RPCA is a newsgroup that was formed when the original rec.pets.cats split into different groups.

It is also a laid back place to share stories about cats. These stories may be sad, happy, serious or funny, and can be fact, fiction or a combination. Many members believe that the truth should never get in the way of a good story. While the subject can be pretty much anything providing it involves a cat somewhere in the story, almost all stories celebrate that special bond between cat & human, and the spirit of the feline species. Anthropomorphism is accepted an encouraged. (We know they aren't really human but it makes the stories more interesting)

We are very much against stories that involve or advocate animal cruelty.

Another way to put it is:

5.1 HOW THE GROUP CAME TO BE

By Fletcher Glenn

Several years ago, there was only rec.pets.cats. Everything related to cats was discussed in this group, ranging through topics like health, anecdotes, breeds, and rescue. Overall, everyone was content until several things happened at once.

First, people began speaking for their cats using a pidgin english called meow-speak or meow-talk. If you were into this it was quite cute, but it was very laborious to extract the author's original message.

Second, a number of holy wars began on the never-to-be-settled issues like indoor-vs-outdoor, declawing, and spay/neuter-vs- intact.

All of the above was generating message traffic on the order of 1000 or more messages a day. This was a great deal to wade through.

As a partial solution to the meow-speak, it was decided that the topic of an article should contain (MEOW) to indicate the contents as meow-speak.

Finally, it was proposed that the group be split along lines that gave several major topics to limit the amount of stuff one has to wade through in order to find what is interesting. It just conveniently ;-) happened that the meow-speakers ended up in their own group. (news:rec.pets.cats.community) The traffic on each of the new groups is about 200 messages a day instead of 1000 or more.

5.2 THE CHARTER

This unmoderated group is for the telling of cat stories. They can be stories of your cat, someone else's cat or just a cat you've seen somewhere else. The stories can be humorous or sad but should steer clear of advocating animal cruelty in any form.

Postings advocating animal cruelty in any form are forbidden.

Cross-posting is discouraged.

Commercial advertising in general is prohibited.

With the exception of PGP (and any other similar schemes) keys, no binaries are allowed in this group. Binaries should be posted in the appropriate binary group with a short message directing the reader to the file location posted here.

5.3 THE CATS

Here are some details about the cats in the group

5.3.1 THE NAMES OF OUR CATS

Helen Miles recently took a survey of all the names of the cats that "own" the members of rpca. Below are the results.

Most popular name with 5 kitties: Smudge

Next most popular with 4 kitties each: Lucy, Tiger, Shadow, Sammy

Next most popular with 3 kitties each: Jessie, Cleo, Tigger, Smokey

Next most popular with 2 kitties each: Merlin, Hobbes, Leia, Tabbitha, Sparky, Ming, Missy, Sam, Ted, Mongo, Pandora, Precious, Jasper, Baby

