Weight loss stories are always incredibly inspiring, but this is certainly one of the most special ones we’ve seen so far. Meet the adorable cat Bazooka Joe, who has been dealing with severe weight issues for the majority of his life. Even though you can see pictures of him, they don’t really do him justice. This feline is absolutely huge but has a huge heart and personality as well.

Bazooka Joe weighs in at a whopping 36 pounds, and he doesn’t even fit in a regular person’s arms, let alone a cat enclosure or carrier.

After his owner passed, Bazooka Joe found a temporary place to stay at the SPCA of Wake County.

“It’s jaw-dropping how large he is — and how long he is, too,” Darci VanderSlik, the director of the shelter, said to The Dodo. “He’s 34 inches long, so he’s a very square cat.”

It’s actually not Bazooka’s fault that he weighs so much.

His former owner had Alzheimer’s disease and simply forgot when he already fed his cat. The result was that Bazooka was given a lot more meals than he was supposed to get, and he happily obliged.

Nonetheless, his massive weight definitely causes sanitary and health issues.

Caretakers do their best, but they can’t clean his entire coat as it should and large portions of his body remained matted. With so much fur, Bazooka also couldn’t properly clean himself or act like other cats – even though he never lost the ability to jump on someone’s bed. Cats will always be cats, after all.

“He’s struggling to groom himself properly, he’s struggling to play with toys, to do what normal cats do,” Darci added. “But he’s still very agile for the state that he’s in — he’ll jump up on the bed and climb up the stairs.”

Bazooka’s personality is warm, affectionate and very laid-back.

“He’s got this kitten personality in this oversized body. This cat is the coolest cat ever. He’s so mellow and chill. He’s just happy all the time.”

The large cat was having difficulties getting adopted, simply because people knew that his size would ultimately result in complications and issues.

However, one day, Robin Anderson came across a post of the Garfieldesque cat on the Maine Coon Rescue Facebook page.

Robin recently lost her Maine Coone and was looking for a new furry friend in the house to try and fill the void and keep her company.

When Robin saw the post online, she immediately called to make sure that he wasn’t already adopted yet.

When Robin arrived at the shelter to introduce herself, the shelter staff immediately knew that these two were an absolute match made in heaven. Robin has actually dealt with weight issues herself but recently decided to turn her life around. She already lost 120 pounds and has taken drastic lifestyle changes to make sure she’d be healthy again. You can see an adorable video of the two seeing each other for the first time below.

“She herself had lost over 120 pounds and now runs marathons,” the shelter director told. “So she was super excited to step in and help him and document his weight loss journey. She even wants to harness train him so he can get some cardio.”

Robin was touched by Bazooka’s story and was determined to shower him with love and affection, but she was also determined to bring his weight back to normal levels.

The feline giant has been renamed ‘King Augustus’ and has already settled in in his new home.

He’s particularly excited to hang out with his canine sibling, the 10-year-old Rufus.

More importantly, King now finally has found his loving forever home – one that’s going to do everything to make sure he gets and stays healthy in the years ahead.

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Source: SPCA of Wake County, The Dodo (YouTube)