Actress Jane Lynch Rescues Obese Dog After He Was Found Abandoned, Face-Down in Field
Obesity is common in the United States, and not just for people. Many dogs today also suffer from conditions stemming from eating too much and exercising too little.
Some dogs are pickier than others, but plenty of dogs will wolf down whatever is available: their own food, the cat’s food, human food, and questionable non-food items.
But there are also dogs who suffer from other health issues that only exacerbate their weight. That was the case for “Arby,” also known as Fatty Arbuckle, now owned by actress Jane Lynch.
The first eight or so years of his story is unknown, but when he was found by rescuers he had grown enormous. He had been dumped in a field, and probably hadn’t moved far from where he had been left — he was too overweight to take more than a few steps at a time.
This kind of obesity doesn’t just happen. The poor pup was suffering from hypothyroidism, which had caused his weight to balloon out of control.
He was depressed, too. He couldn’t move normally, couldn’t even lie down normally — his fat literally kept him from being able to rest or walk like any other dog.
“When I picked him up, I was worried he wasn’t going to make it in the car ride,” his foster mom, Laura, told The Dodo. “The first couple of days, he had no idea what was going on. His ears were down and he didn’t want to move. He didn’t want to go outside.”
“All that extra weight, it just makes him so immobile,” she continued. “He couldn’t go for long walks.”
After medication for his condition, walking and being active would be the best treatment, but he was so heavy that his joints were under a lot of stress. He had to exercise, but carefully.
“His mind was probably going a million miles an hour and his body couldn’t respond to it,” said Laura. But she found a way to get him moving again.
“There’s these waist things for dogs that have trouble with mobility. You kind of lift under their body and I would guide him.”
After a while, Arbuckle began to shed the weight. A dog of his make and model should weigh around 50 pounds, but when he was rescued he weighed over twice that.
Jane Lynch was immediately interested in being this dog’s forever home and had been the one to name the dog Arbuckle, according to foster mom Laura.
It’s taken a lot of love, proper feeding, medication, and dedication to get him where he is, but he now weighs around 80 pounds. Still a ways from Lynch’s 65-pound goal for him, but a sight better than his original 116 pounds.
“He’s so happy,” Lynch told People, “he’s the funniest, goofiest guy.”
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