My colleague Franny Syufy recently blogged about an Italian housecat who weighs an astonishing 35 pounds (that's "morbidly obese" to you and me) and has gotten a lot of press coverage because of his facial resemblance in some photos to the cartoon cat Garfield.
Now, I do not doubt that Orazio is real or that his diet consists largely of lasagna. What bugs me is that a few of the photos, especially this one on Ananova.com, have a slightly, um, Photoshopped look to them (the eyes and mouth in particular). Other photos, not so much.
At any rate, Franny says Orazio ought to go on a diet. Dr. Dave concurs.
Read more about it:
• Dead Cat Walking - About.com: Cats
• Real Life Garfield - Ananova.com
• The Two-and-a-Half Stone Ginger Moggie - Daily Mail
• Feline Medical Curiosities - Sarah Hartwell
Now, I do not doubt that Orazio is real or that his diet consists largely of lasagna. What bugs me is that a few of the photos, especially this one on Ananova.com, have a slightly, um, Photoshopped look to them (the eyes and mouth in particular). Other photos, not so much.
At any rate, Franny says Orazio ought to go on a diet. Dr. Dave concurs.
Read more about it:
• Dead Cat Walking - About.com: Cats
• Real Life Garfield - Ananova.com
• The Two-and-a-Half Stone Ginger Moggie - Daily Mail
• Feline Medical Curiosities - Sarah Hartwell
Comments
she looks like she’s a few stone over also…what a stupid, stupid woman. this is tantamount to animal abuse
This MAY be photoshop, but even if it is ‘enhances… she is KILLING HER CAT.
There is NO excuse for her to do this, Who is the adult here. So ‘kitty’ isn’t happy for a while… certainly with all the physical alments and pain that he will go though, and inability for him to even groom himself is animal abuse and the owner should have the cat removed for animal abuse and cruelty. That the owners ‘think that this is funny it is a very bad joke. No one is laughing and they need to stop their over-feeding. It IS NOT FUNNY.
jezzika
This is animal cruelty unless there is a medical reason for Orazio’s obesity. It made me sad to look at these pictures and makes me want to shake some sense into his owner for thinking its funny.
I have a cat that ways over 30 pounds. He eats 1/2 C. prescription diet cat food per day, and sometimes doesn’t even finish that! The only “people food” he eats is cucumber peelings, with the vets blessing.The vet is stumped as to why he is this size. He measures 2′ from shoulder to shoulder, and is 26″ around. He’s almost 6 years old and has been this size since about 6 months after I got him. He was a stray that we took in, so have no background on him which might have shed some light on his size. He is active and playful and still behaves like a kitten. I would do anything to get him to a normal size, but there doesn’t appear to be anything we can do. It’s too bad this owner is overfeeding the cat.
I agree that overfeeding is animal abuse. I have four cats, one of which is obese. Like the last post mentioned, she doesn’t eat much, but the vet considers her healthy. My theory since she was an alley cat rescue is that alley cats build up fat instantly as part of generations of surviving on the streets. Survival of the fittest in action. Essentially they would be able to go longer without food and still survive. My males are extremely fit, both my females are a bit chubby. They all eat the same food, but have different genetics.