Here's how YOU can help another member right now

With hundreds of new members signing up and posting with questions about their cats, we need YOUR help.

It doesn't matter if you're a long-time member or new here yourself. It doesn't matter if you're a professional, an experienced cat owner or just learning the ropes. There's always something you can do to help another member and that ultimately helps their cat. Let's lend each other a helping paw!

Here's how you can help another cat owner right now

As you browse through the forums, if you see a post that went unanswered or maybe only had one or two answers, join the conversation and add your input.

What's that I hear you say? You don't know anything about the topic? There's still a lot you can do! You can - 

1. Use the embed tool to effortlessly insert links to articles. Here are the full instructions: [article="33375"]Embedding Content A Great Way To Quickly And Easily Help New Members​[/article]. Added bonus: you get to read an interesting article too!

2. Not sure about adding articles? No problem. You can also just add a few kind words. A quick "I'm sorry to hear you're dealing with this right now but just wanted to welcome you to our community" is awesome! And never underestimate the power of virtual hugs and vibes! 
Click where it says "unanswered" and you can be the first to offer a new (or longtime) member help when they need it the most!

It's not just about helping out during times of trouble. It's also how you can find out about brand new threads in the Fur Pictures forum, The Cat's Meow or New Cats On The Block!

That's cool, I didn't know about the unanswered link. Thanks Anne!

I confess to flagging the post and checking other and asking for help.

Kittens Mom said:

 
I confess to flagging the post and checking other and asking for help.

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If you see a post that doesn't get any actual answers for a couple of days and feel like you can't answer it yourself, by all means do flag it.

I'm always looking at the unanswered posts.  Or at least, when I have time to. I try hard to answer those which I have some knowledge on.  

I try to look for the unanswered posts. I do not know if I can help, but at least I do try. It is only courteous and caring to do so...at least in my opinion. 

Cassiopea said:

 
That's cool, I didn't know about the unanswered link. Thanks Anne!

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Margret

i never answer questions, thinking that there are so many other members that are more knowledgeable. but i love the idea of sharing an article, if i dont know anything personally on a subject. a community cant work if we dont all work together. thank you for this reminder.   

terestrife said:

 
i never answer questions, thinking that there are so many other members that are more knowledgeable. but i love the idea of sharing an article, if i dont know anything personally on a subject. a community cant work if we dont all work together. thank you for this reminder. 

 

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Some join when they have a medical emergency. Just helping them find help and letting them know someone seen their post and either helping them find a the right place to post or getting someone to help. Sometimes just a helping hand is priceless. And this is a great community. Anne should be proud.

Kittens Mom said:

 

terestrife said:

 
i never answer questions, thinking that there are so many other members that are more knowledgeable. but i love the idea of sharing an article, if i dont know anything personally on a subject. a community cant work if we dont all work together. thank you for this reminder. 

 

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Some join when they have a medical emergency. Just helping them find help and letting them know someone seen their post and either helping them find a the right place to post or getting someone to help. Sometimes just a helping hand is priceless. And this is a great community. Anne should be proud.

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Yes, exactly as you did here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/318208/...-000-000-and-win-prizes-too/3270#post_4050057   The Babbling thread seems to be especially good for spreading this kind of thing around, as virtually all the regulars are on it every day.

Margret

Kittens Mom said:

 
Some join when they have a medical emergency. Just helping them find help and letting them know someone seen their post and either helping them find a the right place to post or getting someone to help. Sometimes just a helping hand is priceless. And this is a great community. Anne should be proud.

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you make a great point. i'll make show to look through unanswered threads daily.   

edit: one thing we have to look out for is the dates of the questions we answer. i was looking through the pages of unanswered threads and by page 8, the date was 2013. lol that way we dont needlessly answer old questions. i tend to get distracted and dont notice dates. lol 

Thank you so much for this.  I know a lot of newbie cat lovers come to the site for answers to their questions on cats.  It's great to see encouragement, caring and sharing.  

This is a good move and it also help those seeking answers and also help the Catsite community.

Sometimes the TS is at a real lost seeking for an answer and get discouraged with no answers and end up doing the wrong things for their kitties. It's good to get their questions answered fast so that first, theiy get the right advice and thus their kitty don't have to suffer much and long and also gives the TS peace of mind and second, if they get the right answer and advice, chances are the kitties are not a burden to them, else if no help is on the way, this being a cat site, with lots of experienced cat owners, will serve no purpose.

Many times we see the TS who gets no answer, they don't come in anymore. So it's good to have their reply fast so that more kitties will be saved.

This site has a wealth of info, if only they are bothered to do a search but at times, an immediate answer is always more needed in an emergency. I too learnt a lot from this site and I want to thank all newbies to veterans for their precious imputs.

I'll try to help out in this area tho I'm a new cat owner.

I've kinda slacked in this department after Sara got sick, but I used to go through the health forums every morning looking for the unanswered posts. Of course, I didn't know there was an easy way to find them - I just looked for the ones with "0" or even "1" replies. Good to know about that unanswered thing though - that will help a lot!

Thank you terestrife for the purraise. Think it should go to those who really give the right advice and answers.

I'm more than glad to share a tip or helpful experience as well as any knowledge I may have on a subject.  I sometimes become so passionate about a particular cat topic that I can write a novel but will summarize for the benefit of others.   I think it's a wonderful reminder to help another member especially any unanswered posts.  

I try to help whenever I can. That's what we're all here for to help each other.

TabbyTom said:

Thank you terestrife for the purraise. Think it should go to those who really give the right advice and answers.

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the message you wrote was very well written and had a great message.

here is a quote

"Many times we see the TS who gets no answer, they don't come in anymore. So it's good to have their reply fast so that more kitties will be saved."

i never thought of it that way. i tend to doubt myself because i dont have the same experience as everyone here. but the important thing is helping these kitties as fast as we can. =)

terestrife said:

 
the message you wrote was very well written and had a great message.

here is a quote

"Many times we see the TS who gets no answer, they don't come in anymore. So it's good to have their reply fast so that more kitties will be saved."

i never thought of it that way. i tend to doubt myself because i dont have the same experience as everyone here. but the important thing is helping these kitties as fast as we can. =)

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I know about my cats. I know about things we've been though. If I don't know I say so and then look for a way to get someone who does.  And we can't hand out medical advice aside from telling someone their cat needs to see a vet. A bit of emotional support goes a long way.

terestrife said:

the message you wrote was very well written and had a great message.
here is a quote

"Many times we see the TS who gets no answer, they don't come in anymore. So it's good to have their reply fast so that more kitties will be saved."

i never thought of it that way. i tend to doubt myself because i dont have the same experience as everyone here. but the important thing is helping these kitties as fast as we can. =)

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Sometimes we asked the same question and sometimes it sounds stupid because we can't phrase it well and some do not have a good command of English and they can't express it well and so we must try to understand that.

This is a tremendous site as it has members from all over the world with different and vast experience and with different time zones, a reply would be pretty quick. Sometimes I read in some posts that they say the vet is 3 hours away. This is a long way and if it's a serious problem and if they are seeking help before moving off for the 3 hour ride, precise help from here would be good at least for the time being till the kitty reaches the vet. This will elevate some panic and anxious moments for the cat daddy or cat mummy