Yesterday's health check saw our faces drop as we turned Willow over onto his back on the surgery table. Not visible when he was joyfully tearing around in his enclosure the day before, now we were looking at all the evidence of liver cancer, as an ominous swelling appeared where his right liver lobe would be. Suspicion had been mounting in previous weeks as it appeared that Willow was losing weight and had a dull-looking coat. Nothing more indicated that anything was wrong – certainly not in his demeanour, which saw him bombing through the grass with his friends, enjoying giddy games of play and clearly unperturbed by and ignorant of the growth that was killing him inside.