NEW YORK — Domestic cats swept the Laziest Species category at the 212th Annual Animal Awards on Friday night.
Accepting the award on behalf of all cats, Chonkmatic the Magnificent waddled on stage, took a short nap, then was helped up to the podium, where he yawned and addressed the audience.
“Thank you!” Chonkmatic said, allowing others to hoist the award for him. “We didn’t work hard at all to earn this recognition, and that makes it even more satisfying.”
Chonkmatic went on to list several other cats who made the award possible by demonstrating remarkable laziness, before handing off the list to his assistant so he could be carried off stage for a snack and another nap.
Jaguars, the apex predators of South America, were recognized in the wild cat category for the remarkable achievement of ruling more than two million square miles of rainforest while napping approximately 70 percent of the time.
The big cats of the Amazon prerecorded an acceptance speech because the award show was scheduled to interfere with their napping schedule.
“We are honored to receive this award,” Ahau-K’in, the King of Jaguars, said in the message. “If you could just deliver it to us, that’d be great. In fact, you can leave it at the Temple of Palenque, but bring it up the stairs, mind. We don’t want to have to drag that thing up here.”
Sharing in the recognition was Buddy the Cat, who “showed us all that a new style of napping is possible by training our humans never to move if we’re sleeping on top of them.”
“The New York cat also developed new techniques for prompting humans to deliver snacks directly to their feline overlords,” the judges wrote. “After all, why should we come running at the sound of a crinkly bag being opened? The snacks should be placed before us, requiring as little effort as possible to eat them and leaving more time for yawning, stretching and lazing.”
Pain In The Bud 
Chonkmatic is beautiful: Maine Coon? In any case, we humans should emulate our feline overlords.
Napping is healthy and helps maintain a cheerful dispostion, which is sorely tested these days.
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Yeah, “Chonkmatic” is a rescue who was taken in by a shelter last year and put on a diet. I wrote a story about him at the time and liked his photos so much that, when I wrote a cat humor post about aliens demanding to negotiate with cats instead of humans, I used his photo and dubbed him Chonkmatic. I can’t remember his real name, but I’m sure I can dig the story up.
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Found it. His real name is Bazooka and his human had dementia, thus the overfeeding. He was brought to the shelter after his human died, and the shelter staff put him on a diet: https://littlebuddythecat.com/2020/01/19/this-cats-in-for-a-rude-awakening/
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Thanks for the info! Bazooka is a good name, too, but Chonkmatic is better. No matter what his name is, he’s a handsome kitter.
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Seems like the Budster is looking, uh, a little fluffy? Seems like big Buddy is following his directions well!
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He could lose a pound or so, although in that top photo it’s just the way he’s laying down. He tends to look his absolute fattest when loafing. 🙂
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Buddy likes to think extra weight just means there’s more of him to love. 😀
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He’s back on a diet again. I took some photos yesterday and realized he’s getting chubby again.
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This doesn’t surprise me. If I had to come back as an animal, a cat would be my first choice. Good post.
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House cats have hit the jackpot. I tell my cat all the time, he doesn’t know how good he has it.
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LOL! I love it 😀
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I’m just conserving energy!
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Frank congratulates Buddy on his achievement and wonders if the judges might consider adding a new category next year: keyboard napping. “It’s a highly challenging sport, since it’s often necessary to swat a poorly-trained human, but victory is so satisfying (and cozy)!”
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Keyboard Napping sounds like a fine category, and one that takes skill!
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