January 12, 2007 -- By Rhonda Erskine

An Oregon woman says a neighborhood cat was stealing cat food from her garage, but she couldn't catch the thief. After one too many trips to the cat bowl he ended up stuck in her doggy door.

Jadwiga Drozdek adores her kitties, six of them in all. But they were burning through their food.

Jadwiga knew something was going on.

"Probably four months ago we recognized that the food was disappearing very quick. We said, gosh, you know, they're always eating the same amount, so I don't understand why," said Jadwiga.

Jadwiga knew it had to be another cat coming-in through the doggie-door. But no matter what Jadwiga did, she couldn't catch the culprit. That is until the culprit's eating caught up with him.

One day Jadwiga found the fat cat "Hercules" tightly wedged into the doggie door.

"Hilarious! And I was looking and I was laughing! I was like, what's he trying to accomplish!" said Jadwiga.

All that eating pushed him up to a comfy 20-pounds. The free smorgasbord eventually led to his capture.

Jadwiga helped free Hercules and gave him a plate of food on her patio. Afterward she took him to the Humane Society where he was eventually reunited with his owner.

The owner, Geoff Ernest, said the tubby tabby went missing while he was in Seattle for a lung transplant six months ago.

While at the Humane Society, Hercules was diagnosed with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, similar to HIV in humans.

The society says cats can live years with the virus and still make good pets, but owners should keep them indoors to keep it from spreading.

Veterinarians say about 40 percent of America's cats are obese, putting them at risk for a variety of diabetes-related disorders.