An in-home caregiver adopted her dementia-stricken patient’s dangerously obese Dachshund in late May to try and return the pup to a healthy weight and found a new member of her family for life.
Tegan Strickland met her patient’s dog, Daisy, on her first visit to the home. While the elderly patient’s daughter was showing Strickland inside, she offhandedly added that her mother “has a very fat dog” that was frequently overfed.
Strickland was expecting “a heavyset dog,” maybe 10 pounds above average. Instead, she found sweet-faced Daisy, who weighed a staggering 55 pounds.
“I laid eyes on Daisy for the first time, and there are no words to describe what it is like to see Daisy in person for the first time. I was very shocked. She’s very heavyset,” Strickland told PEOPLE.
Over time with her patient, she tried to steer the elderly woman towards changing the feeding habits of the dog. But, with her patient’s memory compromised by dementia, she struggled to improve the pup’s meal limits when left alone.
“If you’re familiar with dementia, that’s a losing battle and that didn’t work out. I sat down with some of the family and asked, ‘Can you surrender Daisy to me so that I can attempt to rehabilitate her health?’” Strickland told the outlet.
“They agreed and I know that it was a weight lifted off their shoulders not to have a dog to care for anymore.”
The moment Daisy was in her arms, Strickland made a mad dash to the vet. After they came up with a weight loss plan for the pup, she took Daisy home — and quickly realized the obese weiner dog could barely walk.
“We didn’t take her anywhere. She sat in the corner of my house. We’d carry her outside to go potty and then carry her back to her corner,” Strickland told the outlet.
Three months after starting the diet, Daisy is down about 10 pounds.
The rotund pooch is still working through health issues likely brought on by her obesity, including hypothyroidism and gallbladder sludge. Her teeth are also rotting and will need to be removed under anesthesia after she loses enough weight.
In the wake of the stacking vet bills, Strickland’s veterinarian recommended starting a social media page to try and garner support for the ailing pup.
Many dog-lovers quickly latched on to Daisy’s journey and weight loss progress, while others have mistakenly slammed Strickland under the belief that she “had [Daisy] for years and made her so heavy.”
Still, Strickland couldn’t bring herself to blame the growing mob.
“I am well aware Daisy is a shocking sight. I relate to the anger that they felt, and I felt the same emotions when I first laid eyes on her. How did she get this far into this condition? People are concerned. People love animals,” Strickland told the outlet.
Strickland hopes to combine Daisy’s journey with human health-related content on her social media page, including “education on dementia.”
For now, though, she’s sticking with Daisy, who can finally make it to the park after getting her vaccinations updated.
“She loves to explore new things. She loves to play with my three corgis. She loves to sit outside in the sunshine. She’ll dig a little area and sit in the sun. She has so much fun. She’s got a brand new life for sure,” Strickland told the outlet.
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