Cat Deeley breaks down in tears on This Morning as she reflects on heartbreaking loss

It was an emotional episode of This Morning for Cat Deeley on Thursday. The presenter became teary whilst interviewing Kerry Irving about his late springer spaniel Max, who saved his life after Kerry fell into a depression following a car accident.

As Kerry joined Cat and her co-host Ben Shephard on the sofa, the mum-of-two started to well up as she remembered her beloved pet dog Lilly, who sadly passed away last year.

Explaining why Cat was upset, Ben said: "The reason that Cat's getting upset is because the idea of losing a dog, and you lost a dog and still think about it all the time."

Kerry and his beloved companion Max went viral during the coronavirus pandemic when videos of their walks in the Lake District were posted on Facebook.

Kerry credited Max, who died aged 14 in April 2022, with saving his life after he was left in unbearable pain and with depression after a car crash. The pair first met when Kerry was recovering from a back injury in 2006 and found Max poking his nose through the bars of a garden gate while out on a walk.

Their heartwarming tale of friendship is detailed in Kerry's bestselling book, Max the Miracle Dog, as well as his new book, Forever Max.

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Max, who was trained as a therapy dog in 2016, was immortalised with a bronze statue in Keswick's Hope Park before his death.

Like Kerry, Cat has also experienced the pain of losing a pet. She announced the passing of her beloved dog Lilly on Instagram in September last year. "To our sweet Lilly… Thank you for being the best companion there ever was [heart emoji] Oh how we'll miss you," penned the presenter, before including a quote from author Dean Koontz about the "unbearable price" of loving a dog.

"Dogs' lives are short, too short, but you know that going in," it read. "You know the pain is coming, you're going to lose a dog, and there's going to be great anguish, so you live fully in the moment with her, never fail to share her joy or delight in her innocence, because you can’t support the illusion that a dog can be your lifelong companion.

"There's such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware that it comes with an unbearable price."