Remember Crumbs?

The 17kg feline previously made headlines after he was rescued — in an exceptionally chonky state — from a Russian hospital.

He had been fed a diet of crackers and soup by well-meaning hospital staff, and was so weighed down by his own heft that he was unable to walk.

Vets were also unable to do an ultrasound on him because the sensors could not get past the layers of fat.

In an attempt to restore him to a healthier weight of about 4.5kg, Crumbs was whisked away to a shelter and put on a special diet and exercise regimen.

This included hydrotherapy and kinesiotherapy, in which he had to walk on an aquatic treadmill.

He also had his tummy shaved, to make him easier to dry after his aquatic aerobics sessions.

While the diet appeared to have been working — a recent Instagram update revealed that he'd gotten his weight down to 15.4kg — the new lifestyle apparently didn't sit quite well with him.

Tried to escape

On Sep. 11, Crumbs launched a daring escape attempt from the centre.

But this failed when he ended up wedged into a shoe rack, with his face stuffed into a pair of blue slippers.

"Kroshik [his Russian name] caused a ruckus and escaped today," said rehabilitation expert Ekaterina Bedakova, according to the New York Post.

"He was extremely displeased when we found him disguised as slippers, but... after a portion of food, he mellowed out."

Despite his apparent unhappiness with the his diet, experts appeared optimistic about Crumbs's progress.

"He's already a very active guy," Bedakova remarked, according to The Sun.

Top image from matroskin_prm/Instagram