Crumbs The Corpulent Cat Is Already Enduring Treadmill Sessions

Crumbs was rescued from a bad situation where people fed him without regard for his health. Now he’s got a lot of work ahead of him as his new caretakers help him lose weight so he can walk on his own again.

Crumbs, the morbidly obese tabby who was rescued from the basement of a Russian hospital last week, is already putting in the work to melt pounds.

That means he’s enduring two things most cats hate — exercise and water. You’ll recall from our earlier post that Crumbs weighs 38 pounds and cannot walk under his own power, so his new caretakers at Matroskin animal rescue in Perm, Russia, have him on a special waterproof treadmill where he gets the benefit of buoyancy while he gets his steps in.

The big guy is not a happy camper in the video, but he’s doing his best.

I’ve heard horror stories about the hospitals in Russia and Ukraine, so if it sounds strange that the staff at a hospital would feed cookies, soup and other inappropriate food to a cat, well, let’s just say it’s not the kind of environment most of us picture when we think “hospital.” (Which is another reason to be grateful for living in the west, where we have it much better than most of us generally realize.)

Hindustan Times article
Non-native English speaking staff at the Hindustan Times may have confused Whiskas the cat food brand with whiskey, the alcoholic beverage, or there may have been a translation error.

Interestingly, a Hindustan Times story about Crumbs claims the hospital employees served whiskey to the obese cat in addition to the junk food, a claim repeated in the headline and article.

That would add another wrinkle to an already ridiculous story, but thankfully it’s not true. Your intrepid friends here at PITB checked the original text and with the help of translation software, determined it used the Russian word for “Whiskas,” as in the cat food, not whiskey. (It probably goes without saying, but never give alcohol to your cat. As little as a teaspoon of whiskey could be fatal.)

So if there’s some small comfort here, it’s that the people who fed Crumbs for so long weren’t completely ignorant to his needs, and it appears he got at least some species-appropriate food.

Crumbs the Cat
Crumbs shortly after he was rescued. Credit: Matroskin animal shelter

20 thoughts on “Crumbs The Corpulent Cat Is Already Enduring Treadmill Sessions”

    1. Yeah he does look scared, but he will be happy when he can walk, run and jump again like a cat should. His rescuers are spending a lot of money to help him, so I’m sure they’re going to make sure he goes to a good home.

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  2. I hosted and maintained the website of a pet store that specialized in reptiles, amphibians, and the like. Sally was their store mascot. A monitor lizard who had been fed nothing but Dinty Moore Stew before they rescued her. As you can imagine Sally didn’t know what todo with a normal monitor lizard diet of rodent. They had to patiently work with her until Sally’s instincts kicked in and she was able to kill on her own. Gruesome as it may be this is the natural way of a monitor lizard. You can’t just feed them rodent-in-a-can.

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    2. We had kind of a similar thing happen when we adopted our Mini Weenie Sassy. She was at least 2 yrs old, never been potty trained, didn’t know what dog food was, didn’t know how to play, had serious separation anxiety and was deathly afraid of men’s feet (she’d drop and pee). She’d been abused (her leg was broken at least once) and passed around so much that she had no idea what a home or love was.

      We’d never had a dog before we got her. Trying to potty train a 2 yr old dog is something. We asked anyone and everyone what we should do. Not one person could give us an answer. So, we just winged it. We used a baby gate to keep her on linoleum, potty pads all over the floor, etc. My husband slept on the living room with her for months (because of her fear of men). Eventually, we got it done. She became the most loving little doggo and loved meeting everybody she met. People would come up to pet her and we’d give a brief story of her life. No one could believe that she’d ever been in the condition she was in when we got her. It was great to hear because we really didn’t know if we’d done the right things for her.

      I miss that little stinker every day.

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  3. Glad that Crumbs is getting the right care, he is obviously not the only “Chonky” in the world, its a dangerous Human condition to believe this is good for our feline overlords as it makes them happy, Bella would easily be one if we didn’t do our utmost to restrict her intake and keep her on the vet diet food… she shouts and shouts which is very difficult to resist tbh!

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  4. Poor Crumbs, he’s terrified in the video. I can sympathize since I hate exercise, too. Hopefully the big boy will get slimmer and healthy soon! Re: what you said about hospitals is dead on, no pun intended.

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    1. Russia is such a paradox. I’ve spent a good amount of time watching and reading about Russian state media since the beginning of the Ukraine war, and it’s very strange to see Putin’s pet propagandists giddy with excitement over the prospect of a resurgent Russian empire when tens of millions of people in that country still don’t have plumbing or sewage systems, and money earmarked for civic upgrades goes into the pockets of the men who are supposed to be leaders.

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      1. That is because if they complain or protest they will be killed. I knew Novalny had a very short time to live. My heart broke for his family. My Russian client could never step into Russia because she raised money for Ukraine. Not that she would ever go back.

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      2. The Russians jailed a woman and sentenced her to prison for making a $57 donation to Ukrainian humanitarian aid. IIRC she’s Russian-American, lives in California but went to visit relatives back in Russia and that’s when they arrested her.

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      3. Yes. The ballerina. I often think about her and if she will come home. People should be warned about donations and the consequences. I doubt she knew.

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      4. Or warned about traveling to Russia. They’ll look for any excuse to arrest Americans to use as bargaining chips to get their people — real criminals, weapons dealers, etc — back.

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  6. Thank you for delving deeper into this story. I had really wanted to know what they were doing for him now, and the water therapy seems a good fit. Also the part about the whiskey. Huge thanks for busting that rumor. I hope we get follow ups. I can’t help but love the poor puss.

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    1. Thanks, Molly. The whiskey thing immediately jumped out at me because I didn’t see anything about that in the earlier translation, and if true it would have added a whole other layer to the story.

      The poor guy doesn’t look happy but I think he will be once he can run and jump like a cat again.

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