Ty was surrendered to the Vanderburgh Humane Society (VHS) by his family after they found out their baby was allergic to him. Cats get brought to their shelter all the time — but not usually cats as chubby as Ty.

“[He weighed] 30 solid pounds,” Laurie Miller, development and public relations coordinator at VHS, told The Dodo. “After arriving at the VHS, he was diagnosed with morbid obesity. X-rays showed that his thoracic spine was starting to collapse from the weight. If this were to happen, it would ultimately affect his lungs and other vital organs. This is when his care team reached out to Canine Aquatic Center and devised a weight loss plan.”

Despite his limited mobility, Ty was a chatty guy right from the start and let his very big personality shine through. He loved getting as much attention as he could from whoever was willing to give it. His rescuers knew once he was able to move around better, he’d be pretty much unstoppable.

Ty’s situation was dire and needed to be addressed quickly, so his rescuers made his first water therapy appointment as soon as possible. Ty himself was not consulted on this decision — and during his first session, he made his opinions very known.

“He sang the song of his people the ENTIRE time, but was otherwise calm and collected,” Miller said. “Afterwards, he patiently let the instructors dry him off and then wandered around the pool deck — even peering down into the water.”

Ty personally thought there could be other ways for him to lose weight that didn’t have to do with water, but, nevertheless, he kept showing up — and now he’s pretty much an expert swimmer.

“After much time and lots of reassurance, he has turned into quite the swimmer,” Miller said. “He can even swim across the pool by himself!”

Ty still has a long way to go on his weight loss journey, but he’s already much more mobile than he was before. Once his health is out of the woods for good, he’ll be able to start looking for his loving forever home.