- Patches the cat, who weighs over 40 pounds, went viral after a Virginia shelter posted about him.
- The shelter was looking for an owner to care for the cat and his "gloriously gluttonous body."
A 40.3-pound cat that went viral because of its enormous size has been adopted by an owner committed to helping him lose weight.
Richmond Animal Care and Control in Virginia shared a photo of Patches the cat on Wednesday, looking to find a home for him.
"Did you wake up today and say, "Let's adopt the largest cat anyone has ever seen"? If so, we have the cat for you," the shelter wrote on Facebook.
The shelter said that the cat is "very sweet" and on a special diet and an exercise plan and that they were looking for an owner who would help him get to a healthy weight.
"Until then, we will marvel at his gloriously gluttonous body!" the shelter wrote.
Workers at the shelter told Today.com that the cat weighed 42 pounds when he first came in and was initially timid before coming out of his shell.
"We were all shocked by his size. He's definitely the largest cat any of our staff has ever seen," the shelter's outreach coordinator Robin Young told the outlet.
On Friday, the post was updated to confirm that Patches, aged six, has now been adopted, along with a photo of the large feline with his new owner, local woman Kay Ford.
The shelter told Good Morning America that it received hundreds of inquiries from around the country after the Facebook post went viral, but they ultimately decided Ford was the best fit.
Ford told GMA that she had her heart set on the animal as soon as she saw the photo of him.
"My daughter sent me the post yesterday morning, and she said, 'This is your moment.' And I clicked on the picture, and I went, 'Oh my gosh, I have to have Patches. I just have to have Patches,'" Ford said.
She described thinking that he was the size of "half of a whiskey barrel" when she saw him in person for the first time.
Ford said she is committed to helping the cat reach a healthy weight. She has set up a Facebook page – Patches' Journey – to track the hefty cat's progress to a more normal, healthy weight.
"It's going to be a very long process, since he can't lose more than a pound a month and more like between a half a pound and a pound a month. So if he needs to lose 20, 25 pounds, it's going to be a long journey," Ford said.
The grandmother of two told GMA that she was thrilled to take Patches home.
"He's very easy to fall in love with," she said. "I truly feel incredibly blessed that I was the chosen one."
In previous editions of the Guinness World Records book, he heaviest cat of all, was Himmy, from Australia, who weighed 46lb 15 ½ oz when it died on 12th March 1986 at the age of 10 years 4 months.