Wild weekend for Gold Coast pet lovers as Pet Expo and Carrara Cat Carnival kick off

If you look out your window this weekend, it might just be raining cats and dogs – leaving Gold Coast pet lovers with a difficult choice.

IT might be a tough weekend for Gold Coast pet lovers as two of the year’s biggest pet events have this time around fallen on the same weekend.

The Gold Coast Pet & Animal Expo and the Carrara Cat Carnival both kick off this weekend, with each event expecting thousands of visitors.

But the Carnival’s event organiser Mia Lee said it was good to see the two events coexisting.

Catwoman (Jade Bradforth) and Anime cat (Riely Saville) are ready for the Carrara Cat Carnival. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

“I think most households have a pet if not more, one home can have a cat and a dog, and these events are family orientated,” she said.
“You can bring the kids, you can have a look around and if you’re looking at getting a pet it’s a good time to look around.”

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An RSPCA spokeswoman said the Pet Expo’s date had been chosen not long after 2018’s event, to coincide with the start of school holidays.

“We’re excited to share the weekend as both events promote inclusion of pets in family activities and each event brings its own great entertainment to the Gold Coast,” she said.

“We have rescue groups with their animals available for adoption, in addition to RSPCA adoptable animals attending.”

Instagram stardom is the big drawcard for both events this year.

In Carrara they’re getting ready to welcome Insta-famous cat Scooter, as well as world famous cat gang Catmantoo.

Scooter the Insta famous cat and Australian Firefighters calendar star Jeff Leech will be at the Carrara Cat Carnival. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

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At the Pet Expo founder of app PatchPets Josh Fritz said he was inviting owners to embrace their pet’s social media possibilities.

PatchPets is a growing app connecting pet owners for playdates and chatrooms.

“I just see so many dogs and cats on Instagram with all these followers and we’re really trying to harness that with PatchPets,” he said.
“We’re going full blown social media in Phase Two of the app with following, followers, posting, all of that kind of stuff.”