His new owner, dog warden Mel Herbert, helped him shed the extra weight after she felt her heartstrings pulling her towards the sweet guy.Claude now (Picture: Mercury Press)‘The first time we brought him to the vet,’ recalled Mel, ‘she was horrified, and now they can’t believe the transformation.

President Herbert Hoover had several dogs during his tenure at the White House, from 1929 to 1933, but few appeared to attract as much attention as Billy, a wild opossum the family adopted after he strayed onto the property, according to the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.