Well, last night, around 2 am, we had to put our yellow lab, Gilby down.
I remember when we first got him from a local dog breeder when I was still in elementry school. He was the only yellow lab in a litter of about three black labs and one chocolate lab. A young, excited puppy, bouncing around in the enclocure as we choose which to get.
I have lots of good memories of Gilby.(Gilby is the Irish name for 'yellow'. His middle name is 'Finn', Irish for 'Fair'.) Lots of good times with him.
For the past year though, he has greatly deteirated with age. Turned from plump to very, very skinny. His arthritis had gotten so bad that he could barely walk anymore. He would be laying in the house and it would not be uncommen for him to poop or pee where he layed. (I'd get all mad at him when he did that, lol)
These past few months he has gotten even worst. So skinny, we could see his bones sticking through(though he ate well enough) Vet said it was his muslce mass wasting away from age. And he could barely move.
He loved to lay underneth our pine trees, and would almost always be out there. For the three days, that is where he layed. My mom would bring him food and water in the mornings.
Last night though, she heard him barking from outside and had me and my brother carry him up to the porch. What I saw was one of the worst sights I've ever seen in my life. I noticed that his head was wet. My mom saw it earlier that day but assumed he rolled in his own filth again(he has done that quite a few other times) But it was blood. We set him down, and I looked closer at his wound. It didnt look deep but what else I saw freaked me out badly. At first, it looked like his brian was poking through his head in places, and skirming in waves. Alive. Freaking out, I looked closer and saw that his wound was crawling with hundreds of maggots. I almost threw up a few times. He reeked of blood and god knows what else. One of the worst smells ever. It was awful. We tried rinsing it out with the hose on a light spray, but it freaked him out, he was whimpering and writhing in pain. For a couple hours we stayed outside with him. Comforting him and talking. His breathing was fast and shallow. Their were a few times we thought he would finally die. But he is a very stubbron dog. He would throw his head back and bark at nothing. After discussing what to do and calling my aunt for advise, she gave us a # to a 24 hour animal hopsital. We had to put him out of his pain. It couldnt wait any longer. We took two cars. My mom, sister and Gilby in one. And me and my brother in another. We all stood around him as the vet gave him the two shots. And it was over. Today we buried him in the garden, another place he used to like to lie in when he was still able to walk there.
I'll miss you Gilby
