Groggy moggy ... Mikesch, the 18.5kg puss who tucked away a couple of kilos of mince a day. Photo: AFP
A German cat weighing six times the normal weight is so fat that it cannot take more than four steps without getting exhausted.
Now officials at a Berlin animal shelter are having trouble finding a new owner for six-year-old Mikesch, after it was taken away from his elderly owner.
The man, who was himself taken to a nursing home, had been feeding the 18.5 kilo cat two kilos of mince each day.
"You can call it cruelty to animals," said shelter veterinarian Karin Bartell, as the cat stared straight ahead with a bored look.
"It's a problem for joints and the heart. The cat can't clean itself because he is too fat. He walks three or four steps and is completely exhausted because the heart no longer works properly and the cat can't breathe normally anymore."
Mikesch has been put on a strict diet to reduce his size.
Cats usually weigh between 3-6kg and should eat no more than about 300 grams of food each day, vets say.
A spokesman for Guinness World Records said they did not keep track of fat cats any longer but said the existing record was 18.55kg - a cat from Minnesota named O.T.
April 7, 2004 smh.com.au
A German cat weighing six times the normal weight is so fat that it cannot take more than four steps without getting exhausted.
Now officials at a Berlin animal shelter are having trouble finding a new owner for six-year-old Mikesch, after it was taken away from his elderly owner.
The man, who was himself taken to a nursing home, had been feeding the 18.5 kilo cat two kilos of mince each day.
"You can call it cruelty to animals," said shelter veterinarian Karin Bartell, as the cat stared straight ahead with a bored look.
"It's a problem for joints and the heart. The cat can't clean itself because he is too fat. He walks three or four steps and is completely exhausted because the heart no longer works properly and the cat can't breathe normally anymore."
Mikesch has been put on a strict diet to reduce his size.
Cats usually weigh between 3-6kg and should eat no more than about 300 grams of food each day, vets say.
A spokesman for Guinness World Records said they did not keep track of fat cats any longer but said the existing record was 18.55kg - a cat from Minnesota named O.T.
April 7, 2004 smh.com.au