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North Carolina animal shelter seeks owner of 30-pound cat

By Daniel Uria
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July 21 (UPI) -- An animal shelter in North Carolina is seeking the owners of a particularly hefty guest: a 30-pound cat that was brought in as a stray.

Chatham County Animal Shelter on Monday shared a photo of the tubby gray tabby cat that was one of the biggest the shelter had ever seen.

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"Does anyone know this cat? He is 31.4pounds! He clearly had someone feeding him but was brought in as a stray cat," the shelter said.

The shelter was unable to locate an identification chip inside the cat after using two different scanners and said there were no lost reports and no owners had attempted to contact the station.

"We have never had a cat this big in the 10 years I've been here," Ginny Jenrette of Chatham County Animal Services told KWQC. "I also worked at a veterinary clinic prior to this and the largest cat I had seen there was 26 pounds."

The shelter said the cat far exceeded the maximum weight for its breed, indicating it likely hadn't spent much time alone in the wild.

"He has had someone looking after him," Jenrette said.

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If no owners come forward to claim the massive cat within a week he will be placed for adoption, where he has so many suitors the shelter has organized an auction.

Applicants for the auction are required to include vet references as the shelter noted the celebrity cat will require "some pretty extensive vet care" such as an exam, blood work, and a diet plan prescribed by a veterinarian.

"None of these things are cheap and we need to ensure his new family are willing and able to give him that," the shelter said.

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