A dog named Bertha weighed around 60 pounds. If she was a Staffordshire Terrier or a Golden Retriever, it would have been a healthy weight. Unfortunately, Bertha is a Pug and Beagle mix or a Puggle. For a dog her size, 60 pounds is a lot of weight.
Bertha was obese and she was struggling with her mobility because of her weight. While most people think that fat dogs are cute, the reality is very different. Bertha was so big that she needed to lay down after taking a few steps. She’s unable to enjoy activities that most dogs love doing, like doing zoomies or even just going on a walk.
Thankfully, Bertha’s photo was seen by a woman named Meredith Wille. Meredith was browsing her social media page when she came across Bertha’s photo. Her first thought was that Bertha looked horrifyingly fat. As a licensed veterinary technician and a dog trainer, she knew the risks of obesity in dogs.
Meredith has been helping overweight and injured dogs for years and thought that she could help Bertha lose weight and be happy again. Even though she knew that helping Bertha would take a lot of time and work, she still reached out to the animal shelter where Bertha was staying and asked about the possibility of fostering Bertha.
Soon after she started fostering Bertha, Meredith didn’t waste any time to start her weight loss process. She only fed her a healthy diet that consisted of high protein, low fat, and low calorie, and she also took Bertha to underwater treadmill sessions. It was hard to get Bertha to exercise at first. She didn’t even last 15 seconds walking on the underwater treadmill.
However, as months went by, Bertha lost a lot of weight. When she lost 20 pounds, she had surgery to repair the tendons on her back feet, which collapsed due to her weight. Now, Bertha has a new spring in her step and can now do most things that dogs love to do.
Thanks to Meredith, Bertha lost around half her weight and she’s very mobile and happy. Meredith also decided to foster-fail and keep Bertha. Here’s a video link below the screenshots showing Bertha’s amazing weight loss journey.
Video Source The Dodo via YouTube
