By Sherrie Chen
A 77-pound dachshund slims down and becomes a calendar boy! Obie, who was born February 17, 2006, is a male Dachshund that weighed 77 pounds, and has become a winner of a dachshund.
For human beings, losing 54 pounds is really a big deal. And losing 54 pounds as an obese dachshund is an even greater feat.
From 2012 when he was famous for fatness of weighing 77 pounds, when a normal-weight standard dachshund is about 35 pounds. He was so obese he needed to wear a vest to protect his belly from dragging on the ground.
Obie’s weight may exacerbate dachshund’s propensity for health problems, which happens on many other pets. The main reason they can get so fat is due to owner’s overfeeding.
Nora Vanatta who is a veterinary tech, took custody and put Obie on a weight-loss dry food diet and the pounds melted off. Basically, the way Obie lost weight was to lower the amount of food instead of exercises.
The diet turned out to be a success since Obie lost about one pound a week for a year and lost 40 pounds in total.
Vanatta counts his milestones. “The first time he ran, the first time he lifted his leg to pee.”
After losing 40 pounds, which is more than  half of his old weight, he had so much excess skin he needed a modified tummy tuck. After Vets surgically removed two-and-a-half pounds of tissue, he looks sleek and slim as he used to. And now Obie maintains a weight of 23 pounds a year.
Because of his huge success, he has his own 2015 calendar being sold for $25 to inspire others with obese pets.
