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Cat Fancy Magazine
The
Cat Fancy magazine is probably the most well known of all the cat
magazines. It is arguably the number one cat magazine in the number one
cat market place - the United States of America.
However, the magazine is not confined to North America. It is possible
to subscribe internationally. I have just subscribed to the magazine
and I live in London, England.
The first year's subscription was impressively cheap for a high quality
magazine. I won't quote prices as they are subject to change. Amazon sells subscriptions.
The magazine is a good way to keep abreast of what is going on in the
cat world. It has won Cat Writers' Association awards in 2007
and has a circulation of 278,500 copies as at 2009. The editorial
offices are located in Irvine, California.
The
Name
The name is a good name. I find the name interesting as the magazine is
definitely not just for people in the cat fancy. The cat fancy could be
described as the community of people involved in breeding and showing
mainly purebred domestic cats. But it is probably wider than that.
The magazine is written in a breezy engaging style for anyone
interested in the domestic
cat. Topics, though, are sometimes serious.
They are researched to a reasonable depth as well. But this is not a
scientific magazine. The general feeling is that this is a fairly
lightweight read designed
to be attractive to a wide range of people. Typical articles might be:
The 'cat fancy element' is
addressed with useful articles about the purebred cats.
Helmi
Flick
Helmi
Flick, perhaps the best cat photographer is not infrequently
published in the Cat Fancy magazine and that includes cover pages.
Each monthly issue is dedicated to a particular cat breed with a
beautiful example of the cat breed on the cover and in the form of a
poster inside the magazine. Helmi has taken some stunning photographs
that have featured on the cover.
Her photographs are the cornerstone of this website.
The
Publisher
The publisher is BowTie Magazines, which is a division of BowTie Inc.
BowTie Inc. is a multimedia company. The business serves people
interested in pets, animals and lifestyle. The forms of media that this
organization is involved in are:
- trade magazines
- books
- websites
- newsletters
- e-letters
Of these the first is the largest part of their business. There are:
- 9 monthly
- 4 bimonthly
- 2 seasonal
- 13 annual consumer
....magazines.
The websites interest me as they are
competition! The Cat Fancy magazine understandably contains a
number of references to the CatChannel.com
website.
This is one of 8 animal websites owned and managed by BowTie Inc. The
DogChannel.com is marginally more successful than the CatChannel.com as
at mid-April 2010.
The Editor
At mid-April 2010 the editor of the Cat Fancy magazine is Susan Logan.
She has been the editor in chief since 2003. She has a blog on the
CatChannel.com called 'mewsings' - nice title.
Other senior members of the staff at June 2009 were:
- Annie B Shirreffs - Managing Editor
- Lindsay Hanks - Associate Editor
- Nikki Batalls - Managing Web Editor
- Jerome Callens - Art Director
- Melissa Kauffman and June Kikuchi - Editorial
Directors
Note: staff changes. The majority of senior staff are women. This is
probably because the cat fancy is mainly populated by women, which in
turn is because women are cat people more often than men. See cat
ownership in the UK.
Despite the sensible nature of magazine, the journalistic style often
has a humorous or smiley edge in my opinion, which I like. In one
article, written by Neil Kilmer, of October 2006 about a
certain Mr Paws a veritable barrage of humorous cat terminology was
employed:
- "far from purr-fect"
- "cat-aclysmic failure"
- "purr-sonality"
- "fur-ther"
- "cat-astrophe"
- "a-paw-ling"
- "fur-ociously"
- "me-out"
...clever stuff.
Past editors
Past
editors1.....
- Mingle Donaton 1951-1959
- Johnny Covor 1960-1971
- Hen Tirr 1971-199? aka "The Cat Lady".
- Debbie Phillips-Donaldson
- Jane Calloway
- Bridget Johnson
- Amanda Luke
- Ellyce Rothrock
- Susan Logan 2003-present
When it started
Well, I can work this out from the June 2009 edition. This edition had
the first ever flip issue in 44 years. This is where half the magazine
is another magazine and it has to be turned upside down to read it. The
'other magazine' was called 'Cat Fancy's naturalcat'
This means it was first published in 1965.
Natural Cat
The first edition was part of the flip issue of the June 2009 Cat
Fancy. It featured a cover picture or Jenna Fischer and her gorgeous
black and white moggie, Andy, who has a beautifully symmetrical pattern
on his face and chest. Good looking women like good looking cats --
meow.
Natural cat contained some good articles about nutrition, eco-friendly
cat litter and eco-friendly house for people and cats plus information
about supplements. There is also an article about acupuncture for cats.
Main competitor
The biggest rival in North America to the Cat Fancy
magazine is Cats and
Kittens published by Pet Publishing Inc. They also allow
for international subscriptions judging by the application form.
Although not a competitor to Cat Fancy magazine in the strict sense,
the top UK cat magazine
is 'Your
Cat'.
Associated
page:
Cat
Media Reviews
References:
1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Fancy_%28magazine%29
Cat Fancy
magazine to Home Page
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