THE OWNER of this year's winning Pet Idol entry is delighted to be walking away with £300 worth of Pet Store goodies for his efforts.

Lonn Brown, from Canada, submitted his pet Meowbot to the competition and was the top pick among Reading Chronicle readers for the prize.

Mr Brown, who has been married to his wife for five years, was thrilled with the accolade.

"We are totally happy about it. We also thought he was extremely cute so we are happy that we got the result that we did," he said.

"People have been telling me he should go into cat modelling."

According to the 33-year-old, Meowbot's best qualities are his friendliness and the fact that he is very vocal.

He added: "When I'm singing, he will meow along a lot.

"I started to play the harmonica back in Canada but he had a habit of taking it out of my mouth."

The former Edmonton resident says he will buy toys with the Pet Store voucher and maybe even a fancy bed.

"If we can get his special cat food we will put that into the budget," he said.

He plans to enter again next year, perhaps with his other pet Mimette who was rescued by the RSPCA.

Meowbot, 7, could only purr in excitement at his victory.