Soap Opera Weekly
February 27, 2001
Going to the (Cats &) Dogs

Terri Conn (Katie, As The World Turns) and her fiance, actor Arthur Colombino, didn't realize when they set out for the Animal Haven adopt-a-thon that they were heading for a date with Destiny. They were simply (or so they told themselves) lending some star power to the event, held at La Rue La Galleria, a fashionable boutique on Manhattan's west side that proprietor Lynn Cohen had turned into adoption headquarters for the day. "She's super nice to allow this in the middle of the store," Erin Torpey (Jessica, One Life to Live) raved. Not that there wasn't plenty of shopping going on. Marj Dusay (Vanessa, All My Children), who was more drawn to the racks of clothes than to the cages of cats and dogs ("When I can have a horse in my apartment, I'll get an animal"), bought a skirt and sparkly evening bag. Catherine Hickland (Lindsay, OLTL) bagged two pairs of pants, and Terri got a shirt. She also got a dog.

Michael E. Knight (Tad, All My Children) does share his wife, Catherine Hickland's love for animals--they've got two dogs and six cats, most of them rescues--and for a while it seemed they might be going home with Gizmo, a terrier mix that, as Catherine said, looked like it was assembled from spare parts. Michael went positively misty-eyed when he held him. Catherine also fell for Bruce, a huge 3-year-old tabby that Catherine swore had "the most handsome face I've ever seen. I'd marry that cat if he was a human." Sort of a Michael Knight type? "He's more like a Thorsten Kaye (Ian, Port Charles) type, got that Tarzan kind of quality to him."

In the end, they went home without adding to their menagerie, although Catherine generously pledged to add an Animal Haven cat adoption page to the Web site for her new Cat Cosmetics company (www.catcosmetics.com).

"Catherine is awesome," said Marcello Forte, the shelter's executive director. He was overwhelmed by how the soap community has adopted Animal Haven. "I had no idea there was such an animal advocacy in the soap world. Thanks to them, and to Lynn, we found homes for 12 animals today."

Marcello, make that lucky 13. I spoke with Catherine the next day and she wanted to know if, after she'd left, Gizmo had been adopted. Yes! I was happy to report. Also, Annie, Mugsy, and Nelson, a 10-year-old cat! "And Bruce?" Sadly, no. She sighed, resigned to her own destiny (Michael predicts she'll start her own shelter one day). "OK," she said. "We're filling out the papers for him."

For information on Animal Haven and future adopt-a-thons at La Rue, call (718) 886-3683 or visit the Web page: www.animalhavenshelter.org