Nurith NupurTowards better health
The first step towards a healthier Honey started with a thorough checkup of her current health status. The results revealed that she was suffering from a thyroid problem. This was not an unusual disease in beagles and could be easily treated with appropriate medication. Once on treatment, Honey quickly lost 5 pounds.
Her thyroid wasn’t the sole cause
But even after her rounds of prescription, it became apparent that thyroid wasn’t the sole reason behind her weight gain. Honey had a negligent owner who had overfed her to the point that her legs couldn’t support her own weight. The details and whereabouts of Honey’s actual owner were hard to place.
She had an elderly owner
It was assumed by the shelter that the person who had come to drop off Honey was a relative or caretaker of the elderly owner who Honey formerly belonged to. It turns out, it wasn’t a negligent owner who abandoned Honey, but rather an old one who was going senile.
The struggling owner
Sue Cable explained, “All we know is that her owner had dementia that was progressively getting worse.” She continued with the explanation, “She got to the point where she struggled to remember whether she had fed Honey or not, so she just kept feeding her.”
Her extreme weight
The additional meals made Honey gain a lot of weight. Honey was only 7-years-old and weighed a lot unnecessarily. Where a healthy and normal beagle her age should weigh anywhere around 20 pounds, Honey weighed a whopping 68 pounds! She was 48 pounds over her recommended weight.
Practically immobile
Honey was obese to the point that she was practically dormant. Cable said, “She was immobile.” She had trouble moving at all. “Her belly would drag the ground and the only way she could move was if she pulled herself forward with her front legs,” Cable continued.