Meet Molly ( although looking for a new name)

[EmmaG]

awww poor thing, she is going to be a gorgeous cat once she is in better condition.

Well done you for taking her in.

[Tink]

I love the new name!

[farthing]

Thanks, glad you like the name.
Yes, dandysmom we do get Hagar the horrible, although Hagar's wife is a lot neater than our Helga- for the time being.

I got a surprise today in work, because a woman came in and asked if I was Louise- and I am.
She handed me a bunch of flower and a card and she was Molly's owner. She was a bit upset and thanks us for taking in Molly, she is sure Molly will be happier away from her children, so I think my guess about Molly's tiolet problems being caused by stress was right.
Do cats comfort eat- I wonder if that has driven Molly to get to the size she has, obviously and the fact she has been given it.

[angieh]

Stress and comfort eating sounds about right. Nice of the woman to say thanks (as she should). I hope that Helga/Molly will regain her proper proportions in a while and have a happy life with you.

[MrsH]

How lovely that Helga's former owner is so grateful to you, shows she really cared about her future I think. Love her name, I used to know a Helga many years ago, she was Austrian and it was the only time I'd ever come across the name, not being a cartoon strip follower.

[dandysmom]

Oh farthing, that was so nice of the former owner; thanks for sharing that story. I wouldn't be at all surprised about comfort eating, as I do it myself sometimes! Look forward to hearing more about Helga, and the slimming-down process; she is such a pretty cat.

[Kazz]

Now isn't that nice of Helga's owner.....maybe she found the situation too much.

Glad she is settling in.

[farthing]

I've just given Helga a bath.
I bought some antibacterial, no rinse shampoo from P@H, and it seems to be very effective. We have to wash Helga's bum because she is so fat she can't clean herself and she was getting smelly again, she was bathed on Friday by the vet before she came here. Her hair is also matted, again because she can't groom, I gave her a bit of a comb and I'm sure she will feel so much better now some of the clumps have gone. She should be white but most of her looks grey- I'm quite excited to see if she looks better once she dries.

I feel so sorry for her, I was giving her a scratch and she wanted to roll on her back and was too fat. We took in a dog who was 50% heavier than she should have been about 10 years ago ( she is no longer with us) and I thought she was awful, but Helga is 100% heavier than she should be- its amazing that she can still get up on the sofa.

[dandysmom]

Awww, may we have a pic of Helga after her bath and grooming when she's dried? Cats are so meticulous about grooming. she must have hated not being to take care of herself properly. As the song says, "better times a'coming"

[farthing]

I have to say the 'bath' hasn't made a huge difference yet, except that the mats have gone a bit and she does feel happier being stroked along her back.
I will get some photos tomorrow, and I'll get some of her bum , so you can see how sore it looks. You can see food has diverted stress with her, as soon as I finished cleaning her she went and hid ( which isn't easy) but when the brekkies box came out she was at the bowl begging. It was the fastest I'd seen her move all day.
I'm trying to change her onto wet food, and she is starting to pick at it, it is also a high meat / low carbohydrate food, so hopefully it will help her drop some pounds. I really need to talk to the vet, just to get an idea as to how quickly I should be reducing her intake.