Everybody Loves Big Fat Stevie

Everybody wants to take Big Fat Stevie home with them. Everybody loves him ~ loves him so much that her really does deserve his own TV show. And believe me, there is a lot to love in Stevie.

There is no friendlier and more laid-back kitty than Stevie. That was quickly apparent at the animal shelter where I used to work.

When I first met Stevie, 5 years ago, he was as big as he is now. In fact, I thought he was a pregnant female, only to find out that he was a very fat male.

For the first 6 months of his stay at the shelter, Stevie had to be confined to a cage. He had a wound of unknown origin, and state law subjected all non-inoculated animals with a wound of known origin to a mandatory 6-month quarantine.

That was because ~ depending upon where on the body the wound appeared ~ it could take 3 to 6 months for rabies to manifest. Once the 6 month period ended and the animal showed no signs of the disease, that animal was assumed to be free of rabies.

Even when being stuck in a small cage for 6 months, Stevie's delightful personality shined through the bars of the cage.

Shortly after he was declared rabies-free and put up for adoption, Ariana fell in love with him.

There he was in the cattery, casually lounging among all the frisky felines. Stevie was comfortable in his surroundings, and he was comfortable in his own somewhat ample skin.

Stevie came home with us, weighing a good 20 pounds. He was so big that be could not squeeze through the baby gate to get to the cat food and litter boxes.

When Stevie was eating ~ and he was ALWAYS hungry ~ it quickly became apparent that Stevie's access to the bowls of cat food had to be limited.

Stevie got his own bowl, from which he got fed a small handful of kibble twice a day.

The other cat food bowls went up on the high shelf in the library which Stevie could not reach. I figured that once Stevie became able to reach those bowls, then he would deserve to eat from them. But until then, he had to eat from his tiny bowl at the appointed feeding hours.

After awhile Stevie lost some weight, and was actually able to squeeze through the bars of the baby gate ~ though not without some effort (or entertainment value).

The lowest Stevie got was down to 18 pounds.


This morning he tipped the scale at 19 pounds.

Stevie was the most laid-back cat that anybody has seen. He was so laid back that not even the dogs would bother him.

Stevie loved everyone equally. And often he would show his love by rewarding the object of his affection with a series of very pinchy love nips.

Ariana had described Stevie as a "stoner kitty" in that:

• he was very friendly and loved everyone
• he was very laid-back
• and he constantly had the munchies.

Not only did Stevie love everyone, everyone also loved Stevie. We have lost count over the number of times people told us that they wanted to take Stevie home with them. Some people even asked us to give him to them or even offered outright to buy Stevie.

Maybe Stevie's immense size is part of his appeal. But big or little, Stevie has a wonderful and warm personality ~ "catsonality" ~ that enchants everyone who meets him.

Unlike the other cats in the house, Stevie enjoys mingling with people ~ even people he does not know.

When we had our gigunda moving sale 2 weeks before Christmas, Stevie was in the thick of things, greeting people as they came into the house. People were delighting in picking him up. And of course, there were many who wanted to take him home.

But sorry, Big Fat Stevie was not for sale.

However, there are some challenges in being a super-sized kitty.

For one thing, Stevie cannot reach very far in order to wash himself thoroughly. And his stomach very often comes in very close contact with the ground. As such, he gets called "Big Fat Stevie Brown" because the once white belly fur turns to a dirty brown.

Stevie's had more baths than any other cat I have known. In fact, he's long overdue for one now.

In the summer, Stevie not only gets a professional bath, he gets his fur stripped down to the bare wood so that he can remain cleaner longer.

Besides, he looks rather cute with his fur buzzed off. With Stevie's fur shorn off, you can no longer see his black tiger stripes. Instead, what you see is a rotund white body covered with large grey patches.

Also, unlike the other cats, Stevie does not travel in a cat carrier. Instead, when he goes places ~ like the vet's office or to church for the Blessing of the Animals service ~ Stevie wears his red harness and leash.

Stevie is always very popular wherever he goes. People don't expect to see a cat on a leash. And Stevie is one cat who does not mind being on a leash. He can make himself comfortably at-home anywhere.

Stevie even gets along well with the dogs, very often sharing the couch with them as they all take a snooze.

But sometimes he will get on Gomez's case with his kneading of Gomez's body and occasionally trying to give Gomez a love nip on his ears. During times like these, the normally friendly and laid-back Gomez will firmly let Stevie know who's boss while totally remaining ignorant of the fact that nobody can be the boss of a cat.

However, there is one dog who does do a pretty good job of letting Stevie know who's boss. And poor Stevie very patiently puts up with Emi's many and frequent molestations. However, there are those rare occasions when even laid-back Stevie has to tell Emi that "enough is enough."