Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a special event in Los Angeles benefitting the wonderful work they do at Kitty Bungalow Charm School for Wayward Cats. It was a fun evening filled with song and dance numbers all celebrating our favorite felines and performed by a star-studded cast.
The event was held at the Belasco Theater in downtown LA. The celebs arrived on a red carpet and I was part of the crowd that was there to greet them, along with other pet bloggers Janiss Garza from Sparkle the Designer Cat, Kristin Dewey from Cokie the Cat, and Anne Marie Tafoya from Little Dog in the Big City.
Animal lover Fred Willard was in attendance and emceed the evening. Also attending were Battlestar Galactica stars Edward James Olmos and James Callis, who were there to present a special award to their co-star Tricia Helfer.
Tricia Helfer received the Cat in White Spats Award from Kitty Bungalow. This award honors high-profile animal activists who go above and beyond in their efforts to end the epidemic of homeless animals, creating a world in which people value all companion animals and understand the responsibility of pet ownership. As she accepted the award, Tricia told the story of how she and her husband acquired each of their eleven cats. Yes, that’s right! Eleven cats! Every single one of them rescued! And she loves them all like they are her children. She’s my new favorite celebrity!
Also spotted on the red carpet were Kelley Jakle and Shelley Regner from the movie Pitch Perfect, and Nikki Deloach from the MTV series Awkward. We chatted with Nikki about her two British Shorthair cats, one of which is a rare male tortie! She whipped out her phone to show us pictures, of course!
One of the celebs I was most looking forward to meeting was Nicole Sullivan from Mad TV, and it turns out she’s a serious cat person! I overheard her telling the story of how she socialized two of her cats who she took in as ferals. Hard core! OK, now it’s a tie between Tricia Helfer and Nicole Sullivan for my favorite cat-loving celeb!
Following the CATbaret performance, we attended a fun after party where we mingled with the celebs in the spectacular ballroom at the Belasco Theater. Quite a fun evening!
And guess who we ran into at the party? Brenda and Dean from the latest episode of My Cat From Hell that I worked on! Also, here I am on the red carpet with my date for the evening, Mark Allred from The Haymarket Squares (yes, he’s a cat guy!)
All of the proceeds from the event went to benefit Kitty Bungalow to support them in the important work they do socializing kittens and getting them adopted into loving forever homes, a very noble cause! Kitty Bunglaow founder Shawn Simons did an amazing job coordinating the evening and I want to give a special thank you to Janene Zakrajsek from Pussy & Pooch for all her hard work and help with the media lounge.
We have a special treat from the event for one lucky reader! Several of the celebrities autographed a special tote bag that’s filled with goodies for us to give away! This bag is signed by Drew Seeley from Love Struck: The Musical, Fred Willard from Modern Family, Keith David from Cloud Atlas, Kelley Jakle and Shelley Regner from Pitch Perfect, Lori Alan from Spongebob Squarepants, Nicole Sullivan from Mad TV, and Olesya Rulin from High School Musical. The winner will receive an assortment of goodies from Nature’s Variety, The Honest Kitchen, Kong, NKLA, and others.
ENTER TO WIN!
To enter the weekly giveaway, please visit the Hauspanther Giveaway page and complete the entry form. The deadline to enter this week’s giveaway is midnight Pacific Time on Sunday, August 11, 2013. This giveaway is limited to addresses in the US.
My fur babies are winners!
That looks like so much fun. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
i am an individual cat rescuer, who would feed the cats before i would eat. i sure could use some help for their entertainment.
Here in Casper, WY the city is currently contemplating trapping and neutering the ferals and then releasing them….hope they get the plan passed. I have a very loyal one that no one wanted and he was well worth taking in.