Maple

Maple suffered a severe flea burden and was acutely anaemic. She was lifeless and unresponsive for the first 48 hours and vets were considering euthanasia. She had XRays done but they showed no obvious damage or reason for her being paralysed and incontinent. Maple had severe diarrhoea and was very underweight for her age.

HCCF was approached to give emergency care for Maple whilst the vets continued to assess her future, so she came to us on 16th August 2024 for the weekend. Upon arrival we carried out a full clip of her fluffy coat and removed the remaining fleas, gave her a flea bath and applied cream to her sore skin around her genitals. She was dragging her back legs and shuffling around. After a few days with us, and some intensive physiotherapy and homeopathy, Maple began to make huge improvements.

She gradually regained most of her mobility over time, but sadly remained incontinent so her bladder and bowels have to be manually expressed several times a day. Maple wore nappies for the first 6 months, but we have such a good routine with her expressions now that she no longer needs to wear them as she doesn’t leak in between.

In January 2025 Maple started to have issues with her tail, she had no sensation in it anyway, but had started to chew it causing huge wounds, most likely due to nerve pain or sensations. We opted to have her tail amputated as it was causing issues that were not going to resolve and lowered her quality of life. After the amputation Maple showed huge improvements in her ability to run and get around and she recovered very quickly, she never looked back!

As Maple walks on her heels due to the contracture of her ligaments and tendons in her back feet, she wears leg warmers to protect her skin as she is prone to open wounds and sores from friction burns.

Due to her long term special needs, Maple is a permanent HCCF resident, and lives a very happy fulfilled life here at the sanctuary.