Everything changed for a beautiful hairless cat named Boo when his family realized that their toddler was allergic to him.
Boo, an elf cat, was put in a separate part of the house while the family tried to figure out what to do — and, often, his only comfort was his food.
That’s how Boo got to weigh a whopping 25 pounds — about three times the weight his breed should normally weigh.
Things got more complicated when the family found out they had another baby on the way, and eventually Boo was given up — but thankfully he found the perfect family who loved him exactly as he was, while also helping him get trim and healthy again.
“At his old home he was kept in a room with food down 24/7 with little interaction,” Courtney Haney, Boo’s rescuer, told The Dodo. “Once we took him in, we put him on a feeding schedule of two wet foods a day and some dry mixed in throughout the day.”
Lamb, another hairless cat in his new family, became fast friends with him — and she even helped him exercise.
“We played with him and Lamb a lot so he became pretty active,” Haney said.
Slowly but surely, Boo started shedding the pounds. And when the family adopted a rescue dog, Penny Lane, the playtime (and healthy exercise) became even more frequent.
“Penny and Boo are partners in crime,” Haney said. “They’ll help each other steal food off the counter.”
With the help of Lamb and Penny Lane, Boo lost over 8 pounds, and now his vet says that he’s healthy once again.
“It took us about two years to get him down to the 16 pounds he is now and he’s been able to stay that way with his daily activity and feeding schedule,” Haney said. “Boo has lost a third of his body weight!”
But that doesn’t mean his enthusiasm for a good dinner is any less strong.
“He still LOVES food,” Haney said. “He’ll … use his huge paws to open the dog treat containers and run off with biscuits.”
“As I’m writing this, he actually stole a whole piece of chicken off my plate,” she added.