FAT CAT

By LEONARD GREENE

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HEFTY FUR BALL: South Jersey shelter volunteer Deborah right hopes Princess Chunk takes the hint and gets into shape like svelte pal Pebbles.

PHOTOS: Fat Cat Needs a Home

PHOTOS: New York Post Readers' Fat Cats

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Last updated: 1:36 pm
July 30, 2008
Posted: 3:48 am
July 30, 2008

That is one fat cat!

Meet Princess Chunk, a 44-pound hunk of feline flesh, a cat so big that she needs a bathtub for a litter box.

Volunteers at a New Jersey animal shelter are trying to find a new home for the corpulent kitty - a really big home.

PHOTO GALLERY: 44-Pound Fat Cat

PHOTO GALLERY: New York Post Readers' Fat Cats

Send photos of your fat cat to [email protected].

Officials at the Camden County Animal Shelter in Blackwood say they received the cat Saturday from Animal Control after she was found wandering around outdoors with no ID tags.

As hard as it is to fathom, volunteers think her owner might have lost her, which is as difficult a possibility to imagine as, well, as a 44-pound cat.

"I mean, how do you lose a 44-pound cat?" said shelter volunteer Deborah Wright.

Wright told the Camden Courier Post that volunteers named the cat Captain Chunk until they realized it was a girl.

It was probably hard to tell.

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Usually when people talk about fat cats in New Jersey, they are talking about members of the state legislature. Or extras in a "Sopranos" shoot.

But when this portly pussycat came waddling along, they knew they had something different on their hands.

"She was probably fed table scraps, or may have a thyroid problem," Wright said.

Veterinarians say a healthy cat should weigh between 10 and 12 pounds, and that Princess Chunk's condition could be a combination of bad genetics and way too much Meow Mix.

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The largest tabby on record tipped the scales at 46 pounds, 15 ounces. That cat, who lived in Australia, died in the 1980s at about age 10.

The Guinness Book of World Records dropped its category for overweight cats, fearing some fat-head feline owner would jeopardize a pet's health in a bid to break the record.

Wright said she isn't interested in breaking records - or her scale. She'll put Princess Chunk on a diet of low-fat Purina and 1 percent milk, and definitely no lasagna. (Look what that did for Garfield.) Also, Princess will get plenty of cat toys to start exercising.

"I'm about to put a leash on her and walk her," Wright told the paper. "She could pass for a dog."

Princess Chunk's owner, who by now may have been eaten into the poorhouse, has until the end of the week to claim her, after which the cat will be eligible for adoption.

"She's laid-back and friendly," Wright said. "We just hope someone loving will adopt her."

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