A cat that was homed via Nanaimo SPCA is winning hearts, after its Victoria family entered the pet in this year's B.C. SPCA calender contest.
The contest is an annual fundraiser for the non-profit, in which for every dollar someone donates, they get one vote. The 12 pets with the most votes will be featured in the 2026 B.C. SPCA calender.
While Rosie Sweet Pea Alto wasn't among the leading vote-getters as of Friday, Feb. 14, her entry has earned praise from the local Nanaimo SPCA on its Facebook page, as well as a shout-out in the B.C. SPCA's news release.
Rosie, then named Cupid, was adopted at the Nanaimo SPCA as a young kitten last August, after coming in as part of a litter.
Michelle Alto, Rosie's owner, said she and her husband had been looking regularly on the SPCA website for a family cat. Their previous cat passed away a decade prior, and they felt it was time to bring a new member into the household – especially with their eight-year-old daughter never having had a family pet.
Many cats were considered, but when the family came across Rosie, they immediately called the Nanaimo SPCA to say they wanted to adopt her.
"I saw her and it just felt right. It just felt like she would be a perfect fit. Our original cat was a boy and we thought we wanted a boy, and then saw her and it's like, 'Oh, this is perfect. She's a girl, she won't be the same, it will be different,'" Alto said. "Just her little face on the website melted my heart."
Rather than telling their daughter ahead of time, they decided to surprise her with the news.
"She thought we were just going to get groceries then we took her to the cat aisle and she realized what was going on, and then we picked up all of Rosie's things there. She was very excited inside the store."
When they drove to Nanaimo to meet their new pet, Alto described it as "love at first sight."
Since being adopted, Alto said the cat enjoys snuggles with their daughter, but also likes to stay active. She referred to Rosie as a "family type of girl" who joins the others at the table for dinnertime with her own chair pulled up.
"She's very active, she's all over the place. My husband owns his own business so she hangs out with him during the day [while] he works from home. She lays by the fireplace and goes and lays on his table while he's doing his work."
Entering the calender contest was a way for the family to show off their pet, and they're proud that Rosie was featured by the SPCA.
"She's such a little sweetheart and I wanted to put her in the contest just for fun, I'm not asking people to vote or things like that. I'm not putting it on my social media for people to vote … I want the world to know she's ours, and she's happy and she's in a good place now."
Voting closes on Saturday, Feb. 15, and can be done at https://gogophotocontest.com/bcspcacalendarcontest/search.
