Meet Mabel: the gentle, goofy giant who loves the simple things in life!

Mabel was in a terrible state when she was rescued. She was completely emaciated, with no fat or flesh on her bones. She could barely stand. Weighing just 27kgs, she was given a body score of 1 (the lowest score possible) indicating severe emaciation.

When an animal is starving, they burn through their reserves of fat, then muscle, and in the final stages of emaciation, their organs. When our Inspector rescued Mabel, there was almost nothing left of her. “I was immediately asking myself questions: How quickly could I get Mabel to a vet? What could we do for her? Was it too late?”

Mabel’s worrying weight wasn’t the only thing our Inspector was worried about. Mabel also had severe ‘cherry eye.’ ‘Cherry eye’ is an inherited condition that’s more common in some breeds. The dog’s tear gland becomes red and swollen and starts to cover their eye. Without treatment, it can be uncomfortable and painful. Dogs need to be able to produce tears to keep their eyes clean, healthy and pain-free.

For Mabel, already so fragile, it was just one more thing she needed to heal from.

With the support of animal lovers like you, we could set to work straightaway to give this gentle giant the care she urgently needed.

Emaciated animals can’t be left with bowls of food. Too much food too soon can put them at risk of heart problems, or sickness and diarrhoea that they’re too weak to survive.

Severe malnourishment can also leave an animal like Mabel with psychological issues around food. Some will try and eat almost anything. We knew we needed to start Mabel on a special diet of small, frequent, nutritionally rich meals that would gradually increase and help her grow stronger.

Every day, our team prepared Mabel’s meals. We also made sure to spend plenty of time with her, to give her her fill of cuddles.

Mabel’s food would disappear in seconds, evidence of how hard it is for once-malnourished animals to shake off their fear that they’ll go hungry again.

It takes months for an animal like Mabel to come back from the brink. For us, that’s months of covering the cost of food, bedding, and everyday care. And then, of course, there’s the vet treatment necessary to get them back to full health.

Thanks to wonderful supporters like you, we can provide the daily care that gets an animal like Mabel on the road to recovery.

As Mabel regained her strength, she showed us what a wonderful companion she would make. She’s the gentlest of souls, a notable drooler (as many Neapolitan Mastiffs are) who is content to simply pad around with the person she loves. All she wants is to be a big furry shadow to her human friends.

It’s heartbreaking to think about how close we came to losing her –and that’s why we need to be ready for all the animals arriving on our doorstep during winter. They too may need us to move fast.

Mabel is barely recognisable as the emaciated dog who arrived here. From the outside she’s now the strong, healthy animal she should be. And inside, she’s as soft, gentle and loving as ever. It’s taken over a year of dedicated care to get her to where she is today, helped by the donations of generous supporters.

Thanks to you, animals like Mabel can put their sad pasts behind them and find the loving homes they deserve, where they’re treasured for the things that make them unique.