Mildred the Mastín had given up on life, barely moving, shaking with fear and a fever. Abandoned and living in a field local to me in Almeria, Spain with no food or water and covered in ticks. The only time she moved was when she was approached.

For 3 weeks I had to drive past her as she was in the photo above, it was soul destroying. Yet another discarded dog without a hope of surviving alone in Spain. With a lot of patience and encouragement she finally could be petted and fed from the hand, there were 3 options for her: ignore her and leave her to die where she was, or be caught by the dog catcher who had been trying unsuccessfully to catch her and inevitably where she would be sent to the kill shelter, or the last option get her to a safer place and see if she had a chance of recovery and eventually a home. With the help of a local rescue ARCA Animal "Rescate Protection Adopción" she was finally saved.

Mildred is scared of everything, she had obviously never seen her own reflection as she has cautioulsy tiptoed up to it on many occasions. She doesn't know what toys are. She was petrified on the way to the vets see pic below, and had to be carried in all 40KG of what was left on her boney frame. She is 64cm to the shoulder.

Scared as she is, she is gentle, sweet and does everything with care. She doesn't snatch food, doesn't growl or act defensively. She carefully takes food from your hand and loves a tummy tickle and cuddle.

Mildred sleeps a lot, her diagnosis from blood tests at the vets is that she has Tick fever which has led to Anaemia this is treatable by antibiotics and fortified vitamin treats, she has also got Leishmaniasis a very common problem in Spain that is spread by the tiny sand fly to unprotected dogs. If left untreated the condition can affect the skin and unfortunately the organs as well.

Mildred's blood tests showed her Leish was active, but that her Kidneys although not 100% should not be a problem and her liver was ok. Her leish level was 640. A course of Alopurinol (gout medicine for humans is sometimes all that is needed to lower the levels of Leish ) but Mildred needs more than that, she is currently also on a medicine called Leishguard and needs a medication called Milteforan this, because of her size will be at cost of around 300€ for the 28-day treatment she needs of this one medication alone.

Mildred who is estimated to be about 3 years old has had pups about 4-5 months ago, there is no sign of them, and she needs to be spayed and vaccinated as soon as she is fit enough.

She is now wagging her tail, barking and learning to play although still very cautious of new noises etc...but she no longer shakes in fear and now approaches people. She has a passion for frankfurters, cheese and digging mud holes to sleep in. She still won't move when put on a lead...but with time this gentle giant is taking small steps every day to improving.

Mildred has had interest from Spain and the Uk for re-homing but before any decision as to her future or being able to travel, or having vaccinations, spaying, microchip she first needs to get her leish levels better and be rid of the Tick fever.

Abandoned dogs like sweet Mildred need a chance and unfortunately this comes at a price, which I and the rescue who helped to get her to safety can not afford as it is inundated with dogs, pups and cats at the moment.

So this is a plea for help towards getting Mildred back on her feet, (they are big ones for sure!!) where ever she may end up in the future she needs funds raising for her current health situation.

Ongoing vet Bills, Recurring blood tests, Medication including Antibiotics, Alopurinol, Leishguard, Vitamins, Milteforan, Vaccinations, Anti-parasite treatments, Microchip/passport, spaying will come at a cost of about 950€ as long as nothing else needs treatment.

I hope you can share Mildred's road to recovery and give her another chance in life by giving a contribution........ just think of this giant of a dog getting healthier, eating frankfurters and getting all the tummy tickles she wants because you gave towards her future.