A Chihuahua with serious health problems is running around again, after improving her physical condition and losing those extra pounds that were taking away her happiness.

A 3-year-old female dog was sent to a shelter to be euthanized after her family considered her to be too sickly, but her story turned around with the help of a great team.

This Chihuahua’s life was on the verge of being snuffed out because of her size.

In late June of last year this little dog arrived at the Humane Society of Northwest Louisiana (HSNWLA) headquarters with some health issues. Because of her overweight the Chihuahua could not even move easily, let alone run or play like other puppies her age.

The most unfortunate part of the story is that after having neglected her to the extreme, her former owners wanted to surrender her to be euthanized because they considered her too “sickly”.

Under that excuse she was handed over to an animal shelter in Texas and the staff received her but with a very different purpose: to save her.

From the shelter they contacted HSNWLA to see if they could take the case and the team readily agreed.

“We had seen a picture, so we knew Rosemary was pretty overweight, but it was very sad because she had a lot of problems with her mobility. We couldn’t turn her away,” said Erin Shirley, HSNWLA volunteer.

When the Chihuahua arrived and was put on the scale, she weighed more than 24 pounds. From there, the volunteers’ commitment to help her get out of that state grew even stronger.

The dog named Rosemary could not even walk to relieve herself without feeling fatigued and her health was compromised.

Her caregivers and specialists began to work hard for this Chihuahua, helping her with an exercise routine and a balanced diet.

“Rosemary does workouts on the water treadmill a couple of times a week and has accumulated intervals of up to 20 minutes, which is really amazing,” said the caregiver.

It wasn’t an easy routine for this Chihuahua who was used to overeating, but she pulled through and after just over six months on her plan she looks a radical change. Rosemary has managed to lose almost 5 kilograms and walking is not a problem for her at all.

She enjoys playing with the other dogs at the shelter just like any other dog her age. In fact, her exercise routine consisted of a bit of fun as her caregivers let her out in the yard three times a day so she could stretch her paws and burn calories.

It wasn’t easy at first, but the Chihuahua turned out to be quite cooperative and seems to have understood that it was all for her own good.

“Once she dropped a few pounds, she became much more active, and then the pounds kept coming off.

She has always had a good personality, but she was so lethargic when she first arrived due to her lack of energy from carrying all that excess weight on her tiny body,” Erin said.

Since this Chihuahua was able to regain her health she made it onto a list of furries available for adoption and what do you think? Yes, in a matter of days the little girl found a home.

After suffering the deterioration of her health, due to the excess of food given to her by her former owners and even worse! Suffering from rejection due to her weight, Rosemary is running around happily again.

These people are the Chihuahua’s new parents and the shelter staff monitors her stay to make sure she doesn’t gain weight again.

The bottom line for our pets is that they grow up healthy and full of love but overfeeding doesn’t mean they are well cared for, so as the people responsible for these creatures we must pay attention to this.

Cute Rosemary left behind her obesity and also her bitter history to live healthy and happy forever.