Grieving Overweight Dachshund on a Mission to Slim Down for a New Family

Vincent, who recently lost his owner, is now living with a foster parent and swimming to lose pounds

Vincent is turning tragedy into a second chance.

The 7-year-old dachshund recently lost his owner and was surrendered to an animal shelter in Houston, Texas. Vincent arrived with depression, high cholesterol, potential nerve damage, and 19 pounds of extra weight, reports FOX8. At 38 pounds, the pup’s chances for adoption were looking bleak.

Thankfully, Mary Tipton, the intake coordinator for K-9 Angels Rescue and a member of the board of directors for Harris County Animal Shelter, was visiting Vincent’s county shelter that morning and spied the pooch. Tipton immediately wanted to help Vincent find a new start, so she snapped a photo of the overweight dog and posted it to Facebook, looking for a foster parent. Fifteen minutes later, dachshund rescuer Melissa Anderson responded, eager to help the weiner dog drop those extra pounds.

Anderson and Vincent’s first week together was rocky. The dachshund did not react well to his new health food, vomiting up everything Anderson gave him.

“I am not sure what the previous owner fed him, but I think it was all fast food. He was literally detoxing the first week,” Anderson said.

Now that Vincent has been on his new diet for a few weeks, he is used to the healthier food. Along with eating right, the chubby canine is also doing water aerobics five times a week and playing with other dogs for exercise. Vincent is already showing signs of improvement. He has moved up from just floating in the pool to paddling for more than 15 minutes at a time, and can now jog after other dogs, instead of waddling to keep up. Most important, Vincent is healthier and happier.

K-9 Angels Rescue wants Vincent to lose a little more weight before they put him up for adoption, but they are willing to let him go to his forever home now, if the right owner comes forward.

“We take adoptions case by case. If there was a perfect home that wanted to take over his weight loss journey we may take that into consideration,” Tipton told FOX8. “We are in no hurry to get rid of him, but there are other dogs at the shelter that are ready to be saved.”

At 35.2 pounds, Vincent still has a long road ahead before he is back to a healthy weight, but it’s a road that gets easier to walk along every day.