Tiny, the once-hefty Fredericton feline, has lost his heavyweight crown to a cat in Moncton.
A Moncton-area veterinarian is caring for New Brunswick’s newest fat cat, Michelin, who tipped the scales at a whopping 34 pounds when his owners dropped him off at the Moncton SPCA a week ago.
“We’ve seen overweight cats but it has been a long, long time since we have seen anyone as big as Michelin,” says Karen Nelson of the Greater Moncton SPCA.
Experts say Michelin weighs about twice as much as he should, prompting Dr. Lethan Dwan to put him on a special weight-loss diet.
“A lot of extra stress on the liver and can flood the liver with fats potentially and shut the liver down, which then causes major issues, so one per cent a week is what we aim for as far as a slim down,” says Dwan.
“Just giving them different environments and different levels of stimulation and something more than just looking forward to the food bowl all day.”
He says it will take a full year of diet and exercise to get Michelin back to a healthy weight. The cat will also undergo weekly weigh-ins.
“Some cats are lazier than others and he is probably a lazy cat by nature. So, a combination of being overfed and being lazy probably has resulted in him ending up this way,” says Dwan.
Dwan plans to care for Michelin for about a year, until the pounds slip away.
With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell
