the money pit

argh. day off, up at 0500 thanks to carl, my day off alarm clock.

he was alarming away right outside my window so i had to get up and go out and see what was distressing him..could have been stray dogs, coyotes or bears.
or nothing. maybe he was just showing off for deedee that he was a committed guardian protecting the flock from the early morning cold air.

carl marches (and alarms) to his own set of rules which i will never understand.

i am currently freaking out over the vet bills. six of the fosters have shown up at the vets in the past couple of days without me knowing anything about it (thx to the other folks who did let me know!) a phone would be nice so i knew what was up with them but at least they were getting medical care.
eddie, one of our fosters was rushed over to boundray bay for emergency spinal surgery. the estimate to repair his blown disc was close to 8 grand. he did well with the surgery and was transferred following to their intensive care for his initial post op recovery. it will be a few days before he can come home. he will be returning to saints because he will require about 3 months of specialized recovery and rehab. if the surgery is successful, (11 yrs old is middle age for a otherwise fairly healthy cocker spaniel,) hopefully he can have another 4 to 5 years of walking around and not living as a paraplegic.
hope floats.

mah was moved down to the barn so she is not completely alone. until she has her surgery to amputate her udder, she still can't be in close contact with the others but at least she can be near them all thru the fence. her surgery is booked for early june. hopefully she is less lonely now.

laddie is not doing well..yesterday the staff tried EVERYTHING to get him to eat..nothing. if he doesn't eat today, it will be another clue that his end stage kidney disease is winning this battle. we seem to have the pancreatitis under control but that was treatable, his kidneys might be too far gone.
we will try EVERYTHING to tempt him again today...hope still floats, but only for another day or so.

elvis is becoming hugely attached to me...carol's new ancient velcro babe. he has his vet visit today. he already has a lot medically wrong with him from long term neglect, we'll see what else our vets will find.

rescue is a medical money pit. because here is the thing that sometimes the general pet owning public misses....
when animals get sick, just like you and me....they actually do deserve decent medical care.

it stuns me how many pet loving people honestly don't get this.
i love her but...not enough to take her to the vet and help her to feel better. i love her but am totally blind to the fact that she suffers.
i don't get it.

so many medically neglected animals...chronic long term ear infections, untreated (or half assed not committed to following thru treatments that keeps the problems coming back.) eye, skin, and dental disease, kidney, and heart disease. animals who suffer from daily pain or discomfort without relief...i would far rather help them and live with a never ending money pit as they walk in our gates one by one by the hundreds then let them suffer needlessly for the rest of their days.

ongoing and untreated chronic illness and pain are NOT the normal accepted daily way of pets aging....there actually are medical options to help them feel better and NO..the options are not free...occasionally one even has to forgo the new 65 inch plasma TV or much anticipated trip to Maui.

pain and suffering in pets just like in humans, deserves to be treated as a priority.