ANIMAL PLANET TRAVELS COAST TO COAST TO FIND AMERICA'S FEISTIEST FELINES AND CAT FANATICS IN "MUST LOVE CATS"

-- Musician/Host John Fulton Seeks To Prove America is a Cat-NationIn New Six-Part Series Debuting February 12 --

(Silver Spring, MD, January 19, 2011) - This February, Animal Planet will eat, sleep and breathe cats with the series premiere of MUST LOVE CATS. Songwriting and cat-loving host John Fulton embarks on a road trip across America to spend time with, and write songs about, the country's most talented tabbies, quirkiest kittens, enthusiastic cat owners and experts. The six-episode cat quest begins on Saturday, February 12, at 8 PM (ET/PT) and continues each Saturday as John makes his way from the deep South to the Pacific coast and back again with numerous pit stops along the way.

Each episode of MUST LOVE CATS focuses on a specific region of the country featuring visits to several states, where musical host Fulton explores the greatest cat tales in the U.S. Highlights of the trip include:

A visit to Caboodle Ranch in Florida, which is home to more than 500 cats and a resident cat wrangler.

A town in Texas famous for its population of fat cats and the residents who adore them.

A trek to the catnip fields of Washington to learn all about the mystery herb that drives cats crazy.

A stake-out of a "klepto kitty" in California that has stolen hundreds of its neighbors' belongings, followed by a visit to a local coffee house where John samples the rare

delicacy, coffee made from beans scooped out of cat poop!

A stop in Washington D.C., to witness the emotional bonds between cats and our nation's veterans.

A trip to the Big Apple, New York City, to meet a group of working felines that keep the city that never sleeps operational, and to catch a cat fashion show.

And, a journey to the Midwest that sends John to a lab in Minnesota to identify the best kitty litter, and lands him face to whisker in Indiana with the world's most famous lasagna loving cat, Garfield.

With even more cities and states on John's journey and hundreds of other cats to meet, MUST LOVE CATS provides the guitar-playing host with plenty of material to write his "kitty ditties," and an opportunity to show that America truly is crazy for cats.

MUST LOVE CATS is produced by Powderhouse Productions for Animal Planet. Joel Olicker,Tug Yourgrau and Seanbaker Carter are executive producers for Powderhouse. John Tomlin is co-executive producer for Powerderhouse. Erin Wanner is the executive producer for Animal Planet.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 97 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.