For the love of Lu-Seal, doctor put her on a diet
A dangerously obese Chihuahua and a stressed young doctor found — and saved — each other then embarked on a 14-month journey that won a $5,000 Petco Foundation grant for Humane Animal Rescue, the Pittsburgh shelter that brought them together.
The dog, named Lu-Seal by shelter workers, weighed 16 pounds when Dr. Julia Morely of Greenfield adopted her while going through a tough year in her emergency medicine residency. In June, she will graduate and move on to UPMC East, where she will be an attending physician.
And Lu-Seal? She lost half of her body weight and became a social media sensation with more than 9,000 followers on Instagram.
Adopting the happy little dog “was good for my mental health and probably one of the most rewarding things I have ever done,” Dr. Morely said Wednesday at the Petco store on McKnight Road, Ross, where a giant cardboard check for $5,000 was presented to shelter officials.
Dr. Morely entered the Petco Foundation’s Holiday Wishes campaign and was chosen as one of 52 winners who wrote essays on how their adopted pets positively changed and enriched their lives.
In the next round, Dr. Morely’s essay could win a $25,000 People’s Choice Award. Go to petcofoundation.org/holidaywishes to read her essay and the others and vote.
Lu-Seal wore a sweater to the Petco presentation because it was cold outside, and she weighs
just 8 pounds now. The sweater covered her own distinctive spotted coat, which her owner describes as blue merle.
When Dr. Morely first saw her in October 2016, the 16-pound dog could barely walk because her skinny back legs could not support the weight of her body. Lu-Seal was about 9 years old, shelter workers thought, although it was hard to tell because she had been picked up as a street stray.
Then and now, LuSeals’s dark brown eyes twinkled merrily, and her mouth was poised in what lookslike a perennial smile.
The doctor took her home and consulted a veterinarian who recommended a daily diet of 250 calories and a regular walking regimen. Every step of her one-year weight loss journey is documented at instagram. with lots of photographs.
When Lu-Seal reached her goal weight last September, Dr. Morely threw a celebratory party at Grist House Craft Brewery, attended by 150 people and 50 dogs.
“We did weight checks for dogs,” Dr. Morely said. A number of people seemed surprised to learn their beloved pets are unhealthily heavy.
Lu-Seal smiled and wagged her tail at everyone she met at Petco, but she was especially happy to see Mathew Schmidt and Jen Moriarty, owners of Dog Gone Walking. Emergency room physicians have demanding and erratic schedules, so the professional walkers tend to Lu-Seal when Dr. Morely cannot.
Petco’s Holiday Wishes has awarded $765,000 in grants this holiday season, said Steve Zech, store leader at the McKnight Road pet supplies store. Mr. Zech said the $5,000 check for Humane Animal Rescue is “to help with your life-saving causes.”
“The amount of the check was a pleasant surprise,” said Cathy Oskin, chief development officer at the shelter.
Since 1999, Petco has given more than $200 million to animal welfare organizations.