Is this the world's fattest cat?: Two-and-a-half stone Meatball put on a strict diet ... although he turns his nose up at cat food but likes apple sauce



The roly-poly puss is being looked after at an animal rescue centre in the US



Staff discovered he likes apple sauce - commonly served with roast dinners

Meatball is now on a strict diet low calorie diet and gets fed twice a day



Meet one of the world’s fattest cats – the aptly named Meatball who weighs in at a whopping two-and-a-half stone.



The roly-poly puss was handed over to Maricopa County Animal Care and Control in Phoenix, Arizona, after his owners couldn’t care for him anymore.



Melissa Gable, from the rescue centre, struggles to heave the beast onto her lap in the video as he weighs more than a three-year-old child.

Ms Gable suspects Meatball may been fed on a diet other than cat food by his previous owners since he showed an interest in apple sauce - which is commonly served with roast dinners.

She said: 'We’ve been told he’s only been fed cat food, but he doesn’t seem interested in that at all.

‘He seemed much more interested in the apple sauce I had at lunch so I think he may have been eating human food.

'Cat food isn't typically going to make a cat this large'.

Mogzilla: Meatball the cat, who sits on Melissa Gable's lap at the animal rescue centre, weighs two-and-half-stone - more than a three-year-old child

She reports that Meatball is ‘the biggest cat I’ve ever seen’ and that ‘he doesn’t move too quickly.’



Meatball's last owners took him in from another owner and cared for the cat for six months before he started 'having accidents around the house', so they gave him up.



Staff at the shelter have put the four-year-old moggy on a strict diet but due to his health they will not be putting him up for adoption.

Roly-poly: Meatball is one of the fattest cats in the world but he's been put on a diet in a bid to streamline him

His weight puts him at serious risk of health problems and he already has glaucoma in one eye.



Ms Gable said: ‘He can walk fine, but after a few paces he just lies down.



‘He is very sweet natured though, and when people come in to see him he will roll over onto his back and let them rub his belly.

