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Feline slimmer: (From left) Megan Miles, Sue Knowles and Reyes Garcia with the winning cat Abby

A PORKY pet from Hazlemere is the cat's whiskers after being crowned Slimmer of the Year in a regional competition.

Abbi, a 14-year-old tabby and white moggy, took the title after losing nearly 25 per cent of her body weight.

The much-loved cat was not feline herself when she weighed in at a hefty 7.15kg, but she is now just purrfect after slimming down to a light and nimble 5.2kg.

Abbi's owner, Sue Knowles, 52, started to notice a problem with her pet of ten years when she became anti-social around people. Sue said: "Just over two years ago, she had what I can only describe as a funny turn. She was very fond of my brother and he came in one day and she hissed at him and hid. I took her to the vet, they couldn't find anything particularly wrong.

"She's a bit of a foody cat. I suppose we just pampered to her requirements and gave her whatever was available."

Things got worse as Abbi began going to the toilet indoors, so Sue rang Crossroads Vets on Amersham Hill describing the symptoms and they told her it could be diabetes. She said: "Sure enough her levels were through the roof. They said she's got to lose some weight and go on a special diet. She's been on that ever since."

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Crossroads stock Hill's pet food, which runs an annual competition to find the most successful canine and feline slimmers. Abbi's vet mentioned this to Sue and said she should enter her pampered pet.

Sue added: "It was just a bit of fun. When we got a phone call to say it was between her and two other cats in the region, I thought that's it. And then about ten days later I got a phone call to say she'd won."

For coming top of the moggy league in the central region, Abbi scooped herself two month's supply of Hill's cat food, and won Sue £200 in holiday vouchers.

After licking the rest of the competition, Abbi is now one of seven slim-line felines going on to the national finals - the winners of which will be announced in January.

8:22am Thursday 23rd November 2006

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