Following the passing of his 94-year-old owner, the former stray cat from the streets of Rome now owns a fortune in bricks and mortar across the country - and is now officially a fat cat.

However, Juno Moneta can smell a rat. According to the laws of Italy, animals cannot inherit directly. Instead, the fortune sits with the cat’s trustee, a nurse who took care of Tommaso’s mistress right up to the end.

The cat’s late owner, a widow without children, had instructed her lawyers to find a suitable organisation to look after the money and the cat, but with no luck. The nurse was allegedly unaware of her employer’s wealth and the handwritten testament from 2009. 

It is unknown what will happen to the wealth when four-year-old Tommaso has chased his last mouse. And, after all, curiosity killed the cat. However, it is fair to say that the austerity measures announced this month by Italian prime minister Mario Monti’s were bad news for the feline, as the bulk of tax increases will come from a new property tax. 

And while Tommaso may be the richest cat in the world, he is not even close to being the richest animal. Gunther IV, an Alsatian, is believed to be worth about £224.6 million ($348 million) - wealth that had previously belonged to his father, Gunther III, the pet of a German countess, according to pet insurance firm Petplan. Gunther IV is possibly the only ultra high net worth animal on the planet.