Heartbreak: Celebrity Fatcat a Victim of Mortgage Crisis

The other day we noted the tale of Princess Chunk, the 44-pound tubby tabby from New Jersey, who's now a media star.

Well, it turns out the flabby feline has a lot in common with other Americans. He too is also a victim of the ongoing mortgage crisis. And mistaken identity apparently, since it's a he and not a she.

I kid you not. If she were any more of a victim, she'd qualify for a speaking role at the Democrat Convention.

New TV-star kitty "Princess Chunk" is not a stray - but just another victim of the cat-astrophic mortgage crisis.

The original owner of the country's most famous fat cat said she gave up the tubby tabby - which, by the way, turns out to be a boy - only after she lost her home to creditors.

"I just can't take care of them anymore," Donna Oklatner, 68, told The Post yesterday.

Oklatner said that after she and her husband were forced to leave their Voorhees, NJ, house, they had to give up the giant kitty and another cat because the friend she now lives with is allergic.

She said Chunk's real name is Powder, and "Princess" is really a prince.

Powder's new-found celebrity has shocked her. Over the past few days, he's made multiple TV appearances as people gawk at his massive, 44-pound bulk.

Oklatner insisted that reports that the cat had been abandoned were untrue.

She said one person who heard the story tacked a note on her door yesterday reading, "Shame on you!"

Oklatner said she gave the cat to a friend, who then handed him over to an animal shelter.

The friend resorted to telling local animal control that the cat was a stray so that they would be forced to take him.

Camden County Animal Control confirmed that report.

"I don't understand why these people think I would just dump the cat," Oklatner said. "I love the cat. Powder was never a stray. These animals are like my children."

Oklatner was also upset about the perception that she overstuffed the cat.

She believes the pudgy pussy has a glandular problem that made him grow so fat, since sibling Puff is only 20 pounds.

Oklatner said she would feed both cats one can of food for lunch and one for dinner and then leave out some dry kibble. She still keeps a Maltese dog, which is normal size.

"I think it was a thyroid problem," she said. "I never had the money to [pay for a test] to find out for sure."