44 pound cat brought into shelter as stray

[kathryn]

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...cal&id=6293971

SICKLERVILLE, N.J. - July 29, 2008 (WPVI) -- Tipping the scales at an unbelievable 44 pounds, this corpulent kitty gives new meaning to the phrase fat cat.

"I have never seen a cat this fat in person, not even anything close to it. She is a big kitty cat," says Jennifer Andersch of the Camden County Animal Shelter.

The flabby fur ball was found Saturday in Voorhees and turned in to the Camden County Animal Shelter in Blackwood where she had to be weighed on the dog scale because the cat scale didn't go high enough. The volunteers nicknamed her Princess Chunk.

The animal shelter is full right now and had to move the chubby feline to a foster home because. Well, not to be catty, but they didn't have a cage big enough.

And so Princess Chunk is temporarily staying with animal lover Debbie Wright of Sicklerville.

"She's a lug to pick up but she's a sweet cat," says Wright.

Princess Chunk is just a couple pounds shy of the world record, but for all her girth she manages to get around quite well. And Debbie's right about picking this heavyweight up - she's a handful.

"I pick her up and put her on my hip like a child," said Debbie. "Like when you carry one of your children, that's how I carry her. Putting her in a dog crate, I have to put her in and get somebody to help me carry it. That's how heavy she is."

Except for her little weight problem, shelter officials say this porky pussycat is in good condition - likely a housecat that ran away from home. They're hoping Princess Chunk's owner will come forward by Friday, otherwise she'll be put up for adoption... but to qualify you have to be able to afford the food bill.

My mom wants to adopt her because she feels bad for her. I imagine her owners are going to end up seeing this though. I hope they get arrested on the spot for over feeding their cat like this. I feel terrible that my cat is 5 pounds over weight.

[Love4himies]

I hope the owners don't come forward, that is just cruel to do to a cat.:sad:

[Rottielover]

OMG that poor cat, well now hopefully she can lose a lot of it and gain back a healthy life. She is more than 1/2 my female rotts weight, ouch

[ancientgirl]

That poor cat! No doubt she can't even groom herself. I hope someone comes and adopts her and is able to get her back to a healthy weight.

[hazelrunpack]

I saw pictures on one of the news shows today! That's a seriously big cat! Three of my English Setters weigh less than that cat does!

I hope she gets a good home

[kathryn]

I emailed the shelter and Michelle (a volunteer) responded. I asked if I could meet the kitty

Princess Chunk/Prince Powder was found as a stray only a few days ago. In NJ we must hold each animal for 7 days prior to adoption to allow the owners time to look for their pet. After the 7 day hold time the animal becomes our property and only then are we free to take them to the veterinarian for blood tests etc. In this case he/she was so large that we weren't able to tell for sure whether it was male or female. The Regis and Kelly show were the ones to break the story about the possible owners and I'm assumine NJ SPCA will be looking into the woman that abandoned the kitty. He is currently in foster care and will remain there until tme for adoption. We've already received literally 1000s of applications so he should go to his new home some time next week.

It sounds like they want to make a deal with the new owners to have the cat come around to events for publicity purposes and raise some money for the shelter.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...cal&id=6298540

He is a dude. For sure.

Also, the owner was on the news. It is infact and elderly lady who lost her home. She claims she gave the cat to some friends because she couldn't afford it anymore. After that, she does not know what happened.

[kathryn]

Sooo I met him today when I helped out the county shelter at their adoptathon! He was incredibly lame and boring. He didn't really care about anything other then sleeping in his little tent. According to the volunteers he's not a very nice cat off camera. I called over to him like pshhttt psshttt and he barely made an effort to look at me so I could get his picture.

[ancientgirl]

I felt sad looking at this. The fact they have him in some cage that says "Prince Chunk" Like they're making fun of him. I imagine his bad temperament has to do with the situation he's in. Being given up like he was, not have a home now, being over weight, and all of these people coming to just gape at him. I hope he finds a nice quiet home soon.

[kathryn]

Yeah his new owners are remaining anonymous. I know it may seem like exploiting him like that is wrong, but it's the shelter that's doing it and they are doing it for a good reason. After this they are leaving him alone.

Here is the news story on it

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/media?id=6333449

Figures he moves around a bit for them. They probably had to bribe him with a steak or something.

[ancientgirl]

Hopefully they'll leave him alone after a while. I can see them using his celebrity as a tool for awareness, as long as they don't continue to exploit the poor guy.