Ontarians Take Top Honors in Contest Honoring Special Cats



Toronto – When “Cat Therapist” Carole C. Wilbourn announced a “how your cat(s) make your day” contest, people from all over North America sent her stories and pictures of their special felines. Wilbourn, a world-renowned feline behaviorist with over 20 years of experience, and In Defense of Animals (IDA), the contest’s sponsor, recently awarded prizes to three winners for submitting the most touching entries.

First prize went to Betty McConnell from Mississauga, whose cat Dazzle does impressions of nearby Niagara Falls by slowly sliding off the couch on her back. Betty is the winner of a free phone consultation with the Cat Therapist herself. Doreen Forbes was awarded second prize – an autographed copy of Wilbourn’s best-selling book The Total Cat – for describing the eldest of her seven cats, Toadie. Toronto’s own Katrina Cameron won third prize for a moving story about her cat Forrest, taking home an IDA “Cat Guardian” t-shirt. The winners’ stories are available online at www.idausa.org/cat_therapist/makemyday.html . 

IDA sponsored the contest as part of its national Guardian Campaign, which seeks to raise standards of animal care by replacing the word “owner” with the term “guardian” in people’s everyday speech, the media, and official city ordinances. Over 40 cities in the U.S. and Canada, as well as the entire State of Rhode Island, already recognize their residents as animal guardians. By encouraging people to think about what makes their cats special, the contest promotes the use of language that refers to animal companions as living beings, not mere objects or possessions. 

For more information on IDA’s Guardian Campaign, visit GuardianCampaign.com.