Overweight Shelter Cat Mr. B Shedding Pounds and Sending Checks to Those in Need from New Home

Mr. B is down 4 pounds and is helping to raise money for other cat rescuers in need

Photo: Mr. B/Instagram

Many will remember when Mr. B, then a 26-pound cat, broke the internet last year as over 3,000 people applied to adopt the adorable "chonk."

Sarah Bergstein, a military public affairs officer and avid cat rescuer, became the lucky cat mom that got to take him home. Bergstein, 32, had previously fostered cats for the Morris Animal Refuge, which rescued Mr. B, and was able to move onto the rescue's shortlist of potential adopters for the 2-year-old tabby cat, she explained to The Morning Call.

Shortly after bringing him home, Bergstein set up an Instagram account for the beefy boy, and it's attracted over 18,000 followers to date.

"That’s the magic of Mr. B," Bergstein told the outlet. "I’ve had so many people tell me that they look at him, and they don’t know why, but they just feel happy."

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Under Bergstein's care, Mr. B has managed to lose 4 pounds — with the supervision of his veterinarian —and is using his celebrity status online to raise money for cat rescuers in need.

After being inspired by the stories of cat rescuers she met at the Catsbury Park Cat Convention in Philadelphia in October, Bergstein and Mr. B decided to launch their own fundraiser in May: Mr. B’s Random Acts of Kindness campaign on GoFundMe.

With the money raised through the GoFundMe, she and Mr. B award surprise $500 checks to cat rescuers in need of financial support, highlighting the donations on Mr. B's Instagram.

"There is so much good we can do," Bergstein shared. "I believe that ― together ― we have the ability to be and create and share all the goodness this world has to offer and all that is good within us."

One of the first recipients of their surprise check was Sterling "TrapKing" Davis, who runs one of the few TNR (trap, neuter, return) programs for feral cats in his rural community in Georgia.

"It’s been a struggle at times, so to know that someone believes in my work and is willing to support it, that means so much," he told the Call, explaining that the donation will help him pay for spay/neuter surgeries for about 25 cats.

"A lot of cat people aren’t people people, and we need more of what Sarah’s doing. Cat people need to help each other," Davis added.

And that's exactly what Bergstein hopes her and Mr. B's fundraiser will do — inspire others to be the change they want to see in their communities.

"I hope that every person who sees the campaign and the surprise recipient stories knows that he/she has just as much capability as I do to create positive change in this world," the cat mom wrote on Instagram. "Every effort—sharing info on social, donating to a cause, volunteering, supporting an effort, changing your habits, speaking up for the voiceless...we ALL have that ability, and it takes all of us, in all of those ways, doing our part for the collective."