“...the owner was fearful that the humane society was going to take her away from her family b/c of her over-weight.”
Sad to say that fear is not entirely misplaced!
A little off topic, but you might like this story.
I had a great old cat, he had many names over the years, but we ended up calling him Normy. He was a big old professional mouser and I loved that cat to death. But the funny thing about Normy was that any young cat that lived with him never really grew.....they just stayed kitten-sized.
We used to joke and say Normy stole their growth hormones.
But I finally found out that it was really true. We had a kitten that my friend gave to my daughter. Flower was a perpetual kitten, I used to think about buying her kitten food, but then I’d think...wait this cat is 5 years old, 10 years old, etc. (Flower lived to be 19 years old, rest her kitty-cat soul.)
But years and years later I saw 2 of her litter mates, and they were normal, large middle aged cats.
It really was true, Normy stole her growth hormones!
That’s a great cat tale.
We had a one-in-a-lifetime-cat who was devoted to us. *Had* to be with you at all costs. She slept on the bed....under the quilt, in the same spot, every night, w/out fail. She gave birth to 2 jet black kittens on Halloween day... One of her offspring....who never spent any time on our bed..., a couple of years later, had a litter of identical twin cats, on Halloween day under the quilt, on the exact same spot she was born. Go figure.
These twins were identical in B&W markings, but one was long-haired....the other short-haired. We kept them both b/c they were so unique.