内容摘要：Roker is the first to admit that staying on track isn’t always easy. When his mother was hospitalized in 2007 before she died, he gained 40 lbs. But he knew the drill. He got back to the regimens he’d relied on before and the weight came off.

Roker is the first to admit that staying on track isn’t always easy. When his mother was hospitalized in 2007 before she died, he gained 40 lbs. But he knew the drill. He got back to the regimens he’d relied on before and the weight came off.

Charlie was living on the streets of Thailand, so dangerously obese that he could no longer move. When Lara, founder of Koh Koh Pups rescue, found him in November 2024, lying motionless in the middle of the road, she knew she couldn’t walk away.At 38 kgs (83 lbs), Charlie was in desperate need of help. He also had sore spots on his legs and under his stomach. With the assistance of kind Burmese workers, Lara carefully got him lifted into her vehicle, and so began his journey to a new life. Through structured care and unwavering dedication, Charlie’s world started to change for the better.

On Charlie’s first day at Koh Koh Pups rescue, Lara started him on a strict diet, feeding him small portions. By the next day, she gently encouraged movement by having him follow his food around. Within a few days, Charlie could stand and walk on his own. Before long, he was playing with the other dogs.In just six months, Charlie shed 11 kgs (24 lbs). His painful sores healed, and his dirty, matted fur was shaved off to reveal a bright, handsome pup beneath it all. Reflecting on his transformation, Lara jokes, “It’s like we put him in the wash and he is shrunk.”Charlie lived near a busy beach frequented by tourists who, with good intentions, fed him fried chicken, pork, and other human food for years. Unfortunately, this

caused Charlie to gain excessive weight, eventually leaving him severely obese and unable to move.Charlie is now doing much better, playing like a normal dog and swimming in the sea. But his story is a reminder that what may seem like a kind gesture—feeding street dogs—can sometimes do more harm than good.

Rocky Kanaka, a well-known pet rescue advocate, sums it up best: “Helping street dogs doesn’t just mean feeding them, it means feeding them right. What we see as kindness can unintentionally lead to suffering.”

, recalls how she unknowingly overfed her dog and now regrets it, “I feel like the worst dog mom 😭 my dog needs to loose about 6 pounds because I’ve been accidentally over feeding him. I was going by the chart on the food bag, which I now understand is not accurate. He’s a 3yr old cardigan corgi and excess weight can really hurt their backs and joints and I just feel so bad.”He'd just gotten up that morning and started to put his bathrobe on when he suddenly froze, Ali said. “I asked if he was okay. He replied, ‘No, I'm not,’“ she said, sharing that he began shaking and gasping for air. “I called an ambulance, staying calm for his sake, whispering words of reassurance until help arrived. The paramedics were quick to respond. Although the seizure had passed, Glenn was in visible pain, particularly in his arm, which had locked during the seizure. His eyes were vacant.”

“The trauma was immediate and life-altering,” said Ali, who explained that scans showed that he had a mass on his brain. Four days after he arrived at the hospital, on February 22, Ali, Glenn, and their two children, Grace, 19, and Joe, 16, were given the devastating news: The mass was a high-gradeexplains, it’s a bleak diagnosis: “There's no cure for

. Treatments might slow cancer growth and reduce symptoms.”The news, Ali says, was “horrendous.”