UPDATE: Sadly, on Saturday, September 26, staff at the East Greenwich Animal Protection League informed WPRO that Jabba had died. They say he suffered a heart attack due to his weight and deteriorating health. Click here for the story. 

By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News 

“Terrible, absolutely terrible. No animal should be treated like this.”

Nancy Davey, the head of cat adoption at the East Greenwich Animal Protection League, shakes her head in disgust. She’s just gotten a new cat at the shelter: a 15-year-old male that’s been abandoned in a local park. And what makes matters worse is the cat’s weight – he’s 26 pounds, morbidly obese.

The cat (lovingly named “Jabba” by shelter staff) is looking for a new home after someone drove him to a grassy area and let him loose.

According to East Greenwich Police, a witness reported seeing a black Toyota drop the cat off at Scalloptown Park on Friday, September 11. The witness was not able to get the model of the car, nor the license plate number. Police were able to get the cat into a carrier and transport it to a veterinarian.

Those at the North Kingstown Animal Hospital say he came into the hospital in rough shape: matted with feces and in need of medical care.

After a couple days of treatment, the nearly immobile cat was released to the protection league.

“I’ve never seen a cat quite this heavy,” says Davey. Those at the shelter believe severe neglect led to the cat’s condition.

“It’s going to be extremely hard to adopt a senior cat that is severely overweight,” Davey says. “We’ve put him on a small amount of food and we will give him exercise and he will hopefully lose some weight.”

But Davey says what he really needs is someone to adopt him.

“He really needs to go to a home so he can have love, attention and some exercise,” she says.