Lu-Seal the Chihuahua goes from chubby shelter dog to svelte internet sensation
Julia Morley walked into Humane Animal Rescue in Pittsburgh fully intent on bringing home a big black Lab mix.
Instead, the Greenfield resident locked eyes with a chubby 9-year-old Chihuahua named Lu-Seal and the rest — as they say — is history.
"It was love at first sight," says Morley, an emergency room attending physician at UPMC East in Monroeville. She adopted Lu-Seal that day.
And with that love and lots of calorie counting, Morley has taken that morbidly obese senior dog and turned her into a svelte internet sensation.
Lu-Seal the Pig-Seal-Dog has more than 19,800 Instagram and 7,600 Facebook followers and her very own online store.
From the streets
Lu-Seal was brought the shelter by a Good Samaritan who had found her wandering the streets of Pittsburgh.
She had been in isolation at the shelter for a case of kennel cough. In that little quarantine crate is where Morley first spotted Lu-Seal.
"She was just smiling."
She took Lu-Seal home, weighing 16 pounds. That's the human equivalent of the 384-pound, 5-foot, 4-inch tall woman.
The shelter vet stressed the need for Lu-Seal to shed some weight, providing a medical plan and some feeding guidelines.
Morley also consulted with her own vet and gleaned information from petobesityprevention.org .
Diet, exercise
"I knew I could do this." I approached it scientifically, she says.
Lu-Seal had some dental issues that required extractions, leaving her with only seven teeth. That has not stopped her. "She's a quick eater."
Her 250-calories-a-day diet consists of breakfast and dinner of trays of 90-calorie Little Cesar trays (the filet mignon variety is a favorite), a 20-calorie dental chew and 50 calories in treats.
Morley says she'll make Lu-Seal work (aka do a few tricks) for her favorites — green beans, apples, cucumbers and chicken. "All in moderation." Lu-Seal "begs harder some days," Morley says.
Exercise was and remains an important component in Lu-Seal's weight loss. "We started walking. At first it was just two houses down the block and then we'd add house and then a block," Morley says. Now the pair walk about a mile a day.
In a year, Lu-Seal lost half of her body weight and reached her goal weight of 8 pounds.
Internet sensation
As Morley was getting through a grueling year as a resident physician, she still found time to document Lu-Seal's progress on the internet at the suggestion of a friend. Lu-Seal's weekly weigh-ins and weight loss, along with the human weight comparisons, were posted on her Instagram account.
Through that account and posting on Facebook, Morley and Lu-Seal's story landed on The Dodo's Party Animals video series. The video highlighted Lu-Seals "8 Pound Party." After that national exposure, her number of followers increased — significantly.
As Lu-Seal's popularity grew, Morley parlayed that into a boost for the Humane Animal Rescue.
Each year, the Petco Foundation invites adopters to share the story of how their adopted pet changed their lives during the annual Holiday Wishes campaign, giving the organization that they adopted from a chance to receive a grant award.
Morley's tale of Lu-Seal won a 2017 Holiday Wishes award and with it came a $5,000 grant for the shelter.
The pair traveled to New York City meet with Petco officials, as well as attend a meet-and-greet party. A giant mosaic of them also graced Union Square.
Shining star
Morley says she is peppered with questions daily about Lu-Seal — what she's wearing, where'd she go. "They notice everything, so many random observations."
Morley has set up an online store with plenty of Lu-Seal-related swag for sale. A portion of each sale goes to Humane Animal Rescue.
But more importantly, Lu-Seal has raised awareness of pet obesity and the adoption of senior dogs.
"Old dogs are great." Lu-Seal has some arthritis and can't jump, so Morley now has steps to the bed, steps to the couch and piles of blankets all over the house. "It's all about whatever makes Lu-Seal happy."
And seeing that little dog happy also swells the hearts of a few folks over at the Humane Animal Rescue .
"Lu-Seal has made a huge impact on raising awareness of pet obesity," says Kelly Haase, development associate for the rescue.
Cathy Oskin, chief development officer, adds the shelter sees a fair amount of obese, usually older pets. People don't know … "they are loving their pets to death with treats."
Grateful for the exposure and funding through the Petco Foundation, Oskin continues to be amazed at the time Morley devotes to social media. Morley and Lu-Seal also make time to visit the shelter.
"We all love Lu-Seal," says Haase.
Haase adds one final, parting thought: "You should always think to adopt. There are animals out there looking for their own special Julia."
Jonna Miller is the Tribune-Review features editor. You can contact her at jonnamiller@tribweb.com, 724-850-1270 or via Twitter @JLMiller_Trib.
