Madoc Waterfield

BRILLIANT NEWS THEN TRAGEDY (16.5.2018)

We were all delighted when, in November 2017, Sidyl and Madoc went off happily together to live in their Forever Home with Julia, Chris and their dog, Max. For someone to take on a dog with such severe health problems as those suffered by Madoc was nothing short of a miracle but they were determined to do all they could for him. For a while, all went really well and both Madoc and Sidyl found happiness with their new friend, Max and their lovely forever humans who showered them both with love.

Madoc had a few good months but his health problems were always there and, finally, his illnesses caught up with him and his distraught Mum and Dad knew that Madoc’s time was, sadly, drawing to a close. Julia told us “Madoc had a hospital assessment after which it was decided he would have the operation to remove the lump done at our local vet. The thinking was that many of his symptoms were related to the lump in his gut. However, no one was totally sure what symptoms were Leish related and what were down to the gut problem.

Madoc had to have another Leishmaniasis blood test which, unfortunately, proved to be a whole lot worse than before. Because of this, the vets were unwilling to operate on him knowing that the disease was moving in the wrong direction and that, even if the actual surgery was successful, the recovery was likely to be very much affected by the Leish infection with consequent possible death from post operative complications and ongoing poor quality of life.

On 16th May, after much discussion with our vets, Chris and I decided the kindest thing was to have Madoc put to sleep today. It has been such a sad time, having to let him go when he has tried so hard to live. We are really missing our special boy  

Thankfully, Sidyl seems not yet to have realised what has happened. Hopefully, she has had enough time to become completely settled with us and in our home and she has Max to help her through. It would have been much more distressing for her if she had only just arrived to live with us”.

Belinda replied “Poor Madoc, it is so sad that despite all the love and medical care he was given, there was nothing that could really be done to help him. We know that he had a few months of love and care while he was with Julia and Chris and all at IRR want to thank them both for giving him such a lovely home, albeit for such a brief time”.

HISTORY

Sidyl and Madoc are Spanish Golden Retrievers who badly needed help. They were transported to the UK and went into foster with David and Alison.

Madoc’s DOB is 27/3/06 so we could see he was approaching 12yrs. Madoc is un-neutered but the vets weren’t sure he would survive anaesthesia for the op.   David says “ Madoc has a lovely temperament and is a content lad who likes to tell you when he wants attention. He is quite a character. We are unsure of what training he has had, as we don’t speak Spanish. He is very well mannered although he does likes his own way and is happy to tell you vocally”.

He is an un-neutered male with a serious condition which causes various symptoms including nerve damage, exercise intolerance and malnourishment. This will require long term medication and blood tests.

Like his sister, he is house trained with no accidents in the house despite having a poorly tum on arrival and he has shown no evidence of resource guarding

He is happy to be left and settles well. He wants to fetch a ball and carry toys and, we are sure, if his health allowed it, he could be energetic and even boisterous

He is friendly with our girls but guards the premises when other dogs pass the gates. He also barks at horses.

Madoc was in very poor general condition with patchy coat and dirty ears.

He came with severe vomiting and diarrhoea and was very lethargic with no appetite.

It took a few days to fully recover from the journey and he slept far more than normal but  he, after a week, he was having a brief 10 minutes of wanting to play and lollop around the garden before becoming out of breath with noisy laboured breathing and needing to lie down.

He was  severely malnourished and underweight at 23.5kg despite being large boned.

He picked up after 48 hours and passing a plastic bag !  We suspect this was all due to the stress of journey as well as him scavenging food.

There was a lack of muscle and poor  tone especially on his hind leg and he tended to misplace his feet, tripping easily and dragging his paws occasionally  which indicated some neural damage.   He had Horner’s disease (third eyelid) in both eyes which was  worse in right and, again, indicative of nerve damage.  We aren’t sure how good his eyesight is as he has walked into things a couple of times. His hearing is also a bit suspect

His fosterers were feeding him up on 3 quality meals a day and, after just a few days, he was eating well and putting on a little weight, his tablets were staying down and he was beginning to look much better. He remained very hungry so his fosterers began upping his food slowly to ensure his tummy didn’t get upset.

He had laboured panting on minimum exercise and a very hoarse bark initially but he was soon becoming much more active and improving daily.

SIDYL’S and MADOC’S DREAM HOME

Sidyl and Madoc adore each other and their greatest wish would be to stay together.

We need someone very special who will love them unconditionally and provide them with their perfect retirement home.

WONDERFUL NEWS (November 2017)

Sidyl and Madoc have gone to live in their Forever Home