Four popular breeds of cat have been chosen by An Post to adorn a new selection of stamps to be issued today.
One of these, 8-year-old Maine Coon cat called Fred from Co Westmeath, gave a lick of approval at their launch in the GPO Dublin yesterday.
A spokeswoman for An Post said Fred, a large and laid-back cat, was no stranger to the camera.
"Fred is the biggest cat I've ever seen in my life. He was incredible and looked more like a lion. He lives in Mullingar and has been in a number of advertisements so he's a seasoned cat celebrity," she said.
“He had an air of a professional about him and he knows he’s a handsome boy.” The spokeswoman said 256,000 stamps with four cats breeds, including Burmese, British Shorthair and Persian, have been printed.
She said the stamps, which went through a two-year design process, had proven very popular.
She said the cats were chosen to adorn the stamps due to their popularity and to highlight the issue of animal welfare.
“We’re conscious of what people have an interest in,” she said. “Cats would have been suggested to us practically every year.
“They had to choose four breeds but they tried to look at the most popular ones and the ones that worked the best on the stamp. The whole issue about the welfare of cats is increasingly an issue in Ireland with pets being neglected and abandoned.”
Feline Photography specialist Amy French took the pictures of the cats and the stamp was by Red and Grey design.
Fellow cat model Queenie, a three-year-old British Shorthair, from Cork also features on one of the four stamps.
The stamps, a special first day cover envelope and booklet of stamps may be viewed and purchased at www.irishstamps.ie, at the GPO Dublin and selected Post Offices.