The apricot scones a Pennsylvania couple give their cat for afternoon tea got them only second place in Cat Fancy magazine's annual Spoiled Cat contest.

ADVERTISEMENT

The first place went to the owners of KitKat, a thoroughly spoiled animal in DeMotte, Ind., the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said.

If KitKat is curled up on the lap of someone watching television, that person will knock on the wall to summon help changing the channel rather than disturb the cat. Family members also get up at night to guide KitKat to its feeding dish with a flashlight.

"Cat Fancy likes to see people spoil their cats, but it seemed like these went beyond spoiled," the editor, Susan Logan, told the Post-Gazette.

Emelie, an 8-year-old 17-pound Maine Coon cat in Mount Washington, Pa., certainly has a life many humans would envy. She gets thin-sliced salmon several times a week, turkey and pumpkin puree in a crystal dish at Thanksgiving and a fish loaf cake every year on her birthday with a statue of Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess on top, the newspaper said.

Merrie Beth Samways, who owns Emelie with her husband, Ian, says she prefers the term "creatively pampered" to "spoiled."