The internet may have a collective affection towards “chonky” pets, but sometimes pets can get too chonky. Pet obesity is not cute. It’s funny for a little bit, but that weight has to go.
It’s not good for the animal, and certainly not the owners.
Meet Peaches, a chunky cat who needs to get rid of most of his chunk.
Peaches is an obese housecat who weighs almost 3 times as much as a normal cat. He struggles to get around, and his mom is desperate to get him to lose weight.
But pep talk and fitness tips don’t work on animals. It’s up to their human parents to get them to move, and that’s what his mom found a bit tricky.
Peaches had enough trouble trying to walk, what more get some exercise?
His mom, Chastity Emes, knew someone who could help them.
So for all this talk about pet obesity, how does one actually know if their pet’s obese? Well, in the case of cats, you should be able to make out their ribs and waist.
If there’s too much pudge that you can’t see the ribs and waist anymore, then it might be time for a visit to the vet for some advice. And if they’re struggling to walk like Peaches here does, then that’s all the confirmation you need.
Peaches ended up gaining all that weight during the pandemic.
Staying locked up and eating all the time with little exercise, he eventually grew to 25 pounds.
Cats are built to run, leap, and perch on top of whatever surface they find – as any cat owner would know. They aren’t built to sit in a couch all day.
When Peaches flopped over after Chastity attempted to get him through a hallway, that was a sign of how bad things got.
The plan? Get Peaches to swim.
Yes, swim. It may sound crazy since cats and water don’t mix.
But being afloat should make it easier for Peaches to move his limbs without needing to hold up his own weight – at least for now.
So Peaches has to be a little one-man feline swim team until he starts slimming down. Plus, Chastity was already friends with a pet hydrotherapist – Kira Palechek. So they had a little pet pool ready to use.
Unsurprisingly, Peaches didn’t enjoy the water the first few times. Cats will be cats, and this was no different.
But they had no choice. His health depended on him losing pounds, so Peaches had to get used to the water whether he liked it or not.
So Chastity and Kira made him swim small laps in the pool every day, and will continue this routine until the results show.
Chastity began documenting Peaches watery weight loss journey on TikTok. Their account name is @peaches_the_purrmaid, and it’s followed by nearly 50,000 people.
Every time a new video is uploaded, people always flock to the comments to give Peaches their words of support and appreciation. If only he could read them!
Peaches only began his weight loss journey very recently, so let’s wait and see what progress he’ll make in a few months time.
In the meantime, watch the full video below of Peaches going for a swim. Please share this article too!
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