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By Maria Azzurra Volpe
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After refusing to put a puppy to sleep, a veterinarian from Kentucky took her home thinking she probably wasn't going to make it. Eight years later, she flies to medical conferences around the world with him because she can't bear to be apart.
Dr. Matt McGlasson told Newsweek that the sick Maltese puppy was brought into the practice he was working at eight years ago to be humanely euthanized because his owners "didn't want to spend any more money on her."
Chickie's previous owners had paid a breeder a "pretty good amount of money" to buy her, but they quickly gave up on her after she became sick and stopped eating.
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"She was literally 0.8 pounds, I could hold her in one hand," McGlasson explains in a viral TikTok video shared on Saturday under the username @dr.mattmcglasson.
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The couple had brought Chickie in twice to get her checked for parasites and parvo, but the third time they decided they no longer wanted to deal with her illness and asked him to put her down instead.
"I said I really don't feel comfortable putting this puppy to sleep, and I didn't even offer this, but he said, 'Well, do you want her? You can have her.' And I was like sure I will take this puppy, alright!" he says in the clip.
His plan was initially to try his best to get her into shape and find her a loving new family, even though he feared she wouldn't make it. But then, McGlasson and his wife fell in love with the puppy and decided to officially make her a member of the family.
Now Chickie, who has her own TikTok account, @chickiethechick, is a healthy 5 pounds, she goes to the gym with her owner every morning at 6, sleeps in bed with both parents, and accompanies them on all of their trips.
"She is the sweetest thing ever. I never considered myself to be a 'little dog person' but I've been obsessed with Chickie from day one. I even take her to conferences when I'm speaking and she is always a huge hit with the audience," he said.
With more than 6.3 million pets entering American shelters every year, adopting a fur baby instead of buying one is more important than ever.
It is estimated that 920,000 surrendered animals who aren't able to find a home for themselves quickly are euthanized every year, mostly because shelters have no space to keep them, and animals keep coming in every day.
The video quickly went viral on social media and has received more than 867,500 views and 93,900 likes on TikTok.
One user, Dana Matos725 said: "Our family dog had cancer and we collectively decided to give her a chance to survive. $12,000 later, he is cancer free, we don't regret a dime of that decision."
One minute Revolution wrote: "Some people don't deserve the love of such a beautiful creature."
Another user, Tracie, commented: "It always blows my mind when people will come into our [hospital] that just spent 4k on a 'designer Frenchie' but then flip out at prices and claim they have no $ to treat them."
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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