtual gifts to the contest! We love your creativity and are very proud to have you as part of the family!

So... what are you waiting for? Get on over to the Gift Shop and show your support for your fellow Dogster and Catster members by spreading around their cool gifts!

Woofs and meows,

HQ

Update 1 We updated the below submission specifications to resolve any confusion about what image formats we can accept and convert into store gifts

Update 2 We created the Digital Gift Makers Workshop Group for anypaw and everypaw that wants to make gifts that share, learn and help each other. HQ will be hanging out there too.

We are always amazed and impressed at how creative everyfur gets on Dogster and Catster with their spectacular pet pages and profile pictures. That's why we decided to have a special contest for all you creatives out there: We want YOU to make the next new digital gift for the gift store! We are outlining some guidelines below for creating the artwork for the gift, and the winner will receive a bowl-ful of Zealies, a badge to show off on their pet page and of course, props from HQ. When the gift is available in the gift store the creator will get credit so that all the Dogsters and Catsters out there will know who made it!

Entries

There are three different sizes of gifts you can create: Furever Rosettes, Stars & Small Gifts, and Large Gifts. You may submit as many entries as you'd like in each category.

Files should be zipped and sent to: gift_submit[AT]dogster.com

Entries must be submitted by July 1st, 2009 midnight PST.

Winners will be announced by July 15th.

Winners will be selected by Dogster HQ.

Prizes

Furever Rosettes - winner gets 100 zealies

Stars & Small Gifts (type 1) - winner gets 250 zealies

Large Gifts (type 2) - winner gets 500 zealies

Specifications

There are some guidelines that must be followed in creating the submissions. Please take the time to reads the guidelines closely to make sure your submissions can be considered. If an entry does not comply with submission guidelines we will have no choice but to not accept or review it.

1) We cannot accept or use artwork that is trademarked, registered, or displays any trademarked or copyrighted terms (such as brand names). Make sure you have the right to use any artwork your submit. Please do not submit any artwork that you are not the original creator of.

2) The gifts, stars and rosettes must be supplied and clearly viewable in multiple sizes since they are displayed on various pages, such as the virtual gift store, on pet pages, and on the homepage. While the image that appears in the Store and on Pet Pages is the most important, the other images sizes need to look good too. Usually we find that reducing a large image to a small image will not work. Usually the small image needs to be made separately or at least modified so it appears clear and neat.

3) All submissions should be the original/source layered artwork file. Photoshop, Illustrator, Gimp and many others allow for layered artwork. Common file types are, but are not limited to .PSD, .AI, .PDF .EPS. Entries should not be flattened single layer artwork, and it's very unlikely we will be able to accept GIF, PNG or JPG files.

4) Finally all submissions need to be on a transparent background (this includes animated gifts) but ultimately, once we reduce them to animated gifs, must not exceed 50kb. Therefore we strongly recommend animated gift submissions to not exceed 30 frames.

Furever Rosettes, Stars

One file must depict artwork at 100 pixels high x 100 pixels wide

One file must depict artwork at 15 pixels high x 15 pixels wide

Small Gifts

One file must depict artwork at 40 pixels high x 40 pixels wide

One file must depict artwork at 15 pixels high x 15 pixels wide

Large Gifts

One file must depict artwork at 80 pixels high x 80 pixels wide

One file must depict artwork at 15 pixels high x 15 pixels wide

Tip: Sometimes a small or large gift does not lend itself well to the required 15 x 15 size and thus it will be a sampling of the larger image. For example, we just used Scaredy Squirrel's head for the smaller image.

Help

We have created the Digital Gift Makers Workshop Group to ask questions, get answers, help, learn and share. We warmly invite all designers to join. We will use that for announcing updates if any are needed

Terms

By submitting any materials on or through the "Make Your Own Virtual Gift Contest", you automatically grant to us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, right to publicly display or re-display such Materials in other formats not simply limited to websites.

Winners

We will announce winners 2 weeks after the submission closing date. We are not going to put a cap on how many winners that will be. There will be at least one winner in each category, but we will pick the number of winners based upon how impressed we are. So please, IMPRESS US! =)

Good luck to all you creative geniuses! We can't wait to see what you invent!

Woofs and Meows,

Dogster/Catster HQ

I'll just start by saying Happy Mother's day to all of our cat mothers out there, both feline and humine (hee hee). Mothers are amazing, with our without fur, and they deserve all of the recognition that they get on this special day. That said, don't let it be a Hallmark holiday -- it's okay to call your mom next Friday or on July 11 and wish her a Happy Mother's Day. Every day is a day to thank yo mama.

As most of you know, there was a contest on The Cat's Meow this past week to choose the Best Cat Mom. Choosing just one, as soon as I saw all of the entries starting to pour in, was something that I thought would be impossible. But Karen has done it and has chosen a winner! To find out who took home the honor, click here.

