When Theo’s parents adopted him from Underdogs Animal Rescue, he weighed 14 and a half pounds — which is twice the weight a Chihuahua should be.
“We had never seen a Chihuahua look like that before,” Addison, Theo’s mom, said in a video for The Dodo. “It looked like he had a white turtleneck on.”
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The senior pup was desperately looking for someone to take a chance on him and help him lose the weight, and when the right couple stepped up, everyone at the rescue was thrilled.
“My fiancé and I said, ‘If we don’t help him, who’s going to help him?’” Addison said.
When the couple first brought Theo home, they weren’t even able to get a harness on him properly — he was just too chubby. He wasn’t able to breathe properly and struggled to take deep breaths. His ability to get around was minimal. His quality of life was suffering, and his parents knew they had to do everything in their power to help him heal.
“Half-a-mile walk felt like a 10-mile walk to him,” Addison said.
Despite his health issues, Theo never struggled to express his opinion, and whenever a walk got too hard for him, he wasn’t shy in saying so.
“He has never had a hard time telling us how he feels,” Addison said. “He’ll just stop, look up at Brendan, never me, and say, ‘Yeah, I’m all set.’”
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After months of diet and exercise, Theo finally began to lose the weight. He became faster and more agile, and was clearly enjoying life that much more. Once the weight started to come off, Theo’s vet determined that he was actually much younger than they’d originally thought. The weight was aging him and slowing him down in every way.
Theo has now lost nearly half his body weight, and his life has completely transformed.
“His entire quality of life has completely changed,” Addison said. “We couldn’t be any more proud of him.”
Tiny Dog Arrives At Shelter So Chubby He Can Barely Move
He’s working on getting healthy 💪
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Source: Los Angeles Times (edited)
