A rescue cat called Axel, also known as “Biggie Smalls,” has melted hearts after a clip of him struggling to get up a flight of stairs because of his excessive weight went viral on social media.
The cat was surrendered to a local shelter by his previous owners weighing over 43 pounds, and is now being looked after by Ferdinand and Friends Rescue, a local non-profit specialized in high-risk animals and those needing extra support.
His weight loss journey started in February, and since then he’s been on a veterinarian’s approved 520 calories a day diet in a bid to get him back to a healthy weight, supervised by the rescue director who is currently fostering him. He weighed 37 pounds in the clip but when last last weighed three days ago he had managed to shed another pound.
In a post, shared on TikTok in March under the username axel.biggiesmalls, the cat from Ottawa can be seen trying unsuccessfully to get back upstairs, despite the promise of a treat at the top. His rescuer tells him: “Is this where you live now? Can you get back up? Well if you get down you’ve got to come back up! come on you can do it!”
A caption shared along with the clip says: “Axel went back downstairs again, it’s actually really amazing he was able to make it down the stairs but carrying him back up is hard on the back.”
While big cats might look cute, they certainly aren’t healthy, and being overweight increases their risk of illnesses such as diabetes.
A healthy weight range for a cat depends on their breed, age and activity levels, but generally, 8 to 10 pounds is an ideal average for most domestic adult cats, while for kittens up to two months old, it goes down to 2-4 pounds, and increase as they grow.
The video of Axel quickly went viral and has so far received over 11 million views and 1.2 million likes on TikTok.
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One user, Robert Blinn, commented: “Trying to motivate your fat cat up the stairs with snacks is just too much.” And 00ToyotaCorolla said: “Can cats take ozempic?”
Debponk wrote: “My fat cat can’t climb the stairs either, I always have to carry him up. He’s at least 25 pounds.”
And iheartmybfmike added: “He’s so cute I love chonkey cats ik it’s not healthy for them BUT LIKE LOOK HOW CUTE, and he did so good he climbed 1-2 stairs so good.”
Newsweek reached out to axel.biggiesmalls for comment via TikTok comments. We could not verify the details of the case.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to [email protected] with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.