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| Fat Cats | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 13 2004, 06:48 AM (61 Views) | |
| Wichita | Apr 13 2004, 06:48 AM Post #1 |
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The Adminstrator wRench
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BERLIN - An obese German cat six times the normal weight has gone on a hunger strike at a Berlin animal shelter after being taken from his owner who had fed him 4.4 pounds of mince daily, Bild newspaper reported on Saturday. Mikesch, weighing nearly 41 pounds, was brought to the animal shelter on April 1 and was so overweight he could not take more than four steps without becoming exhausted. His elderly owner was at the same time taken to a nursing home. Shelter officials said 6-year-old Mikesch is so fat he cannot clean himself and suffers from heart trouble. They said he felt lost without his meat-feeding owner and stopped eating altogether when he was put on a diet to gradually lose weight. A shelter worker will take Mikesch home with her for 10 days to help get his appetite back, shelter head Carola Ruff said. “The cat had a good night in her flat on the first night, and that’s giving us hope his condition will improve,” Ruff said. Cats usually weigh between three and six kilograms and eat no more than about 10 ounces of food each day, vets say. My 12 year old cat gets about 2 1/2 cups of dry food a week - and the vet thinks she needs to lose weight at about 10 pounds. I can't imagine even being able to afford to feed an animal this much. I don't know if large dogs even eat like this. It is interesting about the cat missing the owner. I am fascinated by the bond animals have. Saw a documentary not long ago of an elephant rescue farm in the US. When they introduced a new elephant to the existing herd, she severely bent the bars of the gate trying to get to another elephant. When they allowed her in, she was very kind and gentle with it. Turns out, about thirty years before, the two had been in the same circus. The one had served as surrogate mother to the other. With Primates, they say that even vet visits are stressful to the group. When one is taken from their midst, they think that it has died and grieve for it. |
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3:21 AM Jul 11