And with only 1 kitty of each name: 8-ball, Aggie-Marble, Alex, Alfonso, Ally, Almond, Amigo, Amy, Annabel-Lee, Annie, Archy, Ashleigh, Baby, Basho, Beastie, Beau, Belle, Berfert, Biggles, Big Orange, Big Tabby, BJ, Bobbie, Bon Bon, Bonita, Bonnie, Bono, Booby, Boots, Boss, Bracken, Brando, Brenna, Brucie, Buckwheat, Buffy, Bunchy, Buster, Butch, Calamity, Calico, Carrie, Caspar, Cat-rina, Chablis, Charley, Cherokee, Chester, Chewie, Cheyenne, Chloe, China, Chocky, Cinder, Claire, Clarrissa, Clemintine, Cloudy, C'Nedra, Cobee, Cocoa, Cosmo, Costco, Creampuff, Daisy, Dana, Darth Vader, Daytona, Dee Dee, Demetrius, Demon, Dodger the Possrat, Domino, Dorrie, Duchess, Dusty, Elliot, Emily, Enzo, Fanciface, Farkall, Fearless Fred the Grey Duke of Goober, Felix, Fenda, Finnegan, Fizzgig, Francis, Frank, Franz Katka, Freaky-paws, Gaby girl, Garfunkle, Gizzi, Grace, Granny, Grant, Grey Kitty, Griffin (aka 'puss'), Gypsy, Hei-Yu, Herkimer, Hobo, Hufflepuff, Internet, Issa, Izzi, Jack, Jackie, Jagger, Jake, Jasmine, Jaspurr, Jazz, Jelly bean, Juliet, Just-a-puss, Kato, Kid, King Djoser, Kit, Kitty Louise, Koko, K-Paul, Kublai, Kylie, Laku, Leif, Lilly, Lilly Bit, Ling, Little Bit, Little One, Liz, Loki, LoosWheel, Lord Amber, Love, Lucious-Lucy, Lucky, Luna, Maggie, Maggie Mae, Mama, Mango, Marble, Martha, Mary, Matumbo, Maya, 'Maxwell G. Highpockets, Q.C., MC, Mehitabel, Meow, Mickey, Mickey, Midnight, Miney, Minstrel, Miss Kitty, Miss Trudi, Miss Violette, Mistletoe, Misty, Misty, Mithu, Mittens, Mocha, Moggy, Monty, Mouse, Moxie, Mr Baby, Mr Pumpkin, Mr Tiger, Mr TV, Muscat, Muggles, Nabu, Nanki Poo, Natasha, Neesa, Nefertiti, Nermal, Newpie, Nicki, Nubbin, Oliver, Ollie, Omar, Opie, Opus, Oreo, Oscar, Oscar, Otis, Outlaw, Pansy, PB, PC, Peaches, Peepers, Penelope, Pestiferous, Peyute, Picasso, Pillow, Pippin, Pixel, PJ, Pod, Polly, Poppy, Portia, Possum, Princess Leia, PrincessFurball, Psycho, Puff, Punchy Callanan, Punk, Punkin, Purbox, Pussy, QC, Quango, Queen Sheba, Quincy, Rambo, Raven, Reggie, Ripley, Robbie, Rocky, Romeo, Rosie, Roxy, Sabra, Samantha, Sebastian, Selena, Sheba, Sherpa, Sherry, Shetra, Shinobu, Shmoggelberry, Simon, Sir Giz the Good, Sir Simba, Skeeter, Smoke, Smokee, Sonic, Sootster, Spanky, Spaz, Speckles, Spicy, Spike, Spot, Sprigen, Squirt, Sugar, Sunni, Sweat Pea, Sylvie, Tabby-tha, Taliesin, Tanada, Tas, The Demon-Cat, Thea, Thistle, Thor, Thornback, Thunder, Tia, Victor-Velcro, Tijer, Timber, Vincent, Tink, TJ, Toby, Tom, Tony, Tootsie, Trill, Trixie, Tuffty, Tut, TuTu, Tye, Tygra, Vino, Waffles, Webby, Wendy, Widget, Willie, Willow, Wolfie, Xiao-meow, Xoxo, Yankee, Zephyr and Zerox.

Would you like your cat listed? E-mail yowie9644@yahoo.com.au

5.3.2 CAT COLOURS

Helen Miles also studied the colour of the various cats that keep the RPCA members on their toes.

The text version is below, but you can also see an excellent graphical representation done by Dewi Williams if you click here. Use your browsers "back" button to return.

Black & White (including tuxedo) - 36
Brown Tabby - 35
Seal Point (himmies & Siamese) - 23
Ginger/orange - 22
Tortie - 17
Calico - 18
Grey (light) - 13
Grey (dark) - 11
tabby & white - 13
ginger/orange & white - 15
grey & white - 13
cream - 5
smoke - 3
blue tabby - 3
tortie & white - 4
'ticked' tabby - 2
white - 2
blue & cream - 1
peach & white - 1
champagne mink - 1
ticked torbie - 1
platinum mink - 1