Cat TV

Ten cats in search of pet owners will spend the next 10 days in a New York store window, with their every move caught on camera for a new reality TV show.

The cats will compete for such honours as best sleeper and mouse-catcher.

The series is the creation of a pet-food company and will be shown on cable channel Animal Planet, as well as on the website www.MeowMixHouse.com, where viewers will be asked to vote one feline contestant off the show each day.

The cats, chosen from shelters around the country, will compete for loudest purr, most prolific sleeper and who can catch the most toy mice.

Kitties getting the boot will be adopted into permanent homes.

The cat food company hopes the show will promote cat adoption, as well as their products, which will be the only thing on the menu.

Passers-by taking a gander though a specially rented storefront on Madison Avenue in midtown Manhattan can watch the cats lazing about a luxuriously outfitted cat-sized house that includes scaled-down sofas, beds, a fish tank (with fake fish), kitchen and a porch, all put together by an interior designer.

"It's a Disney World for cats," Meow Mix spokesman Ryan Reed said, in charge of ensuring the cats are well-cared for and well-behaved.

Volunteers from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are also on hand to attend to the needs of the kitty stars.

Enjoying their final day of obscurity, the cats seemed unfazed by attention from visiting media - most of the cats were asleep on the set, which will be unveiled to the public on Tuesday.

A cat named Sam from Texas, stood guard on the home's welcome mat while Romeo, a Los Angeles native, lazily stretched out his six-toed paws before swatting a toy.

In the tradition of reality shows, the company will hire the top cat as "Feline Vice President of Research and Development", responsible for taste testing and product feedback.

Biographies of the cats play up their personalities, but in reality they are all pretty mellow, if not a bit dazed from all the attention.

"In real life they're all very sweet," company spokesman Keith Fernbach said.

"But we try to give them a personality for TV."