Before going offline in March, Pounced.org boasted nearly 20,000 personal ads. That's impressive, but unlikely to make a dent in the amount of fan-on-fan relationships within the furry subculture - an online survey of 800 people in 2013 by the International Anthropomorphic Research Project found that nearly 80% of the respondents in relationships were in a relationship with another furry fan.

Feral Attraction is an advice column and podcast that seeks to address challenges, common and unique, that can arise at the intersection of fandom and dating. For hosts Metriko Oni and Viro the Science Collie, that means special focus on non-traditional relationship styles like polyamory and power-exchange relationships, with which they say the fandom is "uniquely enriched". This doesn't mean that others are left out, though - they also consider long-distance relationships and those new to relationships to be common in furry. Even those in completely traditional relationships get affirming, practical advice; there is no atmosphere that "traditional" means boring.

Similar to Craiglist's decision to shut down its personal ads section, Dallas-Fort Worth-hosted furry dating service Pounced.org is down, pending interpretation of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which passed the U.S. Senate Wednesday.

FOSTA is intended to assist victims of sex trafficking, by allowing them to sue websites that facilitated their abuse. This gives previously undue liability to the platform for actions and content of third-party users; so Pounced.org is shutting down as a preventive measure while Kelar, the site's founder, seeks legal counsel.

The website, launched 15 years ago this month, hosted more than 13,000 ads from furries seeking friends, dates, or casual encounters within the fandom. Visitors are now directed to criticism of the bill from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights organization.

Update 03/26/18: The message on Pounced.org has been updated. Users can now read a much more in-depth explanation of the motivation for the shut-down, and concerns over the meaning of the bill:

Learning to Go is a sweet, romantic read with a light touch and plenty of humour; no mean achievement for a book with BDSM and abusive relationships as its core themes.

Rufus the tiger's life is stable without being fantastic. He's in a relationship with Victor, a lion, although they argue a lot. He's got a good job, although he works with Victor, which is a major cause of friction.

The incident that upsets the status quo comes early on: Rufus, reeling from another argument and taking advantage of his relationship's open status, hires the services of a sex worker to scratch an itch Victor has been unwilling to explore with him.

When professional dom Bennett, a German shepherd, arrives at his apartment, Rufus is able to see beyond his job (and his good looks), treating him as a person. He'd like to have Bennett as a friend, but this would dangerously blur the boundaries of their arrangement; most friends don't charge $200 an hour to hang out and chat.

Jaffa Books, May 1, 2015, ebook $5.50, 256 pages. Cover by Peta Fenton.

I hate stories that are so carefully constructed that a reviewer can hardly say anything about them without giving away spoilers. Well, Winter Games is set in Gold’s Forester Universe, although it is not connected to any of Gold’s other stories. It contains mentions of Millenport and other Forester locales. It is the fifth of FurPlanet’s “Cupcake” booklets, less than novel length.

Winter Games is a work of anthropomorphic fiction for adult readers only. (publisher's advisory)

Sierra Snowpaw, a 33-year-old snow leopard, checks into the Lonnegan Ski Resort, apparently just on a relaxed vacation although it soon becomes obvious that he is looking for someone. Sierra does not let the search distract him from having steamy gay sex with Bret, the resort’s pine marten desk clerk.

The novella alternates in short chapters between the 2012 “now” and 1997, when Sierra was a teenage student at Tartok Ecole Internationale in Europe, presumably setting up the explanation of whom Sierra is searching for and why, and why this person is avoiding him.

FurPlanet Productions, September 2012, trade paperback $9.95 (vii + 135 pages).
Illustrated by Sabretoothed Ermine.

Will of the Alpha is a work of anthropomorphic fiction for adult readers only. (publisher’s advisory)

That is especially true of this anthology of a dozen short stories. “A little over a year ago”, co-editor Rechan says in his Forward [sic.], “I noticed that there was very few furry media products aimed specifically at titillating the audience’s kinks. […] This book has a little something for everyone, be it orientation or fetish. Within these pages you’ll find extensive bondage, pony play, puppy play, flogging, objectification and power exchange. […] For your comfort, the stories have been organized by severity, with the first, ‘Savage Toys’, being the lightest, and the final story ‘Attachments’ being the most intense.” (p. 5)

The cover labels this “a BDSM anthology”. BDSM is defined by Wikipedia as standing for “bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, masochism.”

FurPlanet Productions, February 2012, trade paperback $19.95 (246 pages; on Amazon). Illustrated by Dbull.

Science Friction is a work of anthropomorphic fiction for adult readers only. (publisher’s advisory)

Whew! Is it possible to write a plot synopsis of this X-rated farce that’s not X-rated itself? Well, let’s try.

FurPlanet Productions, September 2011, trade paperback $9.95 (vii + 82 pages; at Amazon). Illustrations by Cirrus Kitfox.

This is a mature content book. Please ensure that you are of legal age to purchase this material in your state or region. (publisher's advisory)

This novella is the first in FurPlanet’s ”Cupcake” series of works that are too short to be novels, but are long enough to stand on their own. It is also the winner of the Ursa Major Award for the Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction of 2010. Finally, it is the fourth of Gold’s “Forester Universe” stories, set in the same world as his Waterways, Out of Position, and Isolation Play.

FurPlanet Productions, February 2010, trade paperback $9.95 (vii + 114 pages; at Amazon); Kindle $7.99. Illustrated by Keovi.