"Pet Tails": popular Pork Chops

When I first got my cat Porkey it didn't take long before he was dealt one of his nicknames of "Pork Chop". Being a big kitty himself, and the fact that his name was now "Porkey". It was truly a matter of time. Short time.

So when I signed up last fall for this website called Zootoo.com in hopes of helping out my local shelter by earning points, part of the process could include adding your pets to your "profile" on the website. Not just listing your pets, but putting up pictures of them. Apparently, something I was not aware of, is that they have since created a photo-contest option they call "Pet Wars". This was a complete mystery until I dug around the website and found where this option is located.

Basically what happens is they present you with two randomly selected opposing photographs of pets of similar species. Dogs and dogs, cats and cats, fish and fish, etc etc. So if you select the cat option, you'll get two pictures of cats from users on the site. And below each option to click if you think "this pet is cuter." After you vote you go onto a next pair of photographs. So what happens with each vote? Each time your pet comes up in a "battle" in "Pet Wars" its like a contest. If your pet is picked as "cuter" then it scores "a win". If its not selected, then it earns a "loss". Thus, on your Zootoo page you can view your pets' current status. Each pet is listed with their site ranking (i.e. #10427 or #753 or something) and their respective win-loss record.

Four of my pets have scored ok. I don't have the numbers in front of me for all five, but they're all mostly about even with similar losses to the number of wins. One of my kitties is probably even rated with a few more losses than wins. It's all a matter of randomly drawn photo pairings. So realistically one of my cats that is an adult could be matched up with a photo of a tiny little kitten. Good or bad to think, but many people out there are automatically going to select the kitten over the adult. Heck, it happens in shelters with animal adoptions. People always come in wanting to see the kittens and consider adopting a kitten, while they are less inclined to check out the adult cats. WHY?! There is nothing wrong with an adult cat. However, this discussion is better saved for a different blog.

Four of my five cats are scored so-so on the site, except for one. Porkey. Currently at this moment I look at his profile on my page and it indicates his win-loss record is 30-9, which places him at No. 1590. Porkey??? Nothing against him at all cuz I love all my cats equally like parents love their child equally, but I would have thought that someone like Sylvester would have been doing the best as his picture is incredibly cute. So I figure it is a matter of luck-of-the-draw in the photo pairings that are created at random. AND...its a matter of people liking a particular photo of your cat. In other words, your pet is your pet but some photos of that pet make it look cuter at times.

In case your wondering what Porkey's photo is that I have up, here it is...