Fat cat Socrates loses weight on new diet

Nov 20 2009 by Tom Mullen, The Journal

“I’ve had him since he was a kitten and he used to have a bowl full of dried food in the morning and one in the night.

“And then at the weekend when my partner came to stay he would have a treat of half a tin of what I call ‘wet food’.

“I just didn’t realise I was doing anything wrong at the time.”

But now the hungry cat is fee-line great and looking to the future after finally losing a bit of kitty fat.

Nine pets from around the country entered the weight loss scheme with vets’ charity PDSA.

The winner will receive a special four-night pet-friendly holiday, yet to be announced.

The fit club was set up by the PDSA in response to an increase in pet obesity of more than 10% over the last five years.

A survey discovered that owners are feeding their pets chips, fatty meat, cheese and even hot dogs, while almost half a million pet dogs are not being walked for an appropriate amount of time each day.

Andrew Golightly, a senior vet at the Newcastle PDSA Pet Aid hospital, said: “Socrates is doing really well in the competition and the change in him, even at this halfway stage, is fantastic. There’s still a long way to go but we’re confident that he will continue to do very well.”

Bill added: “He’s fitter and faster and he’s grooming himself again which is good.

“He chases toys that I’ve got for him. He doesn’t catch any mice though.”