Photo: Screenshot of a video posted by Lizhi Live

A stray cat in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, has been "forced" to go on a diet, according to a notice hung on a tree by caring animal keepers who asked passersby not to feed the "overweight" creature. 

A photo of the cat beside the bulletin board was posted online by a student who ran into it on Saturday while he was picking up a delivered parcel. It said that the cat "is working hard on a diet with special meals sent to it at fixed times," and asked people not to feed it, Toutiao News reported.  

The photo soon prompted adoring netizens on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo to leave encouraging messages to "boost its confidence in losing weight," which also drew a round of sympathy from netizens who recalled their own experiences in going on an "involuntary diet." 

"I am a stray cat, but why on earth do I still need to listen to orders from people?" one commenter joked.