Mateo is a dog who has had a terrible life that we hope is about to get a lot better if the right person is out there!

Mateo was well known to the people of Almuñecar as the old boy that walked from the custard apple orchards by himself into the centre of town where he visited Cafes and butchers to get his breakfast or dinner depending on how hot it was. Untreated sickness had made him look older than he was, and as he got older, everyone got very worried about his leishmania symptoms which were very painful sores on his feet that made it difficult for him to walk, curled over claws and bleeding wounds on his ears and joints. Everyone wanted Mateo to get treatment, but despite being friendly enough to take food from your hand, he was impossible to catch. Locals said he had a sixth sense. He became a talking point on Facebook, but no one was able to catch him and we tried five methods: leash, trap cage, remote control trap cage, late night visit in the orchard - nothing. Until finally, one of our volunteers had the idea of using one of the giant 80 m² Army camouflage nets she uses to keep the fierce sun off her rescue dogs. She strong-armed Sara, a local lady Mateo knew who was in tears of desperation at the state of his feet. 745 the next morning Sara lured him with treats to the Butcher who had a tray of chicken waiting. Jane and David had one corner of the net each, Matea was not expecting it, and we finally had him caught and persuaded Tropican vet to open an hour early. It took Mar and Pedro nearly 3 hours to treat the terrible condition of his feet and other symptoms, and they sedated him, so he slept through the whole thing. Now he’s getting the strong Milterforan treatment he needed for so long to nuke his leishmania into remission. He’s already started to heal after just a few days.

Fingers crossed that this trooper finds a human companion he clicks with and a garden with a secure fence! The Butcher has been supporting him with chicken and would love to know how he does. It was actually the butcher’s kind feeding of Mateo that kept his strength up, and protected his organs from the kidney damage that often goes hand-in-hand with long-term untreated leishmania. Everyone at Cantalobos is really chuffed to see Mateo finally heal with Rune giving medication him daily and Saskia making him “food bombs” of tuna and Flora to make the medicine go down.