A chubby tabby named Hercules, who lives in London with his owner, will no longer be getting his cake and eating it, as his neighbors have been warned against feeding him.
As reported by My London News a woman living in Walthamstow, East London, took to her community’s Facebook page to share that she had made posters warning people against giving in to her tubby cat’s insatiable hunger.
‘Just say no!’
Within her Facebook post, Hercules’s owner referred to him as her ‘lumpy lard of a cat’ and shared pictures of posters emblazoned with the chunky cat’s image, with the words ‘just say no’ scrawled at the bottom.
Her post on the ‘Walthamstow Life’ Facebook group page, detailed how she had witnessed Hercules jumping out of windows with some unfortunate people’s dinners.
She shared that Hercules had been seen making his escape from her neighbor’s homes clutching strings of sausages and even a roast chicken in his mouth.
Cheating on his diet
Hercules, it turns out, is on a diet that he is exceptionally bad at sticking to and has decided to seek out delicious treats wherever he goes.
Having lost his patience with his owner’s calorie counting, Hercules is defying the weighing scales and spending his days convincing his neighbors that he is underfed.
Within her post, Hercules’s owner claims that the ginger tabby has been turning on the charm and spreading lies about how she doesn’t feed him enough. His deceptive ways have led to the cheeky kitty piling on the pounds.
Spreading his charm
The hilarious Facebook post, which shows Hercules lazily relaxing and showing off his impressively chubby tummy has garnered hundreds of likes and comments, turning the tubby kitty into an overnight sensation.
People can’t get enough of the story of Hercules, who has driven his owner to distraction trying to keep him at a healthy weight. On one of the posters that his owner created to warn against feeding the charismatic kitty, the words, ‘resist his cuteness!’ appear.
Obesity in cats
As adorable as Hercules’s antics may seem, cat obesity is a serious problem that is shortening the lifespan of cats around the globe. The Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine goes into detail on their website about the issue of obesity in cats, outlining how seriously it can affect their overall health and well-being.
The experts at Cornell explain that a cat is considered to be obese if its body weight is 20% or more above its expected weight. They go on to highlight that these instances of obesity are almost entirely exclusive to domestic cats, implying that humans are helping to tip the literal scales.
A healthier future
Hopefully, now that Hercules’s owner has taken the time to warn her neighbors against giving in to his insatiable demands, he will be able to get back on his diet and look forward to a healthier future.