Fat cat Pie from Nantwich is on track to trim down, if he can stay off the take-away moles
By this time of year new year’s resolutions are a distant memory for many of us but Brenda Sandland is making sure fat cat Pie sticks to his.
The big cat is on a strict diet to bring his weight under control and to give him a new lease of life. Pie - full name Mince Pie - peaked at 18lb (8.4kg) but he is now signed up to a slimming competition run by pet charity PDSA.
‘Ever since Pie was a kitten he has had a big head and big paws,’ said Brenda, who lives in Nantwich with husband Richard, Pie and Pie’s sister Pudding. ‘I’m not making excuses for him at all but he is rather big-boned.
‘He started to put weight on after he was spayed. We have had cats for generations in my family and I have never known one before who is just not interested in playing, chasing and pouncing. He’s more of a spectator. I’ll pull a toy back and forth in front of him and he’s like someone in the crowd at Wimbledon.
‘When we took him for his injections a few years ago they said he should lose weight. He became a yo-yo dieter.
‘We cut food out but he used to waddle off down the garden for a take-away. I shouted at him once when he had a mole in his mouth and he must have thought I was going to take it off him because he swallowed it whole.
‘He’s a real slob but he’s adorable and that’s why we’re fighting to help him change. Even after a few weeks we started to see a fitter, leaner, more athletic machine start to appear. He jumps onto the settee now rather than having to scramble onto it.’
Pie was morbidly obese when he started on the PDSA Pet Fit Club and Brenda, who will run the Manchester 10k in May to raise money for PDSA, added: ‘Ideally, I’d like him to be down to 5kg by May when the Fit Club ends but if he’s at 6kg, that’s still progress.’
Pie has his own account on online social networking site Twitter, although Brenda admits she helps him with the typing. Follow him at @Mr_Pie
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