Stop the world; I wanna get off!

[Horsefeathers!]

Some days I swear I really don't want anything else to do with rescue and fostering, or even getting out of bed. Sometimes it's so overwhelming... like the bad always seems to outweigh the good. There are a gazillion more people that DON'T care than those who do.

Just in the last week, I've dealt with:
* a breeder of "teacup" Poodles who casually mentioned she also had a white Standard bitch. "Oh, you have one, too? *eyes light up* Males??? Oh, let's breed yours with mine!!! They sell for $900 each!!!"
Let's not and say we did. :-?

*a person who believes her Schnauzer is just the greatest and could I please help her find someone with a female so she can breed them and get her a free puppy (sure, no problem, that's what I'm here for... breeder referrals :-? )

*neighbors behind me who are forbidden by local authorities to own dogs. After having many Pit Bull puppies impounded over the last year, they've decided to try their luck with Chow (mix?) puppies. I wonder what part of "NO dogs" they don't understand? These dogs will shortly be impounded.

*the most heartbreaking dog related thing to me right now... Razzle (some of you know him... he was the Standard I fostered that has a seizure disorder) is very ill. Vet is stumped and more testing is in order, but it's not looking good for him at this time. I'm devastated as, like all "my" dogs, I love him dearly.

*not SUCH a big deal, but am dealing with an ear infection in Pauly that just won't go away. In all these years, I've NEVER had a dog develop an ear infection... I've only treated some that initially came here with them, but until now, have had a 100% success rate at preventing it from reoccuring. He's so miserable and I feel so bad for him.

*and just to put everybody all up in my bid'ness, my husband is having some serious problems that may lead to blindness. Specialists are stumped. Tests, tests, tests and never any answers. They pretty much say, "yup, there's definitely a problem... too bad we don't know what it is."


It's been a tough week. I reckon I'm just having a one person pity party. I really just wanted to vent. I would appreciate positive thoughts for Razzle, though (and the ol' man if you take a notion). I'm so scared we may lose him and I have no idea what on earth I'd ever do with my husband if he goes blind. He's such an outdoorsy, go get 'em, independent kind of guy. :(

[courtnek]

WE love you HF...and your dog, and your husband..

VENT all you like...we'll listen...


and maybe even help...


Katy

what is the blindness issue I may go blind eventualy (diabetic)

Can I help?

[Horsefeathers!]

Thanks, courtnek.

Thing is we don't know why my husband's vision is diminishing. He's been blind in his left eye since childhood (some nerve thing that can't be fixed). It's only been in recent years that his right eye has started going bad. At first, glasses helped, but the glasses he has now are barely over six months old and he already can't see well with them. He also has a "haze" over his eye and he said it sometimes hurts. He's been seeing a specialist who has run every kind of test I could imagine and is still scratching his head. He has ordered an MRI scan to look into his whole head to see if there are any growths, tumors, whatever. That's kind of scary to me. His family does have a history of glaucoma, but the doctor says that's not the problem (yet?).

I guess sometimes I just get overwhelmed. I know I come off like a tough ol' broad sometimes and I have always been Miss Independent and made d*mn sure he knew it, but the truth is this guy really takes care of me in so many ways and I count on him for so much. He's been my rock for so many years (16 total... 14 married). I mean, I don't mind one bit the idea of taking care of him, but he's so.... well, "manly" and independent. He LIKES being able to fix this, plunder here, diddle with that. He's the type of man who will probably work in some form or other long after retirement. To be totally honest, he's also a recovering alcoholic, sober for over 10 years now. I'm so afraid that if he were to ever become unable to work, he'd pick up again and that is a scary thought.

Thanks for just letting me vent. My life is ordinarily so dull and boring and predictable (which is just the way I like it) that I find myself easily overwhelmed sometimes when "out of the ordinary" things happen.

[Ickle]

[b]Try to keep smiling Horsefeathers doing the rescue in shelties over here I understand some of the problems you are having but please remember these poor dogs would be lost without someone like you caring enough to help them What you do really counts. Blesss you.
I hope & pray they find out what the problem is with your hubby eyes and put it right pretty damn quick
In my thoughts & prayers
|Ickle[/b]

[StarFox]

HF your doing such a good thing with rescuing and fostering, and it must be so hard when these BYB/loosers come out of the wood work at the worst possible time. But you know you can always come here to vent about things like that.

Please give Pauly a hug for me, I feel for him. I have an ear infection that just won't go away, so I realy hope he starts to feel better soon.


I'm so sorry to hear about your hubby, I realy hope that the doctors/specalists find out what's going on and are able to fix it.


Lots of positive thoughts comming your way, for Pauly, Razzle, Hubby and You.

[mouseatthebusstop]

so sorry H/F It's pretty bad when it all happens a once Possative thoughts coming your way and a big (((([color=blue]hug[/color]))))

[imported_Cassie]

HF, what a shame..I hope every thing turns out OK for your husband.

