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Sutera Mall in Johor Bahru organised a pet fair over the Labour Day long weekend, from Apr. 28 to May 1.
The event had plenty to offer for pets and pet owners, including a market selling food, accessories, and services.
Screenshot via Sutera Mall website.
There were also competitions for pets and pet owners, such as a "poo keeper competition" where owners competed to see who could dig up the most "gold" from cat litter within 90 seconds.
There was also a "doggy concentration competition" where dogs' obedience to commands were tested while being enticed by food in various forms.
Fat cat competition
For cats, however, there was an event on Apr. 30, simply titled, "fat cat competition".
Photo via Sutera Mall on Facebook.
Photos on Sutera Mall's Facebook page showed various cats being brought on stage and hoisted onto a weighing scale — willingly or unwillingly.
Photo via Sutera Mall on Facebook.
Photo via Sutera Mall on Facebook.
Photo via Sutera Mall on Facebook.
Photo via Sutera Mall on Facebook.
Photo via Sutera Mall on Facebook.
Winners of the competition were then presented with prizes.
Photo via Sutera Mall on Facebook.
Responses to the mall's Facebook post about the competition appeared to be mostly favourable.
Many tagged their friends to show them the photos of the chonky competitors.
The post has also gone viral with over 33,000 shares.
However, not all response was positive.
Event sparks controversy about overfeeding
The event also stirred up concerns over how it might encourage owners to intentionally overfeed their pets.
The commenters pointed to the health risks that overfeeding would pose to the cats.
One commenter also highlighted the fact that the Guinness World Records (formerly The Guinness Book of Records) no longer accepts entrants for the heaviest pets, over the same concerns about the risk that it would encourage overfeeding.
Guinness World Records instead captures records in other categories, such as "Most views for a cat on YouTube".
Another suggested that cat owners could be better encouraged by a competition to find the healthiest cat instead:
Mothership has reached out to Sutera Mall for comment.
You can see the post in full here: