Kate Walsh is an actress who’s starred in the award-winning series Grey’s Anatomy, which is the eighth-longest-running scripted primetime TV series in the US as well as Private Practice and the Netflix feature 13 Reasons Why. She has also been seen in the hit comedy movie, Girl’s Trip, which includes Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, and also Regina Hall. Her upcoming movies include: Sell By, 3022, and Honest Thief. She has recently partnered with Zoetis, the largest global animal health company, who will donate $10 capped at $25,000 to its K-9 Courage Program which will provide healthcare and product donations to military, police, and service dogs for everyone who submits a video or picture of their dog at their A-Game with the hashtag #MyDogsAGame at MyDogsAGame.com.
Can you tell us about your dog campaign?
Yes! I’m super thrilled to be partnering with Zoetis to raise awareness about dog allergies; it can be seasonal, but I know I have allergies, humans suffer from them but our pets do too and so I was excited to talk about that and a lot of people I think sometimes think: “Oh, my dogs itching.” My dog Rosie who’s adopted at first, I thought; “Oh she’s doing this cute thing.” She’s scratching her face, her little snout with both paws at the same time and of course I’m like, “let me video that!” [laughs]. And then I’m like, “Oh, it’s not stopping! It’s probably an allergy.” When I adopted her almost twelve years ago, in the first allergy season she had I took her to my vet just a few years back and they prescribed Apoquel, and that took care of it straight away and she responded really well to it so it’s something that you know I think a lot of people will just say, “Oh my dog she just itches or she just scratches or there’s just a hot spot,” but in actuality it is an allergy, it needs to be treated and so I encourage people to go to their vets and see if Apoquel might be right for them; and one of the fun things about this campaign as well is we’re encouraging people to interact and go onto MyDogsAGame.com and post your own video or photo of your dog at their A-Game and if you use the hashtag #MyDogsAGame you’ll trigger a $10 donation capped at $25,000 by Zoetis pet care to its K-9 Courage Program which is also amazing… So, it’s just a whole thing with such a great campaign and I was really thrilled to be a part of it.
What are the reasons you decided to become an animal activist?
Well I’ve always been an animal lover so it makes sense for me that I’m an activist and to also make sure I think a lot of times you know our animals we treat them like our humans, they could be our most important relationships […] the importance that when dogs suffer from allergies, they shouldn’t be getting the same medications that humans take so I think that’s also something that we want to really make sure that with Apoquel and Zoetis that we’re really passionate about making sure that pet owners understand if you see your dog you know scratching every two steps or sneezing or rubbing their eyes […] we want to encourage people to take their pets to their vet and see if Apoquel might be right for them; and that dog allergies manifest differently than human allergies. It’s not always you know like me [having] a runny nose or watery eyes or sneezing; that it’s going to a lot of times manifest the skin so hot spots, itching, chewing… and again a lot of people say; “oh my dog just chews, she’s a chewer,” or whatever and that’s not necessarily the case. And for me, both my dogs [respond] very well to Apoquel when they get hit with allergies and it’s very effective with them so that is sort of a no brainer. I’m a big proponent of adopting pets and making sure that they’re well looked after through their whole life.
How did you come up with the name “Boyfriend” for your perfume line?
That’s a funny question. I was actually inspired by an ex-boyfriend and I missed his cologne so I sort of had this idea, wouldn’t that be a great idea for a fragrance of “boyfriend in a bottle,” you know and all these sort of kind of taglines and storylines came out of that and I realized that I actually didn’t want it to be purely sort of a masculine scent, which we would call it masculine but it would be more defined as woods and heavy musk… so I wanted to sort of mix the memory of the boyfriend on her skin, if you will, or on clothes; so the sort of woods and the floral notes and fruit notes and that’s how I came up with Boyfriend.
What are some of the upcoming projects that you are also working on?
I’m shooting a show right now, that’s sort of top secret but I do have a film coming out in November called, “3022” with Omar Epps and Angus Macfadyen and it’s a thriller set in space and so it’s a Sci-Fi thriller and then I’ve got another film that’s just getting distribution now called, “Sell By”; it’s hitting festivals and winning a lot of awards and so that New York premier is in a week so I’m excited about that and I’ve got another couple films coming out in 2020, one that’s called, “Honest Thief,” with Liam Neeson and Jai Courtney and Anthony Ramos… Yeah, so that’s what’s happening.
What has been some of your best memories on Grey’s Anatomy?
Oh, you know it’s just a ripe old time I think in all of our lives, it’s such a successful show it was a very different time in television when that show started […] so it was exciting to be a part of something that was critically acclaimed and also very loved by the public and just wonderful to be able to work with Shonda Rhimes; I mean it was just such an incredible experience all around.
What has been the greatest advice that you were given and you still apply?
Oh, I think “go with the flow,” you know [laughs]. I think that if you kind of live life in a little bit of acceptance and surrender to it, it seems to go a lot easier… You need to go with the flow, don’t try to work too hard and hold on too tight they’re tends to be a lot more suffering.