When you lose a friend

Maya's short story

From the very first day that my then-boyfriend, now-husband and me decided to move in together, he made me promise we would adopt a Labrador, first chance. We are not breed maniacs, but this kind of dog had always been his dream. Truth is I didn't really want to have a dog, although I adore them, because I knew firsthand how big the responsibility is and I was afraid that I would be charged with all its care. On the other hand there was Lora, who even though had stayed at my parents' home, she passed a lot of time with me. However, when the vet called to inform us that there was a 2 month old Labrador looking for a home, I couldn't deny him and ran with him to meet it.

Of course when we first laid eyes on her we knew it was love at first sight! The most beautiful puppy I had ever seen...a foxy little snout, that in order to convince us to take her, as if she knew, took her leash on her mouth and with her tail moving like crazy ran towards us. The guy who was giving her away said "She was a gift for my brother and he chained her on a barrel and left her there. It's a pity with such a dog...I cannot keep it." Whatever...the puppy was already in my husband's arms, enjoying his caressing.  No second thoughts, we grabbed her and left. We went right away to the vet for worming, as she was clustered with fleas and took her home. That night, a new member entered our family and she was adorable.

Mayia 3 months old

Time flew and Maya growing up was becoming a beautiful, bright creature. During our life together she got to know us and we got to know her, trying to train her to form a nice character, although she 
was a good personality on her own. We were saying that her picture was next to the word Labrador on the dictionary. A jolly little kid ... that's what our Maya was. And we were truly happy to have her. We did everything with her. Slept together, woke up together and during tough days she was company and comfort.

On her first birthday, we decided to vaccinate her for leishmaniasis. Unfortunately events got ahead of us and the test before the vaccination came back positive. Our little girl was already sick with this damned illness. we started treatment immediately, giving her Zylapoor and vitamins and the vet told us that after 8 months we would run the test again to check the title. Time came, we ran the test again and to our relief we were told the title of the antibodies was really low. Our Maya had done it! On this phase, the doctor said we should stop the pills and check her again in six months. Right then and there the game was lost. Up until Christmas we had the first symptoms. Leishmaniasis had progressed and it had affected her kidneys. Everybody said the vet had been terribly wrong to stop the pill. For three months we were trying to understand what was going on, and although we started treating her again, the symptoms were getting worse. I won't tell you about these hard times. I won't do it in this text, because this is her short story and she would neither want me to remember those days, nor you that are now meeting her to find out. I will only say this: up until her last night on this earth she was trying to make us smile and remind us she will always be a goofy little kid!

It's been a while I've been trying to write about her. Not because I didn't want to get sad, but because I was afraid my words couldn't stand up for my feelings. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to describe how much I loved her and how much it hurt losing her. And then I gave it a second thought...of course it's impossible to put my exact feelings into words. There are no words! I cannot tell you how much I miss her! But I need not to, because those of you who read this post and have felt something like that for a friend of your own, you know exactly how I feel. I don't need to describe it! And those of you who can understand me are the reason I finally finished my young Maya's story. You know and that's all I need...

This is how our story ends. Some other time I will talk to you about leishmaniasis. What I've read and what I've learned by experience. I'll conclude this post with a tiny solicitation. Some of you, that losing your dog did hurt a lot, might say "No more dogs for me. I can't go through this again". Or you might feel guilty to put another dog into your house and heart. I felt the same way and it took a while for me to understand. Only when I adopted Nelly I realized that nothing, nothing will ever erase Maya from my memory. And then it felt so right that I helped this little stray soul and I was thinking that Maya would like it as well. We, animal lovers, have lots of love to give to them and we have to continue our work. Because we're not that many and we have to be there, next to them, since our little friends need us...