>Mr. Degagne recalls how 15 years ago he befriended two stray young cats on
>the old AECL research facility at Chalk River. The
>kittens had appeared in late summer and apparently had gotten
>under a security fence around the old labs abandoned since the
>late 50's. With the help of  his tuna  sandwich, Mr.Degagne was
>able to coax the kitties close enough so that he could pick them
>up. A self described animal lover, he did not want to place
>the kittens in the local Humane Society. Later that evening his
>wife Louise and their two children came to a family decision
>to keep the kittens which they named Lost and Found. Lost
>was a female and Found was a male.
>
>When nature finally took it's course, a litter of kittens was born 6 years
>later. One of the litter was a big white female with unique black
>markings on her side and tail. Something about the kitten captured the
>hearts of the family and while her siblings eventually found homes
>elsewhere, Snowball stayed with the Degagne's.
>
>In her 9 years Snowball's size has seemed to snowball. Put simply,
>Snowball is no ordinary cat, she measures 69 inches from nose to
>tail and weighs in at 87 Ibs.
>
>She started out a big kitty and she just seemed to keep growing. She
>always meowed for more food and would climb up on the
>counter to eat food which I forgot to cover. Chicken is her favorite.
>"Once I left a  cooked chicken on the table that I was going to use
>for a boat picnic, an hour later the chicken was gone," Louise said.
>We knew that snowball wasn't your average cat when the neighbor's
>German Shepherd ran yelping away from his first encounter
>with her. She just isn't afraid of any animals. After we found a half
>eaten raccoon out by the garage, we decided that maybe Snowball
>should be kept fenced in. We soon discovered that while we can
>keep snowball in the yard, we couldn't keep  raccoons from Snowball.
>At least it kept the food bills down Rodger laughed "Like all female cats
>she is very territorial, but with us she is just a big ole kitten" he said.
>So what does a 87 pound cat eat? Snowball goes through a about 3
>lbs. of cat food a day, along with cooked chicken, supplemented with
>deer and moose that Rodger hunts in the fall. She likes Pike a lot, so I
>don't throw them back any more. Snowball often accompanies Rodger
>fishing on the Ottawa, eagerly peering over the side of the boat as soon
>as his line goes tight.
>
>So what do the Degagne's attribute Snowball's size to? Rodger says "Well,
>the vet thinks it could be her thyroid, but she isn't fat, she's
>just a real big cat. I think maybe her parents got into something
>at Chalk River that they shouldn't have".
>
>NOW go have a look at "Snowball."