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Maka Waldie

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion”. (Unknown)

Maka entered our lives as a 12 week old ball of scruffy brown & cream fluff. He was adorable. Maka was “free to a good home” as he had a Grade 4/5 Heart Murmur and we were advised his life span could be as short as 6 months.

It didn’t really matter to us, we had fallen in love with him the moment we saw him and he filled out lives with absolute joy and love for 2 ½ years.

Maka’s personality was unique. He was highly intelligent, and had an uncanny ability to communicate to us and anyone he came in contact with, he was extremely social, fun loving and people were drawn to him, he made people ‘feel’ good. People literally fell in love with him. He had an uncanny way of finding himself snuggled up on the lap of a female charming them by nibbling on their ears!

At 18 months old, it became apparent to my partner and I that Maka was having difficulty seeing at night. We were referred to an Eye Specialist who confirmed our fears that Maka had a degenerative eye condition (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) and was going blind. We were told he would lose considerable amount of eye sight by the end of that summer…that was 6 months away. We were devastated, but true to Maka’s nature he soldiered on and his amazing warm and generous nature continued to shine.

Throughout the 2½ years my partner made considerable effort for Maka to have regular heart checks, and in early 2004, we decided to get an ultrasound performed to find out the real problem behind his Heart Murmur. Again our worst fears were confirmed when we were advised that he had Pulminary Stenosis and his murmur had increased to grade 5/5. The options were limited, but with the help of our Vet – Dr Graham Fitzgerald (of Ranford Vet Clinic) we flew Maka from Perth to University of Sydney for open heart surgery. After two days of pre surgery preparation, Maka was operated on. The little dog with the biggest heart in the world, passed away shortly after surgery late that afternoon on the 5th May 2004.

My partner’s mother often told us that this little dog was going to break our hearts one day. We never thought that day was going to come.

Our memories of Maka are endless, the circle of friends that miss him is huge, and whilst he is no longer in our lives he still fills our home with his spirit and his memories.

Our biggest thanks go to our family, friends and all the staff at Ranford Veterinary Clinic who understood just how special Maka was.

With special thanks to Graeme Fitzgerald (Ranford Vet Clinic), Jo (the intern that cared for Maka during his stay at Sydney University) and Geraldine Hunt (the Specialist Surgeon at Sydney University).

Thank you, Peter & Rebecca