Owners Want To Put Down 173-Pound Dog, But Vet Knew He Had a Lot of Life Left
We all know that carrying too much weight isn’t good for us. Health detailed all the ways in which belly fat can harm us.
Heart attacks, lung issues, diabetes, cancer — the list goes on and on. But did you know that getting heavy isn’t just bad for humans?
Yes, it can also hurt pets. Perhaps that’s why a pet owner tried to do away with a plump pooch — and a kindhearted animal rescue worker did everything she could to help him.
According to Global News, Kai the dog had a big problem — and that problem was himself. The lab-retriever mix tipped the scales at an astonishing 173 pounds.
At some point, his owners decided they couldn’t manage the super-sized doggo anymore. So they left him at a kill shelter.
Now, Kai didn’t exactly charm the camera. His obesity was truly, jaw-droppingly sad, leaving him barely able to move.
But the clinic employees didn’t do away with Kai. Instead, they contacted Pam Heggie at The Misfits of Alberta Animal Rescue, and she took possession of the fat doggy.
Heggie had a lot of trepidation about Kai. In fact, she wasn’t sure how long he would survive.
“He was just so heavy,” she explained. “Everything was work.
“He panted even just moving around the house. I worried he would just have a heart attack or something and just be dead.”
But Kai clung to life, and Heggie put him on a strict diet and began regularly exercising him. She even got him on an underwater treadmill and lumbering around a dog park.
Change happened the way change does: step by small step. Over the space of six months, the weight started to drop off, and Kai ended up slimming down by 100 pounds.
Heggie documented the whole thing on social media, posting to the Facebook group This Is Kai. The pictures show the once-chubby pooch now slimmed down and bursting with life.
Dr. Jared Lawrence, Kai’s veterinarian, stated, “I think, in general, Kai’s prognosis is really good. Kai was a dog that was destined to be euthanized but because of Heggie and because of the Misfits, he’s where he’s at.”
Heggie isn’t so sure. “I’m just his driver,” she stated.
“He does it all himself. He just needs someone to get him there.”
Heggie was only supposed to serve as a temporary caregiver for Kai, but she’s thinking of adopting him. “I don’t know if I could actually give him to someone else,” she said.
“He’s pretty attached to me and our family. So, I don’t know.”
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