A Fairplay pet store and its cat sanctuary have seen an increase in cat adoptions thanks to its giant new cat.

Andre the Giant Cat was first noticed hanging around downtown Fairplay in November, said Miyuki Takeda, owner of High Paw Pet Supplies.

“Within a month of us having him, people coming in to see him and to visit, the adoption rate for the rescue skyrocketed,” Takeda said of the roughly 25-pound cat.

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Animal Rescue of the Rockies’ Cat Casita, a cat sanctuary, is in the downstairs portion of Takeda’s store.

After the rescue took Andre in, it received more than a dozen applications for adoption. But, the vet said he was underweight at 20 pounds and needed to stay at the shelter to get up to a healthy weight.

Takeda and Animal Rescue of the Rockies made a mutual decision to make Andre the store cat. His following on Facebook and Instagram has since grown to match his own stature. He’s even attracted visitors from as far as Oklahoma, Takeda said.

“When he first came to us, he showed a lot of signs — he acts like a hybrid,” Takeda said, noting his gravely voice, his issues digesting processed food and, of course, his size.

However, it is unlikely Andre is feral. Takeda said he is toilet-trained and relatively tame.

Takeda said she and the local veterinarian can only speculate about Andre’s breed.

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“We think perhaps he has Savannah in him — those are huge cats,” Takeda said of the hybrid cat breed. The veterinarian noted there was a breeder of the Savannah hybrid cat breed in the area, but Andre exceeds those cats in weight.

When Andre disappeared last Friday — the best guess is that a back door was propped open by a cross-breeze — members of the community rallied to search throughout the snowy weather.

Andre returned to High Paw Pet Supply on Sunday, and Takeda is taking precautions to make sure doors of the store close tight from now on.

“We did set out two live cat traps,” she said. “Sunday morning, he was in the trap in the front door. He knew where home was, which is good.”

Josie Klemaier: 303-954-2465, jklemaier@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JosieKlemaier