Fake, vaguely sinister Cat Fancy Twitter account taken offline

The satirical Twitter account purporting to be the "official" feed of Cat Fancy magazine has been taken offline after a Yahoo News report made the editor of the real magazine aware of its existence. And it appears that Cat Fancy, which as recently as last week did not have an official Twitter feed, has now created one of its own.

The fake account, @Cat_Fancy, was listed as "suspended" by Twitter sometime over the weekend, and its sinister-sounding tweets about cats came to a halt; @CatFancy, an account claiming to be the "official Twitter page of CAT FANCY magazine," was launched on Feb. 10.

It's not clear why the account was taken offline. Carey O'Donnell, one of the operators of the suspended feed, did not immediately return an email seeking comment, nor did Susan Logan, editor of the Irvine, Calif.-based publication.

But last week, Logan hinted that the magazine would seek to protect its brand against the faux feed.

"We appreciate the creativity people use in harnessing Twitter for satire and humor," Logan wrote in an email to Yahoo News. "But we cannot condone hijacking our trademark and undermining the trust our readers have in us for good, solid advice." Via her own Twitter account, Logan noted that the fake feed publishes "some disturbing things, often against cats."

Meanwhile, at least one of the satirical Cat Fancy account's 4,300-plus followers lashed out after learning of its apparent demise.

"I'm sure you are aware that @cat_fancy was bludgeoned to death last night," a follower wrote in an email to Yahoo News on Sunday. "The sinister forces of power [and] privilege have silenced the only voice for millions of disenfranchised cats. Cat Fancy Magazine is clearly only interested in presenting rich, imperialistic cats (the 1%s) vs. the peeps (99%s) who only want their fair caviar-catnip share. It's tragic."

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