Biscuit, 37-Pound Fat Cat
Biscuit, a 37-pound fat cat from a St. Louis animal shelter, has found a home thanks to a couple who also has a fellow chubby feline named Max. City of St. Charles Animal Shelter

Biscuit, a 37-pound fat cat from a St. Louis animal shelter, has found a home thanks to a couple who also has a fellow chubby feline named Max.

The tubby tabby was stationed at St. Charles County shelter, which said they had more than 100 adoption requests for Biscuit following his media coverage around the world. Biscuit was thrust into the spotlight when the city shelter publicized his story, in fear the cat would never be adopted because of his size. At three times larger than his 10-pound maximum figure should be, Biscuit was given away to the shelter, for a second time, because his previous caretakers couldn’t care for him.

Now, Biscuit has a home, thanks to Ed and Lisa Pyatt who live in Eureka with another fat cat named Max. The Pyatt family, who will take Biscuit to his new home next week, adopted Max a few years ago, and said it will be good for Max to have a companion.

“We adopted Max from the Humane Society about five years ago, and he needs a buddy,” Ed Pyatt told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Biscuit will be a perfect friend for him.”

Pyatt, though, said he was unaware that Biscuit became an online sensation, even after the cat was requested to fly to New York by Anderson Cooper to be a guest on his show. Best of all, Banfield Pet Hospital even offered to give free wellness care to Biscuit for one year.

“We had no clue, but now we’re finding out that he is kind of a big deal,” Pyatt said.

Pyatt said that since he and his wife can't have children, animals like Max and Biscuit have filled the void.

“Max pretty much rules the roost at our house; it’s a big house, and he has beds all over the place,” he said. “We’re going to take good care of Biscuit too.”

Last year, another tubby tabby named Meow, who weighed 39 pounds and 10 ounces, appeared on NBC's "Today" show after being put up for adoption at a Santa Fe, N.M., animal shelter. A trainer had been helping the cat, who was supposed to weigh between seven and 12 pounds, lose weight before being adopted; however, Meow began having trouble breathing and started to wheeze two weeks later and eventually died of pulmonary failure.

Jenny Phillips, a veterinarian at Banfield Pet Hospital of St. Charles, told the Post-Dispatch that Biscuit appears to be healthy, since he has already lost two pounds.

“He does appear to be in pretty good health minus his weight,” she said, and recommended that a veterinarian monitor his health. “Cats in particular can get very, very sick if they lose too much weight too fast because their livers are not able to handle digesting fat stores.”

So far, the record for the world's heaviest cat was 47 pounds, according to Guinness World Records. Guinness, however, stopped awarding the fattest animals recognition in fear that owners would begin to overfeed their pets to become a record-holder, the Examiner reported.