When Kay Ford, from Virginia (USA) first saw the image of the chubby cat Patches, she immediately fell in love, the feeling that people often call “love at first sight”. It is understandable, it is difficult for anyone not to “melt their heart” for a chubby cat, weighing up to 18kg.
Kay first heard about Patches when her daughter sent her a Facebook post from Richmond Animal Care and Control (RACC) , a local animal shelter that was looking for a new home for Patches.
“Woke up today and said you wanted to adopt the biggest cat anyone has ever seen? If so, we have just the cat for you,” the post read.
The RACC team posted a photo of the perfectly plump cat with a caption saying Patches is on a special diet and exercise plan and just needs someone to help him “reach a safe and healthy weight”.
“Until then, we will marvel at the cat’s amazingly perfect body!” the post read.
Patches has lost some weight since being brought to the RACC. According to RACC staff member Savannah Hughes, the cat weighed just over 40 pounds when his original owner brought him to the center.
“Patches has lost a little weight thanks to the diet we’ve been on,” Savannah says.
Savannah, who interacted with Patches regularly while waiting to be adopted, described Patches as “extremely sweet.”
Another employee, Robin Young, explained that Patches’ original owners had abandoned him on April 4 because they could no longer care for him. Naturally, the cat made quite an impression on the RACC team.
Image of Kay Ford and Patches.
“We were all shocked by its size. It was definitely the biggest cat any of our staff had ever seen,” Young told TODAY news site.
On April 19, RACC posted a photo of Patches on Facebook and “immediately started getting emails from interested people,” according to Young. People as far away as California and Maine even asked about taking Patches home.
That same day, RACC selected Kay Ford’s name from a large number of applications.
“We liked Kay’s email describing how she would help Patches on her weight loss journey and how they would both lose weight together. She’s also an experienced pet owner who was up for the challenge of Patches losing weight,” Young said.
After two weeks at RACC, Patches was welcomed into Kay Ford’s home. Helping Patches shed a few pounds will require a lot of work, but Kay Ford says she’s up for the challenge. She also helps answer the question everyone’s been asking: How did the cat get so big?
“The only story I know is that the reason it got so big was because its previous owners gave it too much junk food,” she said.
Luckily, Patches had seen a veterinarian before, so Kay Ford was able to track his past condition through records.
Now that he’s settled into his new home, Patches is sure to have plenty of adventures ahead.
Kay Ford set up a Facebook page to track Patches’ weight loss journey. In just the past week, the page has gained more than 5,000 followers.
For now, Kay Ford is focused on helping Patches adopt a healthier lifestyle and says she can’t wait to see what the future holds for the cat.
“I saw the animal’s mind in its eyes, I saw that it was uncomfortable with its weight,” she said.
According to Guinness World Records, the heaviest cat ever recorded was Himmy, owned by Thomas Vyse of Australia, who weighed 21.2kg when he died on March 12, 1986, at the age of 10 years and 4 months.
In January 2023, the media reported on Murphy, a giant Maine Coon cat who weighed 11kg and measured 104cm from head to tail at the age of 12 months. Murphy is so large that he is often mistaken for a dog or sometimes a small lion.
Murphy’s owner, Sareeta Brewin, 46, from Worcester, Massachusetts, said she was often tagged in posts about big cat sightings across Worcestershire.
Murphy has a big appetite and spends a lot of money on food, about 1.7 million VND on dry food every month.
