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“Our first ever Southern Cross Pet Insurance Pawsies Awards have been an absolute stand out. We are so excited to call the winners of each category – and everyone has been blown away by the love Aotearoa has shown for their cat, dog and vet clinic team,” says Melodie Vickars, Chief Marketing Officer for Southern Cross Pet Insurance.

“It was a straight up process, even though there was plenty of campaigning by pet owners and vet clinic customers. We did keep everyone honest and ‘de-duped’ a few multiple entries 😉, so we hope everyone remembers this for next year. We are so keen to do this again to find even more cats, dogs and vet teams to celebrate.”

Drum roll, please. The winners are:

Picton Veterinary Clinic – run by the amazing Christine, who is beloved by her customers, both the humans and the furry ones. Here’s what one of the nominations said about the team: “Picton Vet is the most fantastic caring and kind clinic I have encountered. Christine and her team are so proactive and engage with the local community to grow and establish an amazing network of caring animal owners. Christine has poured numerous weeks and months of work into various events and courses to assist pet owners knowledge and in turn creating better animal Healthcare which can only have positive outcomes. We are lucky to have such a wonderful team.”

Cat of the Year – Celeste: in the words of her owner… “Celeste is the most patient and caring cat I have ever met. I got my darling girl at two years old and she was a street cat, now she lives a very luxurious life as an indoor lap cat. I live with daily chronic pain and fatigue and Celeste has learnt to recognise my symptoms and warn me. She screams when I try to stand on a bad day, and lays on my chest and purrs when I’m having pain flares or fainting spells. She’s also learnt to harass me into getting my meds out every night (she gets a treat when I take them). I love my girl and so does everyone who’s met her.”

Dog of the Year – Foz: Foz’s owner had this to say about him. “Foz (a Huntaway Cross) has had a ruff year as a two year old! Last year he scratched my arm which drew my attention to a strange mole - it turned out to be melanoma and I am forever grateful to him for saving me. He was then diagnosed with a cancerous tumour himself, underwent three surgeries and lots of testing and came out clear! I think we came into each other’s lives for a reason - to rescue each other. This year he had two seizures and is now being tested for epilepsy and brain cancer and we will do everything we can to fight for him 😊”

Melodie says Christine and her Vet Clinic team stood out in the nominations this year for the mahi they do in their community. Training after hours, coaching owners and coming to the rescue outside normal day to day operations are all things the team does to support pets in their community.

“When we spoke with Christine, she was so amazed to have received the support she had from the good people of Picton, saying, “I just can’t believe that our little clinic here in Picton came out on top. I absolutely did not expect this. I’d been watching the Pawsies news on MoreFM, so I knew it was happening, but I honestly can’t believe the result for my amazing team.”

Customers in the South Island actually made the most nominations in the Pawsies. Honourable mentions from the judges also go to VetSouth Invercargill, Selwyn Veterinary Centre and Nelson Vets Saxton.

When it comes to the furred winners, Celeste the Bombay scooped the pool for Cat of the Year, while Foz the Huntaway Cross will be showing off his special Pawsie collar tag at the next park walk in Auckland.

Celeste’s owner said, “I am overjoyed and still a little in shock, Celeste is genuinely the smartest and most supportive cat I’ve ever met, it is such an honour that my baby girl is the first ever Cat of the Year. Thank you a million to everyone who voted and was inspired by our story. I’m looking forward to taking my girl on a drive to check out her picture on the billboard 💕”

Foz’s owner was bowled over and said, “Wow, we can’t believe it! Thank you so much to everyone who voted for Foz - we had lovely messages from family, friends, colleagues, our doggy daycare, the rescue community, the Instagram community, and strangers online! We are just humbled and grateful that we got to tell his story and recognise his impact on our life. So special to see our rescue boy in the spotlight after all the obstacles he’s overcome, and it’s been a great opportunity for us to highlight the importance of skin checks (for dogs and humans)! All of the nominations were so awesome and so deserving, (we) hope every one of them feels like Dog of the Year every day 💕”

The furry winners each received a swag of loot including a $500 spend up on goodies, a photo shoot with Pickle’s Pawtrait, 1 on 1 virtual training with Mark Vette (cat and dog), the opportunity to be world famous in Aotearoa thanks to a billboard display and, of course, an exclusive and very desirable Pawsies trophy.

“Really, the Pawsies are all about the love and appreciation we have for our pets and the vets who keep them well. We’re so thankful to our team, the amazing judges (Lana Cochrane-Searle, Mark Vette and Grant Sanders), the New Zealanders who nominated their pets and vets and then voted in such high numbers and, mostly, we’re thankful every day for the munchkins who light up our lives, living their best pet life.”

The Pawsies will be back in 2026.