A Sacramento cat who is a local celebrity was quickly recognized at the shelter and returned home after a passerby mistakenly thought he was a pregnant female in distress and took him to get help on August 9, 2013.
“This cat isn’t pregnant; this cat is Norm,” said a shelter staffer upon seeing the extra-large male cat after the Good Samaritan took him to Front Street Animal Shelter.
Norm is well known to people who’ve seen him lounging on the sidewalk in front of his house and is very popular at Facebook, where he has a Norm Lopez profile page.
Conversations at the shelter’s Facebook page led to him being returned home. Norm’s petmom Typer Lopez, who was out of town, was notified through Norm’s Facebook page.
Other that Norm quickly being returned home thanks to his high public profile around Sacramento, the incident had to two positive results: Norm now has a microchip and Tyler Lopez’ annual party to celebrate Norm and his friends will be fundraiser for the shelter this year.
Tyler’s annual Norm party was formerly a backyard barbecue, but will be held as a benefit pub crawl this time.
Tyler adopted Norm two years ago, and he was already a very big boy at that time. He is on a special weight loss formula cat food.
From the Sacramento Bee at Facebook:
“Here’s Norm Lopez taking a bath on the sidewalk in front of his house [photo above] after his breakfast. Norm Lopez has a fervent, almost cult-like following in certain Sacramento communities: local bands have put him on their T-shirts, commuters exit the light rail at the 13th Street stop just to say hello and his Facebook page (as of Tuesday evening) is nearing 500 friends. His popularity sky-rocketed following a heart-warming reunion between Norm and his human, Tyler Lopez. On Friday [August 9], a stranger mistook Norm for a pregnant cat in distress and took him to the Front Street Animal Shelter where staff recognized him from his Facebook page. Norm now has an identification chip and will be hosting a pub crawl to benefit the shelter on Aug. 31, 2013.”
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Tyler Lopez talks about Norm in the video below:
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“Recognize this cat? We think his name is Norm and we think he lives near 16th St & P St downtown. He has his own Facebook page. This big guy was brought in as a stray today and we would love to get him back home today. If you know his family, tell him to check their FB page for a message from us. Thanks!”
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Photo, Sacramento Bee/Sue Morrow
who the heck lets this fatboy run around unsupervised. she’s out of town who is watching the cats. and why after being adopted 2 years is he still so obese?