MILLION CAT CHALLENGE HAS SAVED 3 MILLION CATS SINCE 2014
Cats are taking over the Zoom controls to celebrate by setting a world record

Davis, Calif. – The Million Cat Challenge, originally launched to save the lives of one million shelter cats in North America, will have saved three million cats as of Jan. 11, 2021. To celebrate, they’ll be blowing up the Internet the way they blew up their initial goal.

“We’ll be attempting to break a Guinness World Record for the world's largest online toast,” said Challenge co-founder Dr. Kate Hurley of the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program. “We will be going after the record set just last year by Amazon Web Services of 335 people toasting simultaneously online. Surely we, and the cats, can exceed that!”

The free event will take only 15 minutes, starting at 5 p.m. Pacific/8 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. It’s a BYOB/BYO-dish-of-wet-cat-food event, so come ready to toast. RSVP to join the fun at tinyurl.com/mcc3million.

“All cats and their people are welcome,” said Challenge co-founder Dr. Julie Levy of the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida. “Papers will fly, glasses will be knocked over, and camera angles will be ignored. And if your cat is too busy to attend, please come anyway!”

The 1,597 Million Cat Challenge shelters have seen feline euthanasia drop by 76 percent compared to the pre-Challenge baseline year. Cats handled by participating shelters represent around 50 percent of the total number of cats entering animal shelters annually.

The project launched in 2014 with the financial support of Maddie’s Fund.

“Thanks to Maddie, the Million Cat Challenge has led the way in lifesaving for cats,” said Dr. Laurie Peek, Maddie’s Fund Executive Leadership Team. “We’re proud to have supported them from the beginning, and know they’ll break this new record with paws to spare.”