Category: Philanthropy

Royal Canin Enlists Kat Dennings For ‘Take Your Cat to the Vet Day’

Royal Canin has enlisted actress Kat Dennings and kitten rescuer Hannah Shaw to urge cat owners to take their cat to the veterinarian every year ahead of National Take Your Cat to the Vet Day.

According to a Royal Canin survey, 63% of cat owners incorrectly believe that if their cat is acting “normal” (including playing, eating, drinking, using the litter box,) they don’t need to go to the vet. Pet owners don’t take their cats to the vet until they are in distress – which is a huge problem. 

Aug. 22 is National Take Your Cat to the Vet Day and Royal Canin is asking pet owners to pledge to visit the vet for an annual well visit to catch issues when they first start. Cat owners can visit www.royalcanin.com/cathealth to sign the pledge.

Dennings and Shaw (better known as the Kitten Lady) and veterinarian and reality television star Dr. Diarra Blue, teamed up to create a PSA which is running on Royal Canin’s social media accounts. Dennings will also post them to her account, per a spokesperson. B Live produced the PSA and Royal Canin is doing social in-house.

While more than forty-two million U.S. households have at least one cat, totaling more than 90 million cats, few of these cats are receiving proper medical care. In fact, more than half of all cats don’t receive veterinary care on a regular basis – 83% of cats visit the veterinarian before their first birthday, but over 50% don’t return until they become sick or are in pain, according to the pet food manufacturer.

Now in its sixth year, Royal Canin’s annual Take Your Cat to the Vet initiative works to raise awareness about this important issue and help break down the barriers that prevent cats from going to a vet more often. 

Sixty-six percent of survey respondents also agree that when their cat is acting healthy, they don’t pay attention to the signs of aging, but 60% are not sure what signs to look for when their cat is aging.

Slightly more than half (52%) don’t start paying attention to preventative health care measures for their cat until they hit a certain age. Even more startling, 83% of cat owners believe “age doesn’t define my cat” and 73% think their cat acts younger than they truly are.

Cats are “private” animals, so it can be difficult to tell when they’re not feeling well, says Dr. Catherine Lenox, board certified veterinary nutritionist and regulatory veterinary manager at Royal Canin North America. 

“While each annual appointment may look similar, your veterinarian is monitoring for different health concerns depending on your cat’s life stage,” Lenox says in a release.

In addition, as part of the initiative, Royal Canin is partnering with Shaw’s Orphan Kitten Club’s Mightycat grant program – the world’s first grant program targeted to saving neonatal kittens. 

Every kitten season — which corresponds to warm weather months in most regions — thousands of motherless kittens are at risk of death on the streets and in animal shelters. Without a mother to care for them, kittens face impossible odds and can’t survive without specialized care. 

The Orphan Kitten Club is dedicated to saving the lives of these tiny felines by rescuing them in its state-of-the-art kitten nursery, ending the cycle through sterilization, and providing care for every kitten possible. 


Written by Tanya Gazdki for Media Post, article published on August 20

Kat Dennings shares the fun birthday surprise she made for her cat: ‘She could not believe it’

“There’s something about the chopstick pouch that drives this cat wild,” the Wandavision star says about her pet cat’s favorite thing.

Kat Dennings will do anything to make her cat, Millie, happy!

The Dollface star, 35, tells PEOPLE exclusively about the hilarious habit her furry friend picked up — and how she eventually catered to it.

“Millie has very limited access to anything dangerous. I’m an insane helicopter mom when it comes to her. This cat loves anytime I get sushi takeout or delivery or whatever, and you know how the chopsticks come in that little chopstick pouch? There’s something about the chopstick pouch that drives this cat wild,” the actress, who’s partnered with Royal Canin to raise awareness about their National Take Your Cat to the Vet Day campaign, says about her cat’s quirk.

“She loves the empty chopstick pouch. She hoarded that,” she continues. “She would find one and drag it upstairs and hide it, and I just found this little stash of empty chopstick pouches.”

