A dieting fat cat leopard knocked spots off its rivals with a slim new look.

Zookeepers at the Panzhihua Zoo put the once-obese wildcat nicknamed 'Claws' on a strict fitness regime after it ballooned in size and struggled to breathe properly due to its weight.

Footage from a year ago showed the portly feline barely able to move around its enclosure in Sichuan, China.

But after a year of a balanced diet and regular exercise in an expanded habitat, the leopard has shed the pounds and is now turning heads with its sleeker, more athletic figure.

In recent footage, the big cat can be seen confidently prowling around its upgraded 45-square-metre enclosure, impressing zoo visitors.

One guest, Ms Hu, said: 'You can see now that in just a few months, it's managed to lose weight and become more robust.'

A zookeeper said: 'This leopard is 16 or 17 years old, which is equivalent to the age of seventy or eighty for a human.

'We're feeding it fresh beef and chicken, and proper weight loss is good for extending its life.'

'To improve its environment and increase its exercise movement, we expanded the leopard pavilion. We removed the fence and wire mesh between the leopard pavilion and the next building.

'The range of activities now available is large, its amount of exercise is large, and the weight loss effect is more obvious.'

Wild leopards typically live up to 17 years, but in captivity, they can reach 30.