Categories
Community Stories

Aon’s Happy Tales: Kyloalmightypoo

This article was brought to you by Aon Happy Tails.

Our pawpals’ love is boundless; our love for them unwavering. We want our furry friends to be at their safest and happiest, and this rings especially true for Denise and Jon, a couple looking to do better to protect their little Maltipoo, Kylo. 

A fated encounter

Denise’s journey as a pawrent began with Sasha, a Mini Schnauzer and best friend throughout her youth. When Sasha passed on in March 2021, Denise and Jon were devastated. The months that followed saw the couple visiting pet shops from time to time, looking at the cute puppies to ease the yearning they felt for Sasha.

Denise and Jon made their rounds at the store one day, and the Maltipoo who would later be known as Kylo was out of his pen and roaming about. An instant connection, Kylo made a beeline for Denise and made himself comfortable on her lap. “I felt loved instantly,” Denise recounted.

From left to right: Jon and Kylo, Denise and Kara

Kylo, the ace of hearts

Of course, Kylo’s vibrant personality is not exclusive to his family. The boy steals the hearts of all he meets, making them swoon over his charm. Kylo loves his belly rubs and loves receiving attention from everyone around. On most days, the Maltipoo makes frequent demands to do zoomies in the garden and play fetch with his pawrents. When the tempo of the days takes a lull, he is just as content on the couch next to Jon. 

During the weekends, the couple will bring him cruising in the car, and playdates with his equally energetic sister, Kara.

A necessary safety net

“Our biggest fear as pawrents is definitely [Kylo and Kara] falling sick,” Denise considers the communication barrier with their furbabies, especially how they are unable to vocalise their concerns. “It’s heart-wrenching to see them in pain and discomfort.”.

Denise emphasises the importance of pet insurance for their pets. The promise of a life well-lived with their pawrents means giving them only the best — appropriate dieting, a healthy amount of exercise, and of course, a policy that guards against illnesses.

“In the early days with Sasha, pet insurance was unheard of. Unfortunately, by the time pet insurances were a thing, she could not be covered for her pre-existing conditions.” without a policy that could potentially offset the costs of treatment, Denise and Jon faced a major financial setback. “Who knew a CT scan for your pawpals would be in the thousands?” she lamented.

*Bonus*

If Kylo and Kara could speak hooman for 7 days. What would you say to them/ do with them for that week?

“We’d tell them we love them very much and we’d do anything to ensure they are at their happiest and healthiest. We’d tell them there isn’t a single member of our family who does not love them, and that they bring us so much joy into our lives.

I’d tell them they had a big sister Sasha, who taught us what unconditional love is and how we have become better humans through our experience with her. And with all of that, we’d give our all to ensure their forever with us is all worth it!”

Categories
Creator's Academy

Increase engagement with your followers.

Your pawpal’s follower count might be high, but are you connecting to your followers? Engagement refers to interactions your followers have with your content and reflects how interested they are in your photos and videos. Here are some tried and tested strategies to have your followers coming back for more!

1. Know when to tell a story

We are fairly certain that you wouldn’t promote a product that isn’t good for your pawpal. However, you should consider that Instagram posts of pets with their products are a dime in a dozen. You can appeal to your followers by weaving a story into your posts.Tactical Reviews have their uses in explaining the products without too much fluff. Storytelling, on the other hand, comes into play when you would like to tug the heartstrings of your followers, or if you just want to talk about how it changed your day-to-day routines.

2. A peek behind the curtain

This rings especially true for curated pet profiles with a strong emphasis on feed aesthetics. Your audience will no doubt love your furry friend’s beautiful photos, but you will seem far from them if all they get to see is perfection. 

Instagram Stories allows pet owners to show their pet’s candid and unglamorous moments, without disrupting their profile aesthetic. Your followers will be able to relate to these brief moments of authenticity better and come back to you more often.

3. Stickers = Conversations

Your Instagram Stories are also a good way to actively ‘converse’ with your followers, thanks to the many interactive stickers provided. These will encourage your followers to engage with you and feel connected to you.

Polls, Quizzes, and Emoji sliders give you a quick sense-make of what your followers think about products. As the results of these stickers are instantaneous, they immediately see how their involvement affects the results.

Questions readily seek input from your audience. Your followers are always excited to share their thoughts, and Question stickers give them that space without flooding your inbox.

4. Using the right hashtags

Hashtags help to make your post more visible in searches and reach more people as a result. Selecting the best hashtags can make the difference between appearing on the top of the search, or drowning beneath the hundreds of others. Use a mix of commonly trending hashtags with niche, targeted hashtags to drive your posts to the right audience.

A tactic that is not as frequently used is creating personal or branded hashtags. A simple and memorable hashtag makes conversations driven by you, or about you, easy to find. This works well on both Instagram and Twitter, which are both hashtag-focused. Remember to place the hashtags on your bio so that people who visit your profile will know what to look for and what to use!

5. Collaboration is key

Start a play date with other doggos or felines! When you hang out with more pawpals and make content together, you effectively share a fraction of each other’s audiences. This also means you will be visible to new and potential followers.

If your pet is feeling shy, you can run hashtag challenges and have other pawpals re-create the things you and your pet are doing. TikTok has dominated community collaborations this way to drive engagement and create more content than one can do on their own, so see what kind of collaborations work for your pets!


Check out our social media articles!

How to Improve Videos and Views on TikTok | Pawjourr Blog

Understanding Instagram’s Algorithm | Pawjourr Blog

Making (Sponsored) Videos | Pawjourr Blog

Cover photo created by freepik – www.freepik.com

Categories
Brand Highlights Community Stories

Bonk your felines with these adorable Cats vs Pickles Plushies

[ A TIME OF GREAT STRIFE FILLED THE WORLD AND CATS RAN IN FEAR OF PICKLES! YET PICKLES LOVE CATS. KNOCKING EVERYTHING OVER, CATS WILL TRY ANYTHING TO SQUASH THE POOR LITTLE PICKLES. ]

Stay tuned until the end for a giveaway surprise ?

