Virgil

Virgil, a grand old Labrador, somehow found himself as a “stray” in a big shelter. Can’t imagine how he “strayed” since he is glued to his foster parents’ side in a very respectful, non-obtrusive way – but not about to let them get away. He is pretty darn crippled but moving pretty comfortably with lots of pain meds, though his gaits are mostly the slow, medium and quicker shuffle. The yeast in his ears and skin is under control now and his coat gleams, but he had licked huge wounds into all four of his legs – whether from pain or from stress, who knows? Fixing those has been a major challenge but much effort from his foster dad seems to have turned it around. The thickened legs are returning to a more normal shape and the skin is healing. He’s stone deaf but so attentive to his family that he doesn’t miss much. (As a card-carrying Labrador he certainly doesn’t miss meal or treat time!) What a great guy, we hope he knows we love him. Our grand old man fought his degenerating spine for nearly 10 months with us, stayed close to us while pushing his body around the big pasture and checking everything out, slept as close to us as he could. We healed the sores on his front legs but the back legs stayed hairless, probably not getting enough blood flow, but his coat shone and he became a handsome old guy. He was proud and so were we. When he couldn’t fight it any more we said goodbye, with regrets that we didn’t know him earlier in his life: what a really really good dog. Virgil passed away February 25, 2014.