Past 4 legged family members & 1 BIRD (Lori)-DUW

I have to tell you all I am a sucker for trying to save every animal I can. It often means I spend money I could really use elsewhere and the situation often ends in heartache but animals bring me so much joy and I have always tried to help them. My husband being a farm boy has never understood my desire to see if I could help every animal, but as time has gone on he has at least come to understand it is important to me to help these other creatures.

Over the last few years though I have learned how to better tell(thorough negative experiences) which ones are more likely not to make it or when it is time to let them go because my being attached to them is causing them more suffering. So I will apologize now but I will tell a small bit of info on each of my babies and let you know if they are still with us or not. Warning Lori we will see the bird first to get him out of the way just for you!!

Pretty Bird - Pied Cockatiel, he was a valentines present to me from my husband and I had him for approx. 4 yr. and then gave him to a lady with other birds as the dust from his wings was really bothering my youngest sons allergies.

Now that we got the bird out of the way fast for Lori we will move on to the 4 legged family members, past and present.

Goliath (RIP)- Toy Poodle with the belief that he was a big as any dog around! When I went to get him from the breeder, he was the runt all of about 2 pounds and and his siblings were probably 5 or so. The breeder has 6 cats and they all bullied this guy and when we got there they had him backed in a corner and were beating the crap out of him! Had to take him home. Unfortunately, by the time he was 3 yrs old he was dying of starvation due to a genetic issue the vets could not remedy, he was finally "let go" from his suffering 2 wks before Christmas.



Angel -Domestic Short Hair the first pet we were able to have with my youngest son, his allergies had finally calmed enough pets could be in the house again! We bought this boy at a pet store and unfortunately with in 3 months he was at the vets because he would suddenly urinate all over himself. Tests were done and he had a genetic kidney disease that was not treatable. He would continue to loose control of his bladder and it would get worse over time and eventually his kidneys would fail. The vet gave us two options immediate euthaniasia or find a farm that wanted a cat that would be an outdoor cat and likely live another 2-3 yrs, but would not have bladder control. We let my then 6 yr old decide and he chose give him to a friend on a farm. Last contact we had with them was 2 yrs ago approx. 4 yrs after going to the farm and he was still alive, fat and slow and still peeing himself.


Last but not least one of the approx. 15 stray cats I have taken in since I have lived on my own, gotten vet care for and then re-home, that is not including the 4 I had when I was single and living on my own. This is Mr. Meow, he was a feral stray that kept coming into my back yard to drink the dog water, he was nothing by skin and bones, terrified of people and it took a humane cat trap and 2 cans of tuna to catch him. I tamed him got him checked by the vet, gave him all of his shots, dewormed him and had him fixed and then gave him to my best friend who had to put their Siamese cat down because she turn vicious to all people and her son was so sad when he had to give up his cat.


The next two pictures are of two Leopard Geckos who I accepted from someone who did not know how to properly care for them and was inadvertently causing health problems. When I accepted them I really did not think the damages caused by their living conditions was as bad as it turned out to be. I had them from Sept 1, 2009 until 1 week before Christmas at which time I had to make the choice to euthanize them as they could no longer manage to pass excrement with out having daily warm bathes 4-6 times a day for 15-20 min and being given mineral oil to lick off of their lips. I had consulted an American and a Canadian Herp vet and each gave me many things to do for these two lovely lizards but did warn me they may not pull through and may die anyway.
Female


Male


I just want to share with you creature lovers some of the creatures who have touched my heart.

What a good person you are to have done so much for these critters! It's really hard. I've tried to save a few myself & I know it hurts. I was never much of a picture taker so I can't share pictures but here are the stories of some

Bruno was an elderly diabetic cat whose owner was dying of AIDS. I took him but he had diabetic nerve damage. When his back legs became paralyzed about a year later, I had to let him go.

OhTee was an extremely old cat found wandering in the cold in Somerville MA. I took him to the vet & found out he had renal failure. He died in his sleep in my apartment about 9 months later, but at least he died indoors having been loved at the end of his life.

Jasper was another diabetic cat. He was not all that old but he died of severe hypoglycemia causing brain damage in 2003.

This is a nice post. Those geckos sure did look healthy. Makes you wonder about what they went through to damage them that way.

I love posts like this. I think its so great you were able to help all of these beautiful animals out. Its very admirable, you should be so proud!

I would be doing the same. I can't watch anything suffer if I can help- but its so hard to have to let them go sometimes.

Lauren, those pics of the Leos were taken when I was making good progress with them, in between all the impaction damage. But by the end the male, even with help had not pooped in over 25 days and with each weigh in approx a week apart was loosing a gram a time and would not get up and move around and barely drank.

The female was very similar except that she bloated worse and worse and her stomach got so tight from not going that I seriously thought she was going to rupture. I could hardly get either of them to eat anymore and neither of them would vocalize either. Whereas during the stage where I thought I was going to succeed they would make the cutest vocalizations.

Good for you! I do the same thing. Just rescued another dog a few weeks ago (she makes number 3). She's about 11 years old, and no one wanted her.

I also feel that I must do what I can to help these animals. I can't save 'em all, but I know I've made a huge difference in the quality of life for the ones I adopted. You know what I'm talking about . . . .

Kathy

insomniac101 said:

Just rescued another dog... I can't save 'em all, but I know I've made a huge difference in the quality of life for the ones I adopted. You know what I'm talking about . . . .

Kathy

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Amen! It's like the starfish thing -- there's a guy walking down the beach throwing stranded starfish back in the water. Somebody else says something like "Why bother? What difference does it make?" because there are so many stranded. The other guy says something like "It matters to this one," & throws another one back in the water.

Maybe it doesn't change the world as a whole, but that dog's life changed. That's enough for me.