That said, every Cat Mom is a winner, which is why Karen made this badge for all of you great Cat Moms out there to post on your Catster profile page or your own blog!

If you haven't read the entries, you should take a few minutes and do so. They are extremely touching and reflect the caliber of our purrific members: caring, loving, concerned and generous. At the close of the contest there were 226 entries. I will leave you with one of my personal favorites:

HI, my name is Spot but I am writing on behalf of our whole family. This is me as a kitten

When my mommy lost her kitty Peanuts (when he was 15) she went to petfinder to find a new fur ball to love. She found my pal Tater from a rescue in Idaho. Then she found my brother Patches & I in a high kill shelter in TN. We came with all kinds of goodies, like ringworm that was nearly impossible to get rid of. But she did it!

Then she saw Blue (and this is the picture that made mommy 100% sure she HAD to have him) and adopted him from a TX rescue.

A year later Scooter desperately needed help, he was very sick (almost but not AS sick as Blue was as a kitten) so mom adopted him from GA. But he gave us ALL parasites. So all of us had to go on several different meds.

Unfortunately right after this I got VERY sick. So sick mommy's vet couldn't tell her what to do to help me after going to the vet every few days for 2 weeks. So mom took me to a vet over 2 hours from home. They did all kinds of tests on me and told mom she had to give me shots! She learned but I kept getting sicker :( So she took me back to the vet again every few days...I kept getting worse. Mommy (who is a vegan) fed me first raw, then cooked liver, baby food. Anything to try and help me get my blood work better. No such luck.

Mom ordered me special medicine from England. Those shots didn't work either. Mom spent hours online and wrote to vets all over the world asking for help. No one knew what to tell her :( So mom took me to an internal specialist. He did all kinds of tests on me. They hurt. This is me right after i got back from my bone marrow and assorted biopsies

No matter what mom did, nothing seemed to help and no one could tell her what was wrong with me. She spent thousands of dollars trying to save me but within 3 months of getting sick I left mommy, my brother Patches and all of the family...

Mom is still sad about losing me but she has since adopted Chance & Lucky (2 Chihuahuas) and 2 more kitties, Indy & Coco who now live with all the rest of the gang and Grimley (who was adopted from the rescue mom volunteered with for 7+ years!) the big dog who i used to think was my daddy.

I hope you think my mommy is a great as we all do! Love, Spot

Thanks for the great entry, Spot! And Happy Mother's Day to all the Cat Moms out there!

For the second year in a row, the World's Coolest Dog and Cat Show reached 20,000 entries and 3,000,000 votes during phase one of the contest. We're SUPER happy with this accomplishment and are, as always, very grateful to our members for their dedication and participation in the coolest pet photo contest on the Internet.

Now that phase one is over, it's time to start voting for Best in Show! Members can cast one vote for a dog, and one for a cat, so make sure that you really check out all the dog finalists and all the cat finalists before you click that vote button!

Thanks again to all of our members for their continued support. This fun contest just wouldn't be the same without you!

Now get on out there and vote for Best in Show!

We've got just two days left until the first round of voting closes in the 4th Annual World's Coolest Dog & Cat Show, and to show our appreciation for your taking the time to vote for your favorite dogs and cats, we're offering a prize of 250 Zealies to a random Dogster or Catster member who casts a vote between now and the close of voting! The more you vote, the better your chances are of taking home the 250 big ones! We're almost at 3,000,000 votes! Let's see if we can get there!

So get on over there and vote! And maybe we'll depawsit 250 Zealies in YOUR Catster account!

Good luck!

The 4th Annual World's Coolest Dog & Cat Show is up and running and grrrreat pix are being entered, so stop what you're doing and get on over there--don't miss out on all of the excitement! With categories from Costumes and Shades and Craziest Tail to Sitting Cat and Captivated Cat, there's definitely a purrfect place for your kitty to shine in this one of a kind cat photo contest!

So dig up your best shots and get them entered today, OR go through the CATegories and START PREPPING for the taking of the shot that's going to blow the competition out of the water! World's Coolest only happens once a year, so don't let it pass you by!

ENTER! VOTE! ENTER AND VOTE!

Our 4th Annual World’s Coolest Dog & Cat Show* is live and hip-hop-happening! G-G-Get on over there and e-e-enter, g-g-get on over there and v-v-vote... just GET ON OVER THERE! As the contest strolls along new entries will arrive daily, so make sure that you check back in every day to cast your votes!

Here are a few of the entries so far... Think you can top 'em? Go for it!

Check out all the categories first, put on your creative thinking caps and say cheese... It's SHOWTIME, pawrty people!

*The 4th Annual World’s Coolest Dog & Cat Show is an online photo contest. You must be a member of the Dog ster or the Cat ster and be 13 years of age or older to enter or vote. Remember, no pedigree is required—any pet can enter regardless of age, breed or disposition.