A LOT TO LOVE
HEFTY 41-POUND CAT NEEDS HOME WITH BIG-HEARTED FAM
He looks like he regularly eats nine courses — so let’s hope that hasn’t taken up one of his nine lives.
Barsik needs a new home, a decent diet, and some regular exercise.
Given up by owners who are leaving town, Barsik — a 5-yearold cat with a classy and distinctive black diamond on his nose — is about 41 pounds, 25 to 30 pounds more than he should weigh.
He’s so fat that the Animal Care Centers of NYC’s Manhattan shelter didn’t have a cage that fit him. The staff had to make him a special pen in a back office.
“We’ve set up a little habitat for him,” said Animal Care Centers’ Katy Hansen. “People have been spending a lot of time with him.”
He arrived at the shelter Friday with another cat that was a lot trimmer. He’s the largest cat to be brought to the organization in its 20-year existence.
“Barsik is really sweet,” said Animal Care Centers’ Hansen.
“He’s clearly uncomfortable and doesn’t like to be lifted, as you can imagine. That, combined with the new environment, would make anyone cranky, but he’s not cranky at all. The longer humans have interacted with him, the easier it has become to care for him.”
His diet has already improved thanks to the shelter’s feline Weight Watchers-like program.
“When an animal is that obese we do limited feedings — small meals throughout the day,” Hansen said.
On Facebook, the center said Barsik might be fat enough to make Guinness World Records.
Hansen said the center wants to “get him on the right path” — and find a home where he’ll get a decent diet that’ll soon make him fit enough for mousing.