Since its launch in August, more than 8,000 cats have joined the Catster ranks to top more than 4 million page views to over 100,000 visitors. In addition, Catster is averaging 200-plus new felines a day -- a clip similar to its predecessor, Dogster. The sites offer free webpages so that every dog -- and now cat -- has its own page online.

"When Dogster went live in January, people kept adding their cats. To honor our advertisers, we had to keep removing them. The demand for a cat-specific web community became so strong that we've expanded the brand," said Dogster/Catster founder and creator Ted Rheingold.

Catster enables registered users to upload photos and biographical information of their favorite felines, creating a permanent webpage for every cat. Once the page is online, Catster users can pounce on the community features such as Feline Friends and Private Messaging to make cat communities, cat-to-cat connections, and virtual playgroups for Fluffy. If a user has dogs and cats, their pets' pages are automatically cross-linked between Dogster and Catster.

Rheingold says, "If cats and dogs don't always get along in the real world, they can always be virtual friends on Catster and Dogster. No fur flies around here."

Don't have a cat yet? That's okay. Just browse through the thousands of cats and save favorites in your Corral.

Like its companion site, Catster users can search by Cutest, Newest, Site Favorites, Breed or Cat of the Week. The Advanced Search feature allows highly specific searches; pages of 20 thumbnails at a time allow for fastest results. The Cat Newswire provides cat-related news items outside of Catster.com.

Recent site updates for both Caster and Dogster include:

• Private Messaging, which allows users to connect with each other without revealing their human identities.
• The new Diary feature is a place for pets to journal their stories.
• New stats show how many times your pet's page has been viewed, and how many of their nine lives remain.
• In an effort to give back to the animal community, Adopt Me ;> hopes to connect homeless pets with families.
• We Miss You! is a place to honor the pets we've loved and lost.

Catster was Yahoo Pick of the Day on Sept. 8 and USA Today's 'Hot Site' Aug. 31. Dogster was "Wired" in the magazine's March 2004 issue. Dogster has been featured in TimeOutNY, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The New York Post. Dogster television coverage includes Good Morning America, CNN Headline News and TechTV.

Media Contact:
John Vars
Dogster, Inc.
press [AT] dogster [DOT] com
415-934-0400

Site contact page.

Catster and Dogster are owned by One Match Fire, a privately held web development company based in San Francisco. Dogster has more than 39,000 dogs and serves 6 million page views per month to 300,000-plus unique viewers.