Many designs to choose from

Cats are scared of pickles, but pickles just want love.

Welcome to the world of ???? ?? ??????? where lovable but misunderstood pickles are in hopeless pursuit of colourful cats. Take them away from their neverending chase by bringing them home to your furkid — or hooman kid — and show them some love!

No feline too smol

Beans

Smallest of the lot, the fun-sized Beans come in a wide variety of wacky and zany characters. Each Bean is filled with soft pom beads to be squish-friendly and fun to hold.

Jumbo

These adorable cats and chonky pickles have a weighted bottom so they can stand by your side while you work, study, or just unwind for the day.

Huggers

Colourful, silly, and oh, so, soft. These long plushies are the perfect size to snuggle with — for both hoomans and pawpals.

SizeDimensionsPrice
Bean4” x 3”$7.90
Jumbo8.6” x 7”$19.90
Hugger16.5” x 8”$29.90

Get these toys from these places:

Online

Toyster : https://toyster.sg

Toys’R’Us: https://www.toysrus.com.2sg

In-Person

?? VALENTINE’S GIVEAWAY ALERT! ??

SGtoysrock is giving away 2 Beans (worth $7.90 each) to 5 lucky couples!
Here’s how you can participate:

  1. Head over to our giveaway post on Instagram
  2. Tag your partner-in-crime
  3. Follow @pawjourr and @sgtoysrock

Winners will be selected at random.
Giveaway ends 21 February 2021.

Find out more about Cats vs Pickles

Follow SG Toys Rock on Instagram. 

Categories
Community Stories

Tigers: Nature’s biggest cats

Tiger Facts

No two tigers look alike

Tiger stripes are as unique to them as fingerprints are to humans. Their unique patterns are formed on not just their fur, but also their skin! 

You’ll never see them coming

Despite their bright orange coat, tigers actually blend in with their surroundings well. The striped coat helps them blend in well with the sunlight filtering through the treetops to the jungle floor. The dark stripes also help to break up their body shape, making them difficult to detect for unsuspecting prey.

Above all, tigers are actually ambush hunters. To deter these big cats from pouncing, hunter-gatherers in Indian villages would wear masks at the back of their heads to give the appearance of looking straight at any encroaching felines.

The face of royalty

The tiger’s forehead stripes vaguely resemble the Chinese word “王” (wang) which means “king”. This has given tigers a cultural status as regal animals.

Species of Tigers

An estimated 3,900 Tigers remain in the wild




Subspecies

RemainingStatus
Siberian< 500Endangered
Bengal< 2000Endangered
Indo-Chinese< 350Critically Endangered
Malayan< 200Critically Endangered
South China< 20Critically Endangered
Sumatran< 400Critically Endangered
Bali0Extinct
Javan0Extinct
Caspian0Extinct

Siberian Tiger

The Siberian Tiger is a subspecies native to Russian Far East, Northeast China, and possibly North Korea. The biggest of the tigers, Siberians can grow up to 10 feet or more! Its thick coat of fur allows it to survive the harsh winters and snowy mountain passes. It also fur is also a paler orange than its more vibrant cousins.

Bengal Tiger

One of the most well-known tiger breeds, the Bengal Tiger is probably how you’d picture a typical tiger to look. Its strong jaws and powerful legs make the Bengal an apex predator in the jungles of the Indian subcontinent. A rare genetic mutation unique to Bengals can give rise to tiger cubs that have white fur and blue eyes — that’s right, White Tigers.

Indo-Chinese Tiger

Mostly found in Thailand, Burma, and Vietnam, the Indo-Chinese Tiger sports short, narrow stripes in comparison to their cousins’ thick, prominent stripes. Their scientific name is Panthera Tigris Corbetti, the word Corbetti referring to famed hunter Jim Corbett, who was often called upon to hunt the man-eaters before dedicating his life to protecting them and their habitat.

Malayan Tiger

The Malayan Tiger was originally classified as the same species as the Indo-Chinese Tiger until the early 2000s. Found in the rapidly declining rainforests of Malaysia, Thailand, and Burma, Malayan Tigers are a critically endangered species, with less than 200 mature adults capable of breeding.

South China Tiger

Functionally extinct, every living South China Tiger can only be found in zoos.

Sumatran Tiger

When a population of Tigers were left stranded on what is now the Indonesian island of Sumatra over 6,000 years ago, they had to evolve to survive in their new habitat. The Sumatran Tiger is the last of 3 subspecies found on the island, built smaller, shorter, and lighter than all other subspecies.

Dwindling numbers

Tigers are fighting a losing battle of numbers which each passing year. Rapid deforestation and urbanisation have robbed Tigers of their natural habitat and the ecosystems they depend on. Above all, Tigers are being hunted down for their unique pelt and pseudo-medicinal properties. Sexual organs are made into aphrodisiacs, fangs and claws are used to make amulets, and their blood is thought to strengthen one’s constitution.

Tigers have lost over 90% of their original population in the past century, three subspecies of Tiger have been declared extinct, and the remaining six subspecies of Tiger endangered if not critically endangered. If nothing is done, Tigers could become extinct altogether.


How you can help

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) allows everyday folks like us to contribute to conservation efforts! By becoming a Tiger Protector, you will get access to WWF’s field research, exclusive dialogues with leading conservationists, and you will be able to sponsor their equipment for future field days. Visit their website here for more information about being a Tiger Protector.


Photo by Ralph from Pexels