# Anybody want a fat cat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299 "2012-01-12T16:11:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/1 "2012-01-12T16:11:23Z")
[Walter weighs 28 pounds](http://www.nwcn.com/home/Fat-cat-Walter-up-for-adoption-at-Oregon-Humane-Society-137148268.html) and is up for adoption in Portland, OR. And he’s on sale. $12, including a bag of low-calorie cat food and a laser pointer. _My cat is fat So now I’ll dine And eat all up This cat of mine_ – B. Kliban ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/2 "2012-01-12T16:20:43Z")
Looks like a Bustopher. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/3 "2012-01-12T16:41:39Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Looks like a Bustopher. 😃 https://www.youtube.com/embed/mXWUz1RF2Dg?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/4 "2012-01-12T17:28:37Z")
Saw that in this morning’s paper. Since I spotted a mouse last night, I’m almost tempted. But he probably couldn’t be bothered to get up off his fat ass to do his felinical duties. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/5 "2012-01-12T18:10:53Z")
Perhaps if you caught the mouse and served it to him… ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/6 "2012-01-12T18:58:46Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Perhaps if you caught the mouse and served it to him… Funny you should bring that up. After multiple sightings this morning, I got him cornered. He tried to hide in the laundry pile on the floor awaiting the washer, but I flushed him out and clocked him with my slipper. Into the compost bin with ye, wee beastie! I _am_ the crazy-eyed killah. Poor little thing was just trying to find a way out, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/7 "2012-01-12T19:10:32Z")
Ah, poor boy. He’s a handsome fella, but the laser pointer is probably a good idea. I have a chunky girl, so I have started playing more with the cats. Unfortunately, she is the only one who isn’t interested. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/8 "2012-01-12T19:40:34Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Saw that in this morning’s paper. Since I spotted a mouse last night, I’m almost tempted. But he probably couldn’t be bothered to get up off his fat ass to do his felinical duties. You might be surprised. I have one laser pointer and four cats. I expected the two younger, very active cats to be interested, as they are constantly tackling and wrestling each other. However, my fattest cat (about 18 pounds) is also VERY interested in the red dot, and will play with it just as enthusiastically as the younger two will. He gets tired more quickly, but he’s sort of middle aged for a cat, he’s at least 6 years old (I adopted him when he was 4). I make sure that he gets to play with the red dot as much as he wants to. The fourth cat sees no point in chasing a dot of light, plus I think she’s got arthritis. She’s 12, and she does seem to be getting a bit creaky in the joints. She’s plump, but not as fat as Shadow is. And I didn’t give Shadow that name, he already had it when I adopted him. He’s neither thin nor black, but he will melt into the shadows if someone new comes to the house. Usually his affectionate nature will draw him back out again, though. He loves people. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/9 "2012-01-12T19:47:49Z")
Update: Walter has been adopted. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/10 "2012-01-12T19:52:27Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > After multiple sightings this morning, I got him cornered. He tried to hide in the laundry pile on the floor awaiting the washer, but I flushed him out and clocked him with my slipper. Into the compost bin with ye, wee beastie! I _am_ the crazy-eyed killah. Poor little thing was just trying to find a way out, I think. I had some mice a year or so ago. I heard a snap trap, and went to retrieve the corpse. Only it had caught him in the back. (Too small for the trap.) The most humane way to dispatch him was with my H&R 999 ‘kit gun’ loaded with .22 birdshot. Only time I’ve fired that one. This was before the cat moved in, and in an area where the cat isn’t allowed anyway. I do feel for wild critters, especially when they’re as cute as mice. But unfortunately for some of them, I’m very territorial. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/11 "2012-01-12T20:07:40Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Update: Walter has been adopted. > > 🙂 Yay for Walter! Fat pets always make me sad - I don’t think they’re cute, just over-indulged. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/12 "2012-01-12T20:20:17Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I had some mice a year or so ago. I heard a snap trap, and went to retrieve the corpse. Only it had caught him in the back. (Too small for the trap.) The most humane way to dispatch him was with my H&R 999 ‘kit gun’ loaded with .22 birdshot. Only time I’ve fired that one. > > This was before the cat moved in, and in an area where the cat isn’t allowed anyway. > > I do feel for wild critters, especially when they’re as cute as mice. But unfortunately for some of them, I’m very territorial. ☹ Yeah, I felt bad for it, but there is just no way I could allow vermin in the house. It was totally disinterested in the baited trap, as far as I could tell, and being stunned, then killed was probably more humane. Still, killing anything generally goes against my nature. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/13 "2012-01-12T20:23:25Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Still, killing anything generally goes against my nature. Aye. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/14 "2012-01-13T00:11:41Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > Ah, poor boy. He’s a handsome fella, but the laser pointer is probably a good idea. \ Why? So you can have a blind, fat cat? I doubt chubs is up for chasing ANYTHING 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/15 "2012-01-13T13:14:38Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Yeah, I felt bad for it, but there is just no way I could allow vermin in the house. It was totally disinterested in the baited trap, as far as I could tell, and being stunned, then killed was probably more humane. Still, killing anything generally goes against my nature. I hear you. I had mouse and I was heartbroke when I killed him. But then after he died, I realized he left my address with all of his friends. Suddenly I have like, 20 mice, running around my home. By the time I finally found the hole, I was just hitting them with a shoe. Nothing else worked. They refused to go in the humane traps, the electric zapper. They jumped over the glue traps, they refused to eat the poison. I just stood in the area, where I saw them and wham with a shoe. It was a bloody mess, but they had to go. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/16 "2012-01-13T17:42:36Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Yay for Walter! Fat pets always make me sad - I don’t think they’re cute, just over-indulged. My sister has a fat cat, and he’s very cute and affectionate. He likes to cuddle on your chest when you’re on the couch, simultaneously squeezing the air out of your lungs. Give him a belly rub and he’s yours for life. He was adopted as a fat cat, somewhere in the 25lb range. They are working at reducing his weight, but he seems to have plateaued around 19lbs (and oozed out…I swear that cat is liquid, the way he fills up a chair!) He’s not a playful type of cat at all, though he will occasionally chase one of the other two boys my sister has. Thing is, the one he chases only has 3 legs, so the spurt of exercise is very short lived. The third cat is missing about half of his tail, after getting it caught in a door…at the vet’s…where he was being treated for a broken leg…caused by a car. I’m not even kidding. My sister has the weirdest collection of misfit cats! ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/17 "2012-01-13T17:54:08Z")
My friend had a fat cat. She looked like a racoon. Putting her on a diet was dismissed as pointless - she was always outside running around with a small rodent or a frog in her mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Grapefruit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@Grapefruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grapefruit)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/18 "2012-01-13T18:16:25Z")
I adopted a fat cat about two years ago. I whittled his weight down to 22 pounds, but it doesn’t look like he’ll go below that. I keep telling people, I’m lucky the shelter charged a flat rate and not by the pound. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/19 "2012-01-13T18:20:43Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > \ > I’m not even kidding. My sister has the weirdest collection of misfit cats! Not misfits, _special needs kitties_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299/20 "2012-01-13T18:54:26Z")
> [@missred](#): > > Not misfits, _special needs kitties_. 😃 Oh, they are _special_ all right. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-want-a-fat-cat/609299.md?page=2)