For the last 3 months, #pawpawty has dominated Twitter’s trending topics, meaning that it is one of the most talked about topics on Twitter. Many folks have been wondering, what the heck is it?

The #pawpawty is one of the silliest, goofiest and most hilarious virtual events you will ever witness! It is quite difficult to explain, but I will try.

First of all, Twitter is a world unto itself. It is a vast sea of individuals who “tweet” or send out messages of 140 characters or less into an infinite cyberworld. Followers receive the tweets of the folks that they follow in their personal cyber feed, but anyone can read everyone’s tweets if they can find them. It helps to have special applications to work with your Twitter feed, such as Tweetdeck or Tweetgrid to help you keep topics and followers organized. All Tweeters have a name that starts with the “@” symbol. Mine is @BZTAT.

Many of us who leave our pets home alone have discovered that, in our absence, our critters have taken to cyberspace and become avid Tweeters! Some call them Anipals or Twitter Critters. There are actually websites set up for Twitter Critters, like Cats Who Twitter, which is run by the amazing @Oscarthecat. Yes, you have all heard from my own Brewskie (AKA The Brew) @Brewskiebutt, who is somewhat of a cybercelebrity on Twitter. At last count, he had 2344 followers!

On an average day, the anipals do just what humans do on Twitter–they chronicle their lives in short statements and converse with their pals around the world. They talk about their favorite products (Plague Rats, Best Bully Sticks and Furminators are always hot topics), and they share about their trials and tribulations. They rally to support other critters who endure health crises, and they help to get the word out about pets needing homes. It is a very special community.

When there is a #pawpawty going on though, the anipals cut loose! For 24 hours, they frolic and “pawty”, playing games, holding contests, and drinking virtual meowgaritas and niptinis. Each #pawpawty follows a theme, and the anipals all change their profile pictures to follow the theme. (The artwork in this post are Brewskie’s #pawpawty pictures.) It is so much fun, and so trendy on Twitter, it draws interest from people who have no clue of what it is about. All tweets have the #pawpawty hashtag in them so that they can be identified.

But the #pawpawty‘s are more than just fun. They raise money for animal charities and raise awareness for the needs of pets around the world. So far, over $5000 has been raised for organizations like The Humane Society, Kitten Rescue of Los Angeles and Orphans of the Storm in Illinois. The most recent pawpawty was held May 2-3 to benefit the Margaret Green Animal Rescue.

Of course, my Brewskie has been an avid participant in the #pawpawty’s! In fact, the last one was held to celebrate his birthday. His good friend @FrugalDougal has been the Master of Ceremonies for the last two, doing an amazing job of coordinating prize contests, bartenders and DJ’s for the events.

We knew with the last #pawpawty that there was international significance to the event. It has been so noticed on Twitter now that it has, unfortunately, drawn the spammers and imposters. Never mess with a bunch of anipals, however. They successfully banned the spammers from their #pawpawty stream and they managed to get Twitter to eliminate a poser trying to sell a Twitter account name on Ebay.

So why do I allow my cat to Tweet? Why do we participate in this silly virtual world? Well, we have met many animals and their people from around the world who are very special. Brewskie has been a great spokescat and manged to get my artwork seen by thousands of people around the world. And his pals have become great models for my artwork!

So check on your pets now and then and see what they are up to in YOUR absence…

Check out this neat slideshow of pictures of the Cinco De Mayo #pawpawty!

Life is an Adventure!

Would you like a custom pet portrait of your pet? BZTAT will paint your animal for a very reasonable price. For information, email her at bztat@artadventuresstudios.com.

Follow works in progress by BZTAT on Twitter by searching #bztatptg.

Art Adventures Studios, located in downtown Canton, OHnear Second April Galerie and the historic Onesto Hotel.