Animals with multiple health issues like Maui don't usually get a second chance, let alone a third, fourth or fifth.
But Lort Smith won't give up on him, or any other animal who can be rehomed.
Five-year-old shar-pei cross Maui was brought to Lort Smith by his former family when they noticed his eyes were swollen and his mouth was full of blood.
They admitted they didn't know how long he'd been like that. Maui was mostly kept in the backyard by himself, as they said they didn't have much time for him.
His family said they couldn't afford the cost of admitting him to hospital. They felt he deserved a better life than they could give him, and decided to surrender him into our care so we could give him that chance.
It was the best decision they could have made. Knowing all the medical issues Maui would soon face, it's a relief to know he was in safe hands.
A bit of a challenging one to start with! He's certainly been keeping me on my toes but he's just such a beautiful dog.
Cindy, foster carer
One thing after another
When one of our vets, Dr Geoff, had a closer look at his mouth, he found a piece of old bone stuck behind Maui's last molar, painfully piercing the gum. Dr Geoff removed it successfully, and advised that the wound would need monitoring to make sure it healed.
Poor Maui didn't take well to being in hospital. As a backyard dog used to being alone all the time, he wasn't used to all the sights and smells of a busy hospital with so many other animals.
Our staff did their best to comfort him, moving him somewhere quieter, away from other dogs, and giving him gentle reassurance. But Maui's anxiety only got worse, so we put him on anti-anxiety medication to help him cope.
Then, as we prepared him for desexing surgery, which we perform on all animals who go up for adoption, we noticed Maui had a lump on his testes.
We sent a sample to pathology, and found Maui had squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), a tumour of skin cells.
After his desexing surgery, our staff noticed that Maui's pen was soaked with urine. When they took him for walks, he weed without seeming to notice. He had developed urinary incontinence, possibly related to his prostate. And to top things off, Maui caught kennel cough, which is common in unvaccinated dogs.
The poor boy just couldn't seem to catch a break!
A home with Cindy
We knew he'd need a very special foster carer, one who would understand his various issues and be empathetic and patient in his recovery.
Our long-term volunteer, Cindy, fitted the description perfectly!
"I walked him and spent time with him for maybe a month before I took him home," she says. "As soon as he was up for foster, I put my hand up."
Having recently lost her own dog, Cindy felt she and Maui could both offer each other something: her, a place for him to recover in peace and safety, and him, the familiar sounds and soothing presence of a dog in her home.
"The thing is though — Maui was my first-ever foster!" Cindy says. "A bit of a challenging one to start with! He's certainly been keeping me on my toes but he's just such a beautiful dog."
After a lifetime spent mostly outside or in a hospital, it seems Maui couldn't believe his luck at getting to sleep inside with Cindy. He relaxed so much in foster care that we could take him off his anti-anxiety medication almost straight away. And Cindy says even his incontinence improved.
A scary night
Things were looking up for Maui, and we were even thinking about putting him up for adoption … until one horrific night that Cindy says she won't forget anytime soon.
"I knew he was a bit off that night, that something was up, but I thought maybe he just needed to sleep it off," she says.
"Then at maybe one in the morning, he fell off the bed and the sound woke me up. His eyes were darting side to side, and he was vomiting and peeing everywhere. I was totally freaking out … I just kept thinking, 'Oh my goodness, he's going to die'. It was so scary."
Our foster carers truly are heroes. They take sick and injured animals into their homes and hearts knowing things like this can happen, and they do it anyway. Cindy was remarkable that night. She rushed Maui to emergency, where he was stabilised, and we were able to run tests to find the cause of his seizures.
We don't like to think about what would have happened if this had happened while Maui was still living alone in that backyard.
Nor do we want to imagine what would have happened if he'd been taken anywhere but Lort Smith. Here, we have the advanced medical equipment, compassionate staff and sheer determination to help even the most complicated cases like Maui's.
Another of our highly skilled vets, Dr Lucy, took over Maui's case, and suspects he has vestibular disease. This condition is characterised by sudden loss of balance, disorientation, head tilting and irregular, jerking eye movements.
"He's still head tilting and he's still a bit wobbly," Cindy says. "When he's calm, he seems to be ok but if he sees or smells something interesting, or if there is someone at the door, then he'll tilt a bit more and that causes him to lose balance."
Maui is still a bit unsteady on his feet, although a recent CT scan thankfully showed he hasn't had a brain injury. But when it comes to Maui, one thing is certain: we won't stop until we've figured it out.
Mouth trauma, anxiety, tumours, incontinence and a mysterious neurological condition: Maui has been through the wringer.
There will always be animals like Maui who come through our doors needing our help. And with your support, we will always be there to fight for them.
Please donate and change the lives of animals like Maui today.