New Zealand Cat Lived Off McDonald's For An Entire Year

Culture

Cats eating cheeseburgers is totally a thing, right?

A New Zealand cat named Frankie would say otherwise after a solid year of eating nothing but McDonald's. He was abandoned by his previous owners after they moved and took up residence around an area McDonald's restaurant. Customers would hand-feed the cat chicken nuggets and pieces of their burgers as they departed the drive-thru.

Soon enough, the cat had become addicted to the junk food patrons fed him. His coat was coming apart, his eyes wouldn't close, and his face was swollen. And while he wasn't overweight, he was not at all healthy.

Jessica Watson, an SPCA field officer, saw the conditions in which Frankie was living in the McDonald's parking lot. She noticed all the people who would ask for their regular meals in addition to one more item: "an extra patty for Frankie." She tried to feed him regular cat food, but he just wouldn't eat it. It was as if he didn't know what it was or that it was edible at all.

Luckily, Watson was able to take in Frankie and he is now up for adoption through the Waikato SPCA. He is now on a cat food-only diet and is much healthier — though Watson speculates there may have been one benefit to his McDonald's diet that could make him easier for prospective adoptive families to handle.

"I'd say he loved cheeseburgers far too much to worry about [harming] any [endangered] birds," she said.

While no one has stepped forward and expressed formal interest in adopting Frankie yet, many commenters on the Facebook post know him well and are eager to see him adopted. The Waikato SPCA said that interested families can fill out a form to ensure that this cat can go to the best possible family — one that will never let him indulge in his "Maccas" addiction again.