A massively obese cat that weighs as much as a five-year-old child had seemed “unadoptable”, till images of his “gloriously gluttonous body” found their way online and captured the heart of a retiree in Richmond, Virginia.
Patches – and “all 40.3 pounds (18.3kg) of him” – has found a new home, and is now on his way to a low-calorie lifestyle, the Richmond Animal Care and Control said in a Facebook post.
The Virginia shelter put out the call on Wednesday for someone to adopt Patches, a domestic short-haired cat, and help him slim down to a “safe and healthy weight”.
“Did you wake up today and say, ‘let’s adopt the largest cat anyone has ever seen?’” it asked alongside a photo of Patches and his impressive belly bulging out of an animal control officer’s grip. “If so, we have the cat for you.”
“He’s been regulated to a very special diet, is on an exercise plan, and is very sweet,” the post continued. “He’s neutered, tested, chipped and ready to go today!”
The post went viral and the shelter was inundated with e-mails from people promising to give Patches the “forever home” he deserves.
In a matter of hours, Richmond Animal Care and Control found the perfect person for their resident big boy: Ms Kay Ford, a retiree.
The shelter later shared a video of Patches being carted out of the shelter to his new low-calorie life.
“40 lbs of LOVE right there,” they captioned the clip.
Ms Ford told The New York Post that her daughter contacted her about Patches.
“She sent me a text while I was watching the finale of The Mandalorian,” she said. “I opened it up and I saw the picture of Patches, and I just knew immediately I needed to go and get him.”
She knew “there were going to be nine billion people who were falling in love with him at the same time”, but thought she fit the bill.
For one, she lives just a short drive from the shelter, and already has a cat named Wellesley.
“I knew that I was in a position to help him,” said Ms Ford. “I’m retired. I’m home a lot. I just am completely motivated, and just feel like I have the time to help him achieve to get to this point where he and Wellesley are just playing together and having a wonderful time, and he’s happy and healthy.”
Ms Christie Chipps Peters, director of Richmond Animal Care and Control, told the USA Today newspaper on Thursday morning that Patches is doing well in his new home.
“We are so happy to have found him a committed companion who will help him get to a healthy weight,” Ms Peters said.
Ms Ford has created a Facebook page to document Patches’ journey to losing at least 9kg through a veterinarian-supervised weight loss plan.
Patches was surrendered to the Richmond Animal Care and Control on April 4 by his former owner. The shelter declined to say what the cat was fed that made him pile on the pounds.
Despite his heft and size, Patches isn ot the fattest cat on record.
That title belonged to Himmy, a 21kg cat in Australia that was so massive he had to be moved around in a wheelbarrow.
Guinness World Records made that official in 1986, but it has since scrapped the category “to deter people from over-feeding their pets just to appear in the book”.
