# Fat cat goes on hunger strike **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-goes-on-hunger-strike/239849 "2004-04-13T20:18:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-goes-on-hunger-strike/239849/1 "2004-04-13T20:18:07Z")
If this ones already posted, let me know. I couldn’t search “fat cat” as it’s too short and Mikesch didn’t turn up anything so… From [this article](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4724042/). > [@](#): > > BERLIN - An obese German cat six times the normal weight has gone on a hunger strike at a Berlin animal shelter after being taken from his owner who had fed him 4.4 pounds of mince daily, Bild newspaper reported on Saturday. > > Mikesch, weighing nearly 41 pounds, was brought to the animal shelter on April 1 and was so overweight he could not take more than four steps without becoming exhausted. Poor kitty! My ex-stepfather had a cat that was easily 20-25 lbs. and I thought that was bad! I know the owner was elderly, but how can people over feed their pets like this? IMHO, it’s the equivalent of giving a three yr old a double quarter-pounders (that’s a Double Royal with Cheese for you EuroDopers 😉 ) every meal. They may like it, but they can’t make the judgment call of not eating something because it’s not good for them. ☹ What’s really a shame this cat seems to have more willpower than I do :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-goes-on-hunger-strike/239849/2 "2004-04-13T21:25:30Z")
Fatcat… er, _my_ Fatcat, would gladly eat non-stop if food was made available. Just because he _wants_ to eat 24-7 doesn’t mean he needs to. And it certainly doesn’t mean anyoen should feed him that much. He’s on a carefully measured diet and on a kitty jogging program (which the neighbours think is funny – Fatcat doing laps up and down the hall). Slimmer, he is far healthier, friendlier, happier, and more active. (Although “more active” includes flushing the toilet while I’m in the shower – the bastard!) ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-goes-on-hunger-strike/239849/3 "2004-04-13T21:45:22Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > [snip](Although “more active” includes flushing the toilet while I’m in the shower – the bastard!) Did you toilet train or does FC just like to play with the handle? Yeah, my bad boy Jesper will eat like a dog if you let him, (He loves the cake part of blueberry muffins) so I make sure we’re only feeding him the good stuff 3 times a day. My female, Gia, won’t touch meat. 😕 Strange, but true. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-goes-on-hunger-strike/239849/4 "2004-04-13T22:31:28Z")
I leave a full bowl of dry food out all day for Mud. She eats what she wants to, and then goes into alter-ego mode: HyperKitty runs amok throughout the house. Little fear of her gaining weight with all the activity - still about ten to eleven pounds, same as she has been for the past six years. Not much with the wet food. She’ll cry for it, eat about three bites and then walk away. She’ll do this with every brand, from the cheap stuff to the “costs more than filet mignon does per ounce” stuff. Can’t figure it out for the life of me. (Mud is currently in ‘meatloaf/meditation’ mode: legs curled under the chest, eyes closed, almost a Zen moment. So damned cute.) ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-goes-on-hunger-strike/239849/5 "2004-04-14T01:01:30Z")
> [@harmless](#): > > Did you toilet train or does FC just like to play with the handle? No he’s not trained, he just loooooves the flush the toilet. He likes the “cause and effect.” Pull lever = big woosh noise! Yay! Seems to think he’s quite clever, particularly when there’s company over. He flushes then runs out to bow to the audience. Runs back in flushes, runs back out for his applause. Runs back in, flushes… Does it if he’s really happy to see you too. Strangely, he’ll also do it if he’s mad at you. To make a point. (Not quite sure what that point would be, but he is emphatic about it.) ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-goes-on-hunger-strike/239849/6 "2004-04-14T01:06:31Z")
> [@screech-owl](#): > > I leave a full bowl of dry food out all day for Mud. LittleCat can free-feed. Or _could_ free-feed if there was no danger of FatCat eating her food. She only eats what she _needs_ then leaves the rest. But she can’t free-feed because FatCat would devour her food. That’s how he got fat to begin with. He was big (he’s a kitty linebacker) but svelt. Until he moved in with OldCat, saw two bowls of food and though “Goody _two_ suppers for me!” Some cats, like LittleCat, can free-feed and maintain a good weight and healthy eating habits. FatCat is not one of those cats. ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-cat-goes-on-hunger-strike/239849/7 "2004-04-14T01:10:15Z")
LOL! We have one of those multiplatform cat trees that go floor to ceiling. Catnip treated and covered in carpet. He loves it. But when we yell at him for biting Gia on the nub or just generally misbehaving, he races up the tree so hard it’s like he’s trying to knock it over. He races about 5 feet up it then he’ll lay his ears back and claw at it for all he’s worth. I can just imagine what’s going on in his kitty brain: “Yeah, mom, I’ll show you! Yell at me, huh?? Take that! And that!” :claw, claw, claw: :eek: That’s my bad boy!