RIP: Fat kitty Meow died Saturday from complications of obesity

First Bear Jordan died, and now Meow? I don’t know if I can ever come to love another animal thrust into pop culture consciousness again, it would just hurt too much when they die a week later.

Meow gained national attention when the tabby was taken to Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society in New Mexico last month because his elderly owner could no longer take care of him. He tipped the scales at 39 pounds, which is equivalent to a human weighing 600-700 pounds. Meow, who struggled to breath after walking only a few steps, was put on a weight loss regimen, and had lost 2 pounds.

But Wednesday things took a turn for the worst when Meow started having severe breathing problems at his foster home. Multiple tests were run on him to determine what was wrong, but sadly Meow passed away Saturday. : (

Shelter director Mary Martin was devastated, telling the AP “It was a shock and a horror for all of us. We all fell in love with him.”

She also wrote a detailed report on the shelter’s Facebook page this morning:

I am devastated to share with you that the respiratory distress that Meow was experiencing last week (the reason we did not do his weigh-in) took his life at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 5. The Shelter staff – along with all those who met Meow during his short time with us – mourn his passing. As many of you are aware, Meow began wheezing last Thursday in his foster home, Dr. Jen began trying to sort out the problem, at first considering the possibility of asthma associated with his weight. She started treatment immediately to ease his breathing and, when Meow didn’t improve, she sought additional help for him from our emergency specialty hospital and an additional private veterinary hospital. Although four different veterinarians worked with Meow, we were unable to stop the progression of what turned out to be pulmonary failure. Meow had been doing so well in his foster home; walking up stairs and seeking affection – that it is so very hard to believe he is gone. We will forever be grateful for the attention Meow’s size brought to pet obesity and to animal shelters across the country. We are especially grateful to all of you who fell in love with this charming cat – as we did – and were so very interested in his progress and success.

With gratitude, Mary Martin

We were really rooting for Meow! At least he got to sit in Anderson Cooper’s lap before he died.