As for your dog with ear infections...my sister had a Standard Poodle which had chronic ear infections. The Vet did every thing for that dog, looked for under laying problems, allergies, fed a hypo allerginic diet blah blah...the vet finally suggested my sister use a home prepared ear treatment using sugar :o it was a last resort and it worked :o I will find out exactly what the doctor suggested.
Here is a link for the Blue powder ear treatment...
[url]http://itsfortheanimals.com/BLUE.HTM[/url]

And speaking of how disheartening it is to see the "stupid" things people do with their pets. We have cleints like this as well....saying stupid things like "our dog is so cute and sweet we should bred her..do you know of any one with a male??" my boss said some thing to a women once that I though was kinda abrupt and a little too much to the point...but, one lady advised my boss she was going to let her dog have one litter so her children could experience the miricle of birth...my boss advised her to first take her children to the shelter and let them view the miricle of death of poor innocent puppies and dogs which were brought into this world for the very same reason.
At the vet clinic I work at we are also the depo for the local SPCA...we take all the worst cases of neglect. Some of the sad sites I have seen have made me hardened towards some people. One sweet little dog was beat repeatedly with some blunt object...it will always have the scars. A dog shot in the head and survived (border collie mix), a dog left out on a chain for days on end...the dog had gotten itself wrapped up in the chain...the chain had actually worn into the skin....this dog looked as though some one took a big knife and cut circles around its body. Pups left to starve after the mom took off after they were born...the pups were only 3 days old when we got them...they had been eating the insulation from the walls of the house....the reason the pups were found is due to the local police picking up this bitch once again and taking it "home"...the police took the bitch and puppies and brought them out to us...out of 5 pups we were able to save 3...the insulation killed the other 2...it was a miracle the 3 actually survived....I fostered these pups for awhile...they were adorable...another time my brother was hiking and found a garbage bag full of pups by a river, I found kitten in a river...one of them was on the shore...I would never have found these kittens if it werent for my Dobie at that time..she led me to the kittens...I took the surviving kitten home and nursed it back to health (I think it was only about 2 days old when I found it) I still have that kitten I found....she is a lovely sweet little girl.
Mans inhumanity is endless....
The worst case neglect cases and abuse cases are the sweetest dogs....I have always found the dogs which have been abused the worst are the sweetest most loving dogs...almost as if they are saying...please love me...I have not seen a dog which has become resentful or vendictive like we humans...we have had a few of these dogs which have been fearful..but, for the most part they are still looking for some one just to love them.

[kendalyn]

I hope things start to look up for you and hubby HF. Try and ignore questions from idiots and focus on what's important. :)

[bk_blue]

HF and Cassie- thanks for making me start to cry :oops: :( :)

I am ashamed to be part of the human race sometimes.

Anyway...I don't have any magic solutions, but I'm sending hugs to you HF. :angel: :angel: :angel:

[DogPaddle]

Sorry things aren't going well for you right now. Hope the docs and vets come through for you.

[Horsefeathers!]

Pauly's ears were swabbed today and he does have a major yeast thing going (which I, of course, took as a personal failure :oops: ). I've been cleaning and medicating every day, but within 12 hours of being clean, they are black again and he's still shaking his head. Doc gave me some other stuff. K and Cassie, I've heard of that treatment before and only casually looked it over in the past only because I've never really needed it. Until now (*mutter*), I've never had problem ears in any of my dogs, even the Standard Poodles who are so prone to them. They each came here with yeast infections, but I've never had one develop after initial treatment. I'm certainly going to look that recipe over more closely now. As it turns out, I may need it after all if this is going to become a regular thing. :-? Thanks for posting it.

Razzle is holding his own right now, but he's still not well. The vet thinks he may need a neurologist.

The puppies in the neighbor's yard were confiscated by the local shelter today (of course).

Thanks for the virtual hugs. You guys are great. Today is a different day and life goes on. I reckon a vent does a mind good every once in a while.

[Peng1zrule]

I'm so sorry. it sounds like you need a BIG HUG. ((((((((()))))))))))))

[science_doc]

HF,

I was thinking about you last night, no really, I was. I have been wanting to write a thank you note of behalf of my dog from the shelter for a long time. I have to say that honestly I was on the fence if I was in the right place in my life to adopt a dog. You replied in just the right way to make me positive it was the right decision(I had already spent a great deal of time looking and thinking and looking and thinking). Now that little dog is just the happiest thing on earth. Everyone who meets her asks if she is a puppy because she is so smiley and outgoing and happy :lol: Now were doing our second obedience class together and I am getting more actively involved in dog rescue everyday, despite the fact that I was already a busy person.

Bottom line is even though your feeling blue about what's going on around you right now, your work and knowledge is helping dogs and people you never even imagined. I hope that this post isn't too sappy :oops: but everything I said is the truth. I'll keep you and yours in my thoughts.

BTW I have to thank everyone for their grooming advice on the other thread. I figured out the "stink" on Hailey. I'm embarrassed to say I'm pretty sure that I wasn't quite rinsing all the soap out of her fur. I negleted to mention that about the time she got stinky she started scratching pretty often too. Last time I washed her I rinsed 2 extra times and so far so good, so thanks so much.

[Guest Anonymous]

*Deleted*

[Horsefeathers!]

Science_doc, your post made my eyes water up. It really does my heart good to know that you and Hailey found each other in this world. All things for a reason, I always say. Thanks for that. :angel:

SRC, thanks for the tip on taping, but I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that Pauly would not put up with it. His ears were hurting so bad