Rescue Journal

dontcha think???

Carol  ·  Mar 4, 2012

it wasn't the best of nights last night...oh well..i suppose i will be grateful it wasn't the worst of them either.

i am continually amazed at the panic people somtimes get into when for whatever reason, their sleep is disrupted. it really is not that big of a deal. we seem to believe in the sacred cow rule of sleep..that we have to have our 7 or 8 hours of undisturbed rest or our entire mind and body will fall apart fast.

this is so not true...we are animals not machines..and animals are built to be flexible...animals need to be able to wake instantly and cope with changes and threats and then compensate for our disturbed rest..it is freaking survival. nature did not make special rules for human animals that says we have to sleep 8 hours straight or we permanently break..we made up that stupid rule...the rest of all living species manage sleep disruptions quite well.

and don't quote science to me either..science is the human way of defining every millisecond of life into neat and stackable boxes that our limited minds can comprehend....science really has yet to get a handle on natures miracle of living...or sleeping.

sure 8 hours of undisturbed sleep is nice..sure it is refreshing but so is a warm and sunny mexican beach in the winter...but that does not make either one absolutely necessary. i have never stepped on a mexican beach andi rarely have the luxury of undisturbed sleep and i am still tickng along not too badly.

do you now how many people try to dump or nuke their aging pet cuz they wake their poor, sleep deprived human up at night?
fer chrissakes figure it out..the animal is not getting a ton of undisrupted sleep either and they aren't falling apart like their people are.

it is an issue that can be fixed or minimized as long as the human does not freak out and have a mental meltdown cuz fluffy muffy dared to disturb the sacred human 8 hour rest period. the freak out itself does more damage to the human mind then getting woken up once in awhile.

some folks get all twisted up in knots about their lack of sleep..what about poor little tuffy who just needs her clickety nails trimmed or who's little and not so strong bladder needs to go outside so she doesn't pee on the nice carpet..does anyone care that she now feels that everyone is either mad or frustrated with her? not such a nice way for an elderly animal to have to feel.

i heard about an elderly midnight yowling cat last week wrecking her human's sleep, her human was calling around wanting to put the cat PERMANENTLY to sleep..so why not just figure out why the poor thing is upset and yowling and fix it for her please.

anyway..i like nice long sleeps..but just cuz i like them does not make them absolutely necessary...undistrubed sleep is like cheesecake..a nice to have but really not a matter worth the life and death of an elderly animal dontcha think?

Comments

Mo

Uninterrupted sleep... is there such a thing ? On the odd nights it does happen.. when I wake up , I always freak out a bit. How could that happen, why didn't Ripley wake me up by pawing at the covers to get underneath, or levi didn't bark becuase he decided in fact he did have to go pee ( even though I had let him out just a couple hours earlier when I went to bed )or Roxie barking like a mean bad dog cuz a cat or racoon happened to walk by when she was looking out the window. I am not comfortable again until I am out of bed & every one head has been counted & they are all fine.

I probably only sleep right through when I have had several glasses ( or bottles ) of wine. ;-)

Carol

thx brent for fixing the doors for me!..yay!!!!
all of the hardware went down with the coops..the staff got all of the movable stuff out but there was no time to strip out anything screwed in or otherwise permanently attached to the coops...we originally planned the actual demo on monday but it happened on friday instead.

Tammy

So glad to hear that Pest is happy and settled. He is such a sweet boy.
I always enjoy hearing about the SAINTS that found a new home.

jamie bryk

I don't know one "parent" that hasn't had an undisrupted sleep. I have fostered Hansome for 4 years 1 of 3) & have gotten up at 1:30am & 3:00am, every day since. It seems that my 10yr old FYI positive "love of my life" needs my company during his midnight snack. His purring and love nibbles during these snacks mean everything to me!!

Bunny

Carol, Brent fixed the doors to the cows' barn so you should be able to open and close them easier. We did move the two rubber troughs from Lotti and Wills into the cow barn. They are filled with water. Hope that works for you.
Do you know where the hardware to the old bird coops might have been put, Brent was looking for the hinges and gate locks so he could put them away for future use.

Bunny

I had a kitty that when she was about 16 years of age decided he needed to sleep around my head. No kidding, I felt like I was wearing one of those expensive Russian fur hats. Once in a while he accidentally kicked me in the neck. I didn't like it and sometimes it did disrupt my sleep, but I always wanted him to feel safe and comfortable. He lived to be 20. When he passed on I was shocked to discover I actually missed him sleeping so close to me. Go figure.

Fiona

Pest is sitting on the kitchen table with me looking at the picture of the pigs and getting his daily update on SAINTS :-) I had to retype some of this because he walked on my computer and hit some funky keys, he does things I have no idea how to do!!

I too am disturbed at night with the animals, especially my old dog but would never dream of putting her to sleep because she needs to go out a couple of times a night or because of her wandering the halls. I won't even lock her out of the bedroom or put her outside for the night. My vet said to me to be loving and patient with the old animals, they are just like us when they get old, more visits to the doctor and health issues. So I try to be understanding and loving towards her even though I may feel tired, that's life, deal with it!

Lori Paul

Just wanted to update you on the letter Fiona wrote for Duncan re; Pest...what a beauty that woman is! Duncan was very happy to hear how his big boy was enjoying his 2nd life! She also sent a picture of Pest in his new kitty condo where he looked especially regal and relaxed. It was a beautiful thing to see how happy Duncan was made by this news and by his cat's happy ending!
Thanks Fiona! You're a doll! We may even arrange a reunion visit, if Duncan's up for it, sometime in the coming months. I'm so grateful that it's all worked out this was ...thanks to you Dear Carol!

ellen

I worked in a hospital and did shift work for 34 years. I am still alive and kicking. Just give me a second and I am asleep and another second and I am up and on the fly.

carly

My old cat used to cry at my bedroom door at night to let her in.Finally one night I gave in and she curled up on my bed and went to sleep.Problem solved