Nuggi could barely walk 33 feet. The dog, rescued from a Manurewa property in Auckland October 2021, weighed 53.7 kilograms about 118.4 pounds. Animal control officers watched him stop three times just to catch his breath on the short trip from the house to the vehicle. His legs looked ready to give out under the weight.
That extreme condition led to a prison sentence for his owner nearly three years later.
Police executed a search warrant at the woman’s home and found multiple dogs. Nuggi was among them. Officers transferred him to an Auckland Council shelter and then to the SPCA’s Māngere Centre for a full veterinary exam.
A veterinarian recorded the 53.7-kilogram weight and noted that the fat layer made it impossible to hear his heartbeat with a stethoscope. Nuggi also had overgrown nails, skin tags on his belly and elbows, and conjunctivitis. He struggled to move, had trouble breathing, could not handle warm weather, and appeared constantly fatigued. The vet concluded the excess weight caused severe long-term discomfort and distress.
The owner told SPCA inspectors she fed Nuggi eight to ten pieces of chicken every day, plus dog biscuits. She said she exercised him by walking him or letting him outside on the property.
Nuggi spent about two months in SPCA care and lost 8.9 kilograms roughly 16.5 percent of his body weight. Despite that improvement, he died suddenly from an acute hemorrhage caused by a ruptured mass on his liver. A necropsy also found liver disease and Cushing’s disease.
SPCA Chief Executive Todd Westwood called Nuggi’s condition a huge shock.
“Nuggi was easily one of the most obese animals we’ve ever encountered,”
He said.
“He was so enormous that he could hardly walk and he was clearly suffering as a result of the significant amount of weight he was carrying.”
Westwood added:
“Part of being a responsible dog owner is providing your pet with an appropriate diet and daily exercise, which was clearly not the case here. Nuggi was being drastically overfed, and instead of seeking help or amending the behaviour, his owner continued to overfeed him until he could barely walk. This is unacceptable.”
In July 2024 the owner pleaded guilty at Manukau District Court to failing to meet Nuggi’s physical, health, and behavioral needs. She received two months’ imprisonment, ordered to pay NZ$1,222.15 in reparations, and banned from owning dogs for 12 months.
The case, confirmed by the official SPCA New Zealand statement and reporting from 1News, shows that animal neglect is not limited to starvation. Extreme overfeeding can cause the same suffering. Responsible ownership means the right food in the right amounts, plus real exercise nothing less.
