Chubbs, the 29-pound cat who has gained social media followers worldwide from his perch at the Pasadena Humane Society, is going home. But exactly whose home he’s going to has yet to be decided.
Someone found the stray 10-year-old Himalayan mix walking down a “busy Altadena street” without an ID tag or microchip, and brought him to the Pasadena Humane Society & SPCA, the shelter wrote in a post on its website on Thursday.
After postponing his adoption to try to find the cat’s actual owner, the shelter announced this week that on Wednesday at noon, the first qualified aspiring cat parent will be able to take Chubbs home.
It’s been a long road to get to adoption day, though.
The cat came to the shelter in need of help, suffering from “deep, painful mats along his back” that took the staff hours to clean.
They nicknamed him Chubbs and went about trying to find his owner. They photographed Chubbs in someone’s lap — belly up — as the cat stared directly at the camera and posted the images to their website, Twitter and Facebook.
Just a day later, Chubbs was a viral sensation. So many people responded and said Chubbs was theirs the shelter postponed his adoption date “(t)o thoroughly investigate these claims,” according to a second post on the shelter’s website.
“There have been a lot of people saying he is their cat,” Julie Bank, president and CEO of the Pasadena Humane Society, told ABC7 in an on-air interview with Chubbs, who lounged atop the anchors’ desk. “We have had people from Colorado, from Wales, internationally, sending best wishes and also hoping that it was their cat.”
Ultimately, the shelter weeded out the copycats and determined none of the claims were credible. Chubbs still had no permanent home, and was relegated to staff offices because he was “too large to fit comfortably in a kennel.”
Chubbs has gone on a diet for the last week, so he may have lost some weight, Bank told ABC7.
The shelter warns any potential owners that cute as Chubbs may be, he brings a large medical and financial responsibility to his future owner.
“While we know Chubbs is adorable, obese cats are more likely to suffer from health issues like heart disease, diabetes and thyroid issues,” they wrote in the post announcing his adoption date.
