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I’ve been making web sites about cats since 2000. The idea was at first to create an homepage for my own cats. Then with the help and encouragement of the cat owners around me, my first web site, developed very fast and became very well known in a short time. I’d been the editor of that web site until 2005 December. I had problems with the company I was working for which had taken the rights of my website. So when I decided to quit, and unfortunately I had to leave my 5 years of hard working and dedication behind… For a new beginning…  In April 2006, I published my second website www.miyavlar.com. Dog version of Miyavlar, www.kopekistan.com is also online. We gathered more than 9000 animal owners in one year. By the way, we celebrated our 1st birthday on 10 June 2007 in Heybeliada with more than 100 members and 25 dogs.
I want Miyavlar.com to be the platform where animal lovers meet and discuss not only the problems about their own cats but also the problems of stray cats that have to survive on the harsh conditions of the streets. Miyavlar.com is an interactive web site which means you can also share your knowlegde and opinions in forums or send your cats’ photos and stories, or share them as e-cards.
Forum is a good place to start with for adoption and exchanging know-how’s. We all know that neutering is the only solution for stray animals but this is still not a very comfortable subject to our people. Since 2000 I’ve been trying to enlighten people that neutering is not killing the animals’ sex life, but keeping the population in control as they reproduce by their instincts. In 7 years animal owners became more conscious and informed about this subject thanks to the articles and discussions in forum. I can also say campaigns like “Neuter Campaign for Stray Cats” helped a bit too. We have a long way to go for the animal welfare in Turkey. For this reason, one of my biggest aims at Miyavlar.com is to educate and to inform people about cats, both owned and stray ones: their health and care, nutruition, first aid… Problems of strays, shelters, municipalities, vets. Therefore I make interviews with vets about health and care, interviews with authorities and volunteers about shelters and their needs and works, interview with celebrities who owns cats or dogs to encourage people who think to own one. As another channel to inform people, I’ve started a radio program about cats and dogs on Açık Radio - 94.5, every Thursdays at 10:30 (www.acikradyo.com.tr)  Programs www.miyavlar.com Run About Stray Animals:
My Shelter Project: There are many shelters in İstanbul and many of them are in a very poor condition. Some people think of shelters as a hotel where they can drop their dogs when they’re bored.
Our goal is; first to let people know about the purpose of the shelters and then the needs and works of the shelters and guide them to support. Organising visits to the shelters is one of our activitivities, especially along with the children. It’s a good way to introduce the shelters to those who have never been to one before. We made couple of visits to Yedikule Shelter in Fatih, Bakırköy Shelter, Ataşehir Shelter in Kadıköy… with our web site members. Besides the visits, organising online short-term campaigns is another activity of ours. In such a campaign “Send e-cards, Donate Vaccines”, we designed unique e-cards and when members sent these e-cards, 54 bottles of medicines and 450 Corona vaccines were donated to the shelters. In recent years, through online games to be played on the web site that we prepared, 2000 Rabies vaccines were also donated by Pfizer. Spay&Neuter Campaign for Stray Cats:
More than 30 clinics from İstanbul, Ankara, Antalya, Muğla and İzmir work with Miyavlar.com and every month, they volunteerly spay and neuter 2 stray cats which our members bring. In 4 years more than 200 stray cats have been spayed and neutered as a result of our web site’s organization.  Adoption:
People give “seeking home” notices in the forum for the cats they want to be adopted. 70% of this announcements turn out positive which means the cats that seek home, generally find a home by Miyavlar.com.
Visits to Islands:
We organize visits with our members to 4 major islands of İstanbul once in every 2 week from January to April in order to feed stray cats and dogs to prevent the deaths due to hunger and cold. In every visit, 30-35 people join our activities. We bought and carried 300-400 kg cat and dog food to the islands and the dog shelter in Büyükada. In these 4 months the total food we delivered to the islands is more than 2 tons. Clinic Visits:
In order to build a bridge between pet owners and vets, we organize visits to the clinics with our members and discuss a subject with the vet during our visit. These two, fast-growing websites, www.miyavlar.com and www.kopekistan.com, need sponsors because there are many projects on the way and we want to continue helping pets and strays as we have been doing for 7 years. Konusankedi Elif Soyer
Founder and Editor of www.miyavlar.com
elif@miyavlar.com
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