Overweight pets weigh in for slimming contest

Dogs, cats and rabbits losing the battle of the bulge have been signed up to a weight-loss club in a effort to shift the extra pounds.

A total of 13 pets are to take part in a six-month diet and exercise programme, as part of the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals' (PDSA) 'Pet Fit Club'.

The gargantuan group - that collectively weighs around 30 stone - includes hefty hound Mizzy, the Bullmastiff, and flabby feline, Ulric - the two biggest-ever finalists in the competition which has been running for almost 10 years. Their combined weight is 13 stone 4lbs.

Tom cat Ulric, from Dorset, weighs in at two stone - 111 percent over his ideal weight, and Mizzy, from Derby, tips the scales at 11 stone 4lbs, making her around 60 percent overweight.

Other pets battling the bulge include sweet-and-sour-chicken-loving Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Beetlejuice, (seven stone and 48 percent overweight) from London, Labrador Tia, from Birmingham, who weighs over nine stone (94 percent overweight), and ice-cream-loving tom cat Prince, who is 44 percent overweight, weighing 1st 2lbs.

The pets are all competing for the title of PDSA Pet Fit Club slimmer of the year, and they all fall into the category of obese or morbidly obese.