Ian Somerhalder Foundation to be official beneficiary of CatCon 2017

For the past two years, the convention of all things feline, CatCon , has offered attendees a fun convention to celebrate cats. Celebrities, both cat and human, have come to benefit this charitable event such as Lil Bub and Rachael Ray.

This year, the celebrity list grows even larger for this small yet mighty convention. One of TV's most popular stars, Ian Somerhalder, from the hit CW show, Vampire Diaries, will bring his charity to this event to be the official beneficiary. The Ian Somerhalder Foundation (or ISF) was founded in 2010 by Somerhalder to offer programs to educate people on grassroot initiatives to help animals, the environment and the less fortunate. The charity is all about preservation and helping those creatures in need. The charity's Emergency Medical Care Grant that has helped over 1,000 animals will donate the money made to help cats who have suffered from abuse or neglect and pay for the medical bills and procedures that are needed to help.

"I am beyond excited to have the Ian Somerhalder Foundation participating in CatCon 2017. As a proud cat person with three rescued cats, I share the kindred spirit we all feel when we get together with other animal lovers," said Somerhalder. "Participating in CatCon marries my love for cats with ISF's initiatives to help all animals. This is a convention which breaks stigmas, celebrates animals, and gives back to cat welfare organizations. What could be better?"

Each ticket sale will donate $2 to the foundation and "A portion of celebrity meet and greet funds raised will also go towards the foundation."

Guests this year will find the CatCon location to have changed from The Reef in Los Angeles, to now being located at the Pasadena Convention Center, a much larger and more practical space for a convention. Rachael Ray's Nutrish cat food will be hosting the event and celebrities from past years will be returning such as Lil Bub and Pusheen. The cat adoptions will be available again as well and last year alone, almost 100 cats were adopted at the convention.

CatCon will take place August 12th and 13th at the Pasadena Convention Center. Tickets have not gone on sale yet but will be available on the CatCon website.