Dog may be man's best friend, but Chris Poole is a cat guy. The 35-year-old English-born Cary resident is owner of two very popular felines, YouTube sensations Cole and Marmalade.

With a background in big cat rescuing – we’re talking lions and tigers, oh my – Poole always has loved working with and promoting the love and care of animals.

Poole was a media producer at Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida, where he lived and worked on the sanctuary grounds, taking videos of everything from loading the animals during rescue and living at the sanctuary to promote awareness of the problems they face both out in the wild as well as in the care of private owners.

While his cats are a huge part of his life, it was never Poole’s intention to make them his livelihood. It came about from the simple love of his first cat, Cole, who Poole and wife, Jessica Josephs, took in while living in Florida in 2012.

“I had found out black cats were the most likely to be euthanized and least likely to be adopted,” Poole said. “When we got Cole, one of the first videos I made was 10 reasons to adopt a black cat because I wanted people to see how cool black cats are and to promote their adoption.”

Poole said among the plethora of Cole and Marmalade videos, it is one of his favorites.

Another video of Cole, “Black Cat Stick ‘Em Up!!” won a Friskie in 2012. The Friskies is an award competition sponsored by Friskies, a leading cat food brand, to honor the best internet cat videos. These Academy Awards of the online cat video world draw thousands of submissions, and winners, voted on over a three-week period each year, receive a trophy and cash prizes.

Not long after, in 2013, Marmalade came along.

Both rescues from the streets of Pasco County, Florida, the wide-eyed, orange-haired Marmalade and silky, black Cole are bonafide four-legged celebs. Marmalade is a tabby and Cole is thought to be a Turkish Angora, but labels need not apply to these two.

“Rescued is our favorite breed,” Poole said.

The two male cats soon were thick as thieves, and Marmalade grabbed his first 15 minutes of fame that landed him in the winner's circle in 2014, winning two Friskies, including the Grand Prize for "Dumpster Kitty." Their "What Cats Do at Night" video is pushing 8 million views. The duo have more than half a million subscribers to their YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/user/chrispoole20, as well as 1.5 million followers on Facebook and more than 250,000 followers on Instagram. Regular updates about the felines are featured on their website, https://coleandmarmalade.com.

Cole and Marmalade videos are not only fun, they also touch on helpful topics such as leash training, good feeding practices and introducing new cats into your home. “Marm” as the couple lovingly calls him, was diagnosed with cancer and found to be FIV positive. FIV is an immune-deficiency virus found in felines. Poole has done many videos on Marm’s condition to show that with a healthier diet and the inclusion of essential fatty acids, cats with FIV can live long, happy lives.

Working with the two boys does have its challenges.

“Working with cats is the hardest part,” Poole said. “You have to make the video around what they do, not what you want them to do.”

While Poole is happy to be able to make this his full-time job, his main goal is to promote adoption and educate people about their four-legged friends. Poole intends to further his involvement with animal shelters and is scheduled to visit South Africa in September for Little Cats Helping Big Cats to volunteer at sanctuaries there.

Poole works with multiple animal outreach and charity groups to provide education and support.

Recently, Cole and Marmalade created 6-by-6-inch canvas paintings, which raised more than $500 for Art for the Paws. The video of the two making the paintings was posted for viewing. They raised money by selling Cole and Marmalade socks to cover shots, spaying and neutering and chipping for some feral kittens that were captured in the area. They also launched a T-shirt to promote Pawsitivity, with sales going to a Cole and Marmalade fan to help cover her medical bills. Josephs crochets cat toys that she will donate or sell to raise money for groups as well.

Helping Paws in Woodstock was a recent recipient of a cat tree for its facility through the efforts of Poole. The high-priced item was something the group always had dreamed of having but never thought would be a reality, Helping Paws Treasurer and volunteer Ravelle Scwab said.

“Chris just takes an idea and runs with it and does whatever he can to help the cause,” Schwab said. “He has a big heart, and his wife is just a doll. It’s the little things and he’s just a genuinely nice guy that loves his kitties and loves to help.”

Helping is what Poole hopes to do more of moving forward. They have much more work to do as a feline family.

“We want to do more merchandising to help raise money and awareness. I would love to do a cat café to help with adoption center overflows and really get into the shelters and help to make a difference,” Poole said.