FAT cats and podgy pooches are preparing to line-up for a slimming contest.

Thirteen portly pets will this week battle it out to be the regional winner of the 2003 Hill's Pet Slimmer of the Year Competition.

The animals have all shed several pounds and will be parading their now trim torsos for a panel of judges in the regional heat in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, on Wednesday.

One of the contenders is Tabitha, an eight-year-old cat belonging to Helen Phillips, of Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

Mrs Phillips, whose 14-year-old daughter, Gemma, helps care for Tabitha, first realised she had a massive moggy on her hands when she visited a vet earlier this year.

The vet told her Tabitha was a kilogram overweight, about 3lbs, and ordered her to shed weight.

Mrs Phillips put Tabitha on a high-fibre diet and the treatment worked, because four months later, Tabitha was back to her svelte best.

Not wanting to be left out, Mrs Phillips went on a diet herself and shed about 42 pounds.

Now she is hoping Tabitha can wow the judges and walk off with the regional prize.

She said: "It is very difficult for a cat to lose weight. She went through a period of depression and used to look at me with her big eyes as if to say 'Is that all I'm getting?'

"But she got over it and she is much more active now. We are looking forward to the final. We can just imagine her in a sash and a crown."

Other contenders for the regional crown include dogs Megan and Gemma from Whitby, North Yorkshire; Tessa and Bracken from Ripon, North Yorkshire; Cassie from Newton Hall, Durham; and Bertie from Saltburn.