Dog Gets Skin Lift After Losing More Than Half His Body Weight

News a dog got a skin lift after losing almost half of his furry little body weight may prompt the question … is the plastic surgery trend in America going too far?

Obie the dog got a skin lift, but the pup’s weight loss would be akin to a very dramatic result in a human. Having weighed 77 pounds, a doggie diet and rigorous fetch regime helped the Dachshund shed 40 of the 77 — and left him with a canine cosmetic quandary.

Nora Vanatta rescued the morbidly obese dog in the fall, after a Facebook plea explained that Obie had been “loved” to near death by prior owners, often fed people food and allowed to become dangerously overweight.

Nearly 90,000 people “liked” Vanatta’s “Biggest Loser, Doxie Edition” Facebook page, where Obie’s efforts to trim down and tone up for collar season were chronicled.

Fans were kept abreast before Obie the dog required the skin lift, with progress updates such as this one in the middle of the doxie’s weight loss battle:

“I snuck in a weigh in on Sun. but Obie weighs in at 55lbs today, down from 77lbs on Aug. 18th. His blood work came back great and will hold off on anymore antibiotics for now. Maybe he will be up for some more running today.”

As fans cheered Obie on, the pup rapidly halved his weight — but excess skin and short legs made his weight loss struggle an ongoing issue.

Tuesday, the formerly obese dog went under the knife, and Vanatta said:

“That skin was dragging between the front legs and he kept stepping on it … And having short legs made it really hard. So he had to have that done … I don’t think he was going to live very much longer,” Vanatta told ABC News Wednesday. “He probably would’ve died.”

Though the dog’s skin lift helped, Obie still has about 7 pounds to lose.