Some conversation — usually idle chitchat — is par for the course when getting your nails done. Topics typically include how the day went, and if you know your manicurist well enough, a little bit about your lives. For Darlene, an appointment at a California nail salon with her regular manicurist led to a conversation about a dog named Smokey.

The manicurist told Darlene that Smokey was the family dog and her son refused to feed him. Well, if a parent can’t get a child to do something, then the parent steps in, right? While that’s what Darlene would do, it turned out otherwise. No one was feeding Smokey. Darlene learned that her manicurist wanted to euthanize Smokey, but she didn’t want to pay the fee to do so, The Dodo reports.

After asking to see a photo, Darlene was shocked by what she saw — a severely emaciated dog who only weighed 40 pounds when he should have weighed 65.

Darlene went to the manicurist’s house and took Smokey, calling the son a jerk and telling him that he should have fed the dog. She tried to get Smokey to eat, but he didn’t have the strength, so she took him to a veterinarian immediately. Smokey was put on a drip and soon gained weight.

Smokey fully recovered, is at his ideal weight, and is now living with a family who loves him.