Obie in his heavier days.

A seriously overweight Dachshund that has managed to lose more than half of his bodyweight has gathered a bit of a cult following.

Obie was taken in by Oregon Dachshund Rescue after his elderly owners overfed him. He had reached a massive 35kg, more than twice the average weight of a standard Dachshund.

Fortunately under the care of new owner Nora Vanatta Obie has managed to lose the extra pounds and is now down to 14kg. His massive weight loss left him with a substantial amount of excess skin, which he has since had removed in an operation that took off around a kilogram of skin.

His new owner commented on his good nature: “He is extremely sweet and loving. He was obviously loved and is a joy to work with. The ageing owners just couldn’t say no.”

Now, Obie’s weight loss achievement has given him something of a cult celebrity status on the internet. A Facebook fanpage set up for him has received over 97,000 ‘likes’, and Vanatta has received thousands in donations towards the dog’s ongoing care needs.

But the fame has come at a cost for Vanatta, who spent tens of thousands of dollars on legal battles over custody of Obie. Tensions rose high between herself and Oregon Dachshund Rescue, but eventually the two managed to reach a settlement at the start of this year and Vanatta is to keep Obie.