Ulric the cat, weighing 2st 2Ib, is all set to go on a crash diet to survive. As heavy as a three year old kid, Uric started piling on weight when he developed the habit of devouring his sister Ulla's food.

For four years, Ulric had been feeding himself to his sister's share of food too, leaving him obese and the heaviest cat in Britain. And it's not just that; Ulric also seems to have developed a habit of lazing around, subjecting himself to virtually no physical activity at all, which added to a few extra pounds.

Apparently, he has been declared morbidly obese, considering that he has now swollen to twice his normal weight.

However, Ulric is not really the heaviest cat in the world. That credit would go to a US tomcat named Sponge Bob, who is nine years old and weighs as much as a four year old child or a Labrador would.

Jan Mitchell, retired secretary from Dorchester, and owner of Ulric has now enrolled the tom cat for a pet slimming competition, and has also taken up a few initiatives, including putting Ulla's food on the kitchen top, where Ulrich can't seem to reach owing to his huge size and weight, to help him survive and shed a few pounds.

"We got Ulric and his sister Ulla in 2006 when they were three-months-old," she explained. "I don't remember him being particularly abnormally large, but by the time he was 15-months-old he was 1st 3lbs."

"We couldn't really work out why he had got so fat - his diet only consisted of dry cat food and water, nothing elaborate," Mitchell added.

Head nurse for the PDSA, Stella Hughes has expressed concern for the seriously morbid condition of Ulric, and has suggested serious lifestyle changes to increase his life expectancy.

"The good news is it's never too late to make a positive change and improve a pet's lifestyle. We're confident that Ulric will have a slim-line figure and new lease of life by the end of the competition," Stella claims.

Looks like not just humans but pets too may now require to watch their diet to stay fit and healthy.