Megusta
Bronson is a chonky kitty with a distinctive fur color and he weighs up to 33 pounds, used to stay in the Humane Society, Michigan. A couple fell in love with Bronson at first sight, they took him home and set him up for the weight loss journey. Now he is the handsome guy with a weight of 17.3 pounds, has garnered nearly 300K followers on Instagram and there will be more cat lovers who know him in no time.
More info: Instagram (h/t: boredpanda)
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Meet Bronson, a sweet giant who joined the two cats they already had a couple of months ago
Years ago, Mike Wilson and his girlfriend Megan Hanneman together opened a company for cat furniture designs, especially wall-mounted products. While having two cats at home already for testing if they like their ideas, a Michigan couple still wanted to adopt another one to fit in the pack. One day, they decided to head over to the Humane Society to find their dream cat. When I’m talking about a dream cat, you would think the cat should be purrfectly beautiful with a pair of Puss in Boots eyes. But the couple chose a unique one: giant, had polydactyl (extra thumbs extra fun!), and ” his paws oddly resembled our home state of Michigan!”
One day, when we only had 45 minutes before work, and the couple decided to head over to a local Humane Society to have a look around
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But on the first day seeing Bronson in the shelter, the couple could only see his backside.
“The receptionist told us that to go in and see him we would first need to sit down and be interviewed by a staff member. The Humane Society was backed up to the point that we weren’t able to see Bronson in person and so the first day all we saw of him was his backside. He made us wait for the front.”
The day after, the couple returned to the Humane Society to see Bronson the kitty that they were happily talking about yesterday. They would like to draw the cat’s diet plan to get him to lose some pounds. It was said that Bronson’s former owner passed away and they probably let him eat the leftovers instead of grain-free wet food.
“We went in to meet him and instantly fell in love. I remember my cheeks hurting from smiling for so long.”
When they walked in, we were instantly drawn to this gentle giant named Bronson
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After bringing him home, they started to schedule him to the first vet. Thanks to his “robust body, cute face, and mittens”, doctors and vet techs keep coming back and forth to see Bronson’s beauty. He is such a sweet boy that everyone loves to squeeze and adore.
After the couple left, neither of them could stop talking about Bronson and how much fun it would be to bring him home and help him lose the extra pounds
First thing first, Wilson and Hanneman were gradually adjusting the calories that the cat should consume in a day and they usually kept track of his weight to make sure that he was completely comfortable with smaller portions. Besides, they also made him do exercise to boost the weight loss process faster.
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“We’ve also changed his exercise routine a few times. At first, it was playing with toys with him laying down for about 20 minutes a day and also carrying him downstairs so that he needed to climb back up to get to his favorite napping spot.”
They went back to the Humane Society the next day, and a staff member told us that all they knew about cat’s past was that his last owner passed away
But letting Bronson climb upstairs with a chonky body has its drawbacks. He was on the way to lose weight so the body would probably be against him and cause some problems such as joints damages, or he would hurt himself. So they changed the plan to adapt to the cat’s situation.
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“Currently, his exercise routine is made up of moving his food dish around the room to promote walking, I feel like we’ve lost points with him on that one, and still playing with toys while he’s laying down. His absolute favorite toy is a tomato filled with catnip, which he likes to attack, bite, and kick with his back feet.”
Since he was all the way up to 33 pounds and only 3 years old, they suspected it was an elderly person who may have been feeding him table scraps or something
While Bronson was still pretty oversized, the couple was struggling with carrying him. That was when an interesting and unconventional idea was born.
“Carrying Bronson became an issue early on. He’s so large and he carries a lot of weight in his chest, so there’s no great way to pick him up without feeling like we’re hurting or squishing him. To combat this problem, we invented the “transportation pillow,” which is.. just a pillow. As simple of an idea as it is, carrying him with his pillow has been a great way to get him out to our living room without making him incredibly uncomfortable.”
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Mike and Megan went in to meet him and instantly fell in love. “I remember my cheeks hurting from smiling for so long”
Bronson seemed to appreciate his human parents’ effort and the couple said he always slept with his fave. And now, our handsome Bronson has been more and more fit but his uniquenesses are still there. The couple received a lot of useful tips about how to keep the cat get fit and they nailed it.
“Our target goal is for Bronson to lose one pound per month and he’s currently down 1.6 pounds, so he’s well on his way to a healthy life. He’s not quite ready to join the other cats in testing the furniture up on the wall, but they know he’ll get there in due time.”
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He was the sweetest cat they had ever met and he seemed so happy to be home and have a big space of his own
After bringing Bronson home, the couple scheduled his first visit to the vet
It’s very important for heavy cats to lose weight slowly, or else they can get Fatty Liver Disease, which can be a fatal illness
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Bronson’s human parents have adjusted his diet three times since they got him, but they think that he’s on track to safely lose this weight
He’s currently on 375 calories per day. Half of them are from the kibble and half are from the grain-free wet food
They’ve also changed his exercise routine a few times
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His exercise routine was made up of moving his food dish around the room to promote walking and still playing with toys while he was laying down
“His absolute favorite toy is a tomato filled with catnip, which he likes to attack, bite, and kick with his back feet”
They have started an Instagram account for him so that people could follow along on his weight loss journey
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“Carrying Bronson became an issue early on. He’s so large and he carries a lot of weight in his chest, so there’s no great way to pick him up without feeling like we’re hurting or squishing him”
To combat this problem, they used a pillow which was a great way to get him out to our living room without making him incredibly uncomfortable
There are many great qualities about Bronson that they find incredibly lovable. One of the cutest things is that he almost always sleeps with a pillow
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“He also isn’t shy about taking up too much bed real estate. We’ve pretty much split the bed into thirds”
“Our target goal is for Bronson to lose one pound per month and he’s currently down 1.6 pounds, so he’s well on his way to a healthy life”
