No matter who or what you are, losing weight is difficult. At times it can be so hard that you want to give up.
Kai, a Golden Retriever, was extremely overweight. Not much is known about his past, like how he got to be so heavy, but according to Good Morning America, Kai’s family brought him to the vet to be euthanized.
Thankfully the vet stepped in and contacted Misfits of Alberta Animal Rescue. The rescue got in touch with Pam Heggie, who was interested in fostering a dog, and decided to bring Kai home.
“This is the most overweight animal I have ever seen,” Pam remembered her vet telling her.
When she brought Kai to her home, the Golden Retriever weighed 173 pounds, 100 pounds more than a healthy Golden Retriever, and was about the size of a table.
No task was easy, but the vet assured Pam that anything she did for Kai would help him.
She told GMA that first day it took him 20 minutes to climb the front steps in order to get in her house, but the slow start didn’t stop her or Kai.
“He learned that I was gonna help him and we were gonna be OK.”
The two started going on daily walks and Pam enrolled Kai in water therapy to strengthen his legs. Kai also began eating a strict diet. It wasn’t long before she started to notice progress.
“It’s crazy,” Pam said. “It’s like raising your child and you look at them and they’re all grown up and you just wonder how that happened.”
Now, a year later, Kai has lost 100 pounds and he’s doing everything a dog normally does.
“I look at him and forget how broken he was,” she said. “He truly amazes me every day.”
Pam said Kai’s journey and his determination can serve as a reminder for those who have a tough task to tackle.
Everybody has things they need to do — and he was just so happy … every day he was like this is what we have to do and I’m going to do it. And every day he did it,” she said. “He doesn’t worry about yesterday, he doesn’t worry about tomorrow, he just focuses on what needs to be done today and he does it. We can learn a lot from dogs.”
Congratulations, Kai! What an accomplishment. Thank you Pam for helping him lose weight so he is no longer unhealthy.
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