The Grand Rapids Press

As an investment advisor at A.G. Edwards, Mike Schwark admits that helping people with their finances can be stressful.

Now, he said, he's adding "a different kind of stress" to the mix.

The Meow Mix, that is.

Schwark, a 38-year-old Cascade father of three, will head to Florida on Thursday to compete for the grand prize in the Meow Mix brand cat food "Give Us A Jingle" contest.

It began innocently enough.

"I listen to the radio at work all day," said Schwark. "I heard 'Be the seventh caller,' and figured for free tickets to a (Whitecaps) game, I could handle that," he said.

The catch: sing a personalized rendition of the Meow Mix -- "Meow, meow, meow, meow" -- jingle, paying attention to creativity, humor and dramatic interpretation.

Ralston Purina is holding the contest to celebrate the recent reformulation of the popular cat food.

After winning on the radio along with about a dozen others, Schwark showed up in June at Old Kent Stadium dressed as a cat in a tuxedo -- and tail -- for the next stage of the feline play-offs.

"I had a strategy all ready," he explained. "I was the only contestant who put the jingle to words."

His jazzed-up, lounge singer version of the popular commercial jingle made him the pick of the local litter.

Think finger-snapping, shoulder-swaying, eyebrow wagging: "Meow Mix is so very yummy, Meow Mix is a hit inside my tummy..."

In Florida, Schwark will be up against 17 other people from around the country, but he's confident he'll have the competition licked.

"They have an Internet site where you can hear some of the winners," he said. "I've listened to them, so I know I have a chance."

The father of three is no stranger to crooning. He was a member of the glee club during his senior year at the University of Michigan, and has sung in local choruses on and off ever since. He also has been seen carrying a tune or two from the pews at St. Roberts Church in Ada.

And Schwark doesn't even have a cat.

"We had an 18-year-old cat named Minuit (French for 'midnight') that died about ten years ago," he explained. "My wife, Robin, and one of our sons have allergies, so we never got another one. We're talking about fish, though."

That means if Schwark wins the lifetime supply of Meow Mix along with the $10,000 grand prize, the cat food goes to charity.

"Anything I win (in cat food) I would be donating to animal shelters," he said.

Scratching his way this close to the top of the national contest hasn't exactly left Schwark feeling like the king of the jingle jungle.

"My realtor called me and joked that he was wondering where he could find a new broker," said Schwark, laughing. "When I told my boss about it, he just kind of shook his head."