The before and after. Picture: Facebook/this is kai. Every dog has his day!
Kai the golden retriever was carrying a fair few extra kilos...and it almost cost him his life, when his owner took him to be euthanized by a veterinarian due to his size.
Thankfully, instead of going through with the horrible demand the vet got in touch with animal workers and the dangerously overweight dog, named Kai, found a new family.
It was the beginning of a heartwarming journey.
Kai's second owner Pam Heggie said she does not know much about Kai’s past, but she knew he needed help.
The veterinarian told Ms. Heggie: ''(Kai) is the most overweight animal I’ve ever seen…anything you do is gonna help that dog.''
Small improvements.
When Ms. Heggie first brought Kai home, it took him 20 minutes just to climb the small set of stairs that led to her front door, Heggie told Good Morning America.
But with regular walks and determination, little by little his fitness started to improve.
Heggie said: ''Literally, he went five to ten steps, and they would lay down and start panting.'' But Kai began improving bit by bit.
''We went to the closest neighbor’s driveway and then the next neighbor over,'' Heggie said.
Picture: Facebook/this is kai. ''Now he’s just a regular dog.''
Eventually, Kai was able to reach the end of the block, could hop into Pam's car and even started running at the park.
''It’s crazy. It’s like raising your child and you look at them and they’re all grown up and you just wonder how that happened,'' Heggie said.
''I look at him and forget how broken he was. Now he’s just a regular dog doing regular dog things like everybody else.''
''He truly amazes me every day…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.''
Picture: Facebook/this is kai. Kai is one inspirational pup!
