Actor & Comedian Ricky
tells us about his passion for animal welfare.
Q: Tell us about your current cat Ollie
RG: She is part Siamese, Burmese, Devon Rex & Comish Rex. The result is of course cat perfection. She's a bit fickle in her emotions though. She goes from cuddly and needy, to furiously independent. She's quite surly. Luckily, I love a cat remembering it used to be a tiger.
Q: Did you have a cat as a child? Tell us about your first cat.
RG: The first family cat I remember was a fat, fluffy moggy called Smokey. As he was already an established member of the family when I was born, he laid down the pecking order early on. As a toddler I would be the perfect height for Smokey to lay in wait on a table and swipe my head as I ambled past. He was quite old by the time I was 5 or 6 and I remember crying when he died. The first cat I could call mine was a tabby called Paddy. I had him as I kitten and I remember that I couldn't wait to get home from school to play with him.
Q: What do you like most about cats?
RG: Their independence. They choose when to need you and when to go it alone. I think a loved cat has the best life possible.
Q: Apart from when Jonathan Ross gave her to you (Jonathan presented Ricky with the kitten on his show in 2003) has Ollie ever appeared on TV with you?
RG: Only when chat shows share photos of her. She was shown on 'The Ellen Degeneres Show' recently and the entire studio audience went 'Awwwww'. I immediately pointed out that seconds before the photo was taken she had bitten me for no reason.
Q: Is it true you're keen to set up an animal sanctuary? What will make it different?
RG: It is true. I guess it's my one pipe dream. My ideal life would be to get up in the morning, walk outside and have hundreds of rescued animals run up to me for a cuddle and a bite to eat.
Q: Tell us about some of the animal causes that are close to your heart.
RG: I support about a dozen conservation charities like TigerTime and World Wildlife Fund, but my main concern has always been animal cruelty. That can be anything from spreading campaigns to end bloodsports like bullfighting and help BUAV to stop the testing of cosmetics on lab animals, to helping the World Society for the Protection of Animals educate the world about ethical farming.
Some cruelty is obvious and done by heartless maniacs I'd like to run over with a combine harvester, but a lot is done innocently. Most people don't realize that visiting a circus or eating fioe gras is buying into such cruelty for example. Education and protection by law is the way forward.
Q: If you could change the world to benefit cats what would you do?
RG: How about a feline NHS - free neutering and subsidized vet bills?! They probably won't thank me for the neutering bit. Haha.
Follow Ollie on Twitter @myleftfang
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