First came Kai, a Golden Retriever 100 pounds overweight. Now it’s Woody, an Alaskan Malamute who was almost 210 pounds when he was rescued from a muddy creek. But Pam Heggie is more than up to the challenge of getting the senior dog healthy.
Woody was found abandoned in Lethbridge, Alberta in July of 2020. He appeared to be drowning in a creek but was thankfully rescued by Lethbridge Animal Services and then taken in by The Misfits of Alberta Animal Rescue, the same animal rescue who had saved Kai, and for whom Pam is a foster caregiver.
Woody was so big that he was first weighed on a cattle scale. The 10-year-old dog weighed in at a whopping 209 pounds (95.2 kg). Misfits of Alberta Animal Rescue reached out to Pam to see if she would foster another overweight senior dog and she said yes.
“I couldn’t believe the size of him…” Pam told Global TV News. “He wasn’t as immobile as Kai was when we got Kai, but definitely his weight was affecting his quality of life.”
Just as with Kai, Woody was put on a strict diet and exercise regime. In the first five months he lost 57 pounds. Pam didn’t have to encourage Woody to go on walks, he was more than willing. During his first week at her home he woke her up at 2 am so they could go for one.
He had to work on his table manners and learn not to beg for table food. But he still liked to scrounge for food where he could.
Slowly but surely, Woody continued to shed pounds and after a year of dieting he was almost 100 pounds down. By November of 2021 he weighed 111 pounds (50.5 kg) and it’s clear he’s loving life now that he’s a lot lighter.
With Woody nearing his optimal weight, Misfits and Pam prepared him for adoption and thought they had found a perfect home for him on a farm. But Woody was prone to wandering away and so it did not work out.
Said Pam, “He doesn’t listen and he does whatever he wants.”
But that worked out for Woody because Pam recently decided she would become a foster failure for the second time and decided to adopt Woody herself.
Now, the two senior dogs in her home couldn’t be happier and Pam shares that Kai and Woody are “just a couple Misfits who fit our family perfectly.”
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