Dennings once went the extra mile to pull off an “insane” chopstick pouch feat for Millie’s birthday.

“I saved all the chopsticks pouches for months and months, and I surprised her. She sat on the bed, and I filmed it in slow motion — again, I know, I’m insane. I threw a hundred chopstick wrappers into the air and filmed her reaction, and she could not believe it,” she says. “So I don’t know if that story says more about Millie or about me.”

When it comes to caring for Millie, Dennings jokes that she’s “a crazy person.” The 2 Broke Girls alum recalls how she previously “flipped out” when Millie licked up a small drop of her facial cleanser that accidentally fell on the cat’s bed.

“I flipped out, and I called a pet poison hotline. I was like, ‘Kill me!’ They were like, ‘What’s in the cleanser?’ I was like, ‘Oh, this, this, this!'” Dennings says of the incident. “I mean, it was absolutely safe. She did end up being fine, but I had to tell him how much she weighed; I had to tell him how much of what was in the cleanser.”

Dennings is teaming up with Royal Canin to help encourage cat owners to take their felines to the vet annually. With National Take Your Cat to the Vet Day approaching on Aug. 22, Dennings says that raising awareness about the perks of preventive veterinary care “is a timely issue.”

“I’m an enormous cat lover. Of course, I love all animals, but cats have a special place in my heart. Cats are very mysteriously elegant. And that’s both a blessing and a curse,” the WandaVision star says.

“I think as cat owners, we know that our cats are very … I keep saying the word mysterious, but it’s true. They don’t really show the signs of illness. When they don’t feel well, they’re really, really good at hiding it,” she continues. “It is something really important as cat owners that we need to realize, which is we really do need to take our cats to the vet annually every year, or as needed.”

By going to Royal Canin’s official website, cat owners can find abundant resources to help them keep their felines happy and healthy.


Written by Dory Jackson for People, article publiched August 16

Kat on #SongsToSaveThemAll

Just like last year, the Best Friends Animal Society presented a charitable online concert to raise funds for their rescuing mission. This year, Kat introduced musician Aunty Social, unfortunately, without the company of our beloved feline Millie.

You can watch the full stream here.

DONATE TO THE #SONGSTOSAVETHEMALL FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN

Kat (and Millie) set to appear at concert for Best Friends Animal Society

Just like it happened last summer, the Best Friends Animal Society is organising a benefit concert named Songs to Save Them All: A Benefit Concert for Homeless Pets, set to stream on May 6, as we’re told by Crossroads Today. The event will stream simultaneously on YouTube, Twitch and more, and donations are more than welcome. As a support of the BFAS, Kat will be making an appearance in the event, most likely to introduce one of the various musical acts, and for sure in the company of our dear feline Millie.

New on Instagram 01/12

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In a year like no other, our pets have been there as we faced changes and challenges we never could have imagined.

This #GivingTuesday 💝 (December 1st!), please join me in supporting @bestfriendsanimalsociety. It is crucial that people just like you and me continue to step up to #SaveThemAll by supporting homeless pets across the country. 🐶 🐱 As an added bonus, every donation will be matched! Double your impact today, donate via the link in my bio.

Donate to #SaveThemAll!

Kat and Millie on #SongsToSaveThemAll

Best Friends Animal Society is a national animal welfare organization focused on ending the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters. An authority and leader in the no-kill movement, Best Friends runs the nation’s largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals, as well as lifesaving programs in partnership with rescue groups and shelters across the country.

Yesterday they streamed a YouTube concert in the hopes of raising funds to rescue homeless pets. Talent and friends came together to introduce the performers, as was the case of Kat and Millie. Kat had already teased the recording on Sunday, adding that “she does not care if she’s on camera for a good cause, let me tell you.”

DONATE TO THE #SONGSTOSAVETHEMALL FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN

Below we present Kat and Millie’s participation, but you can watch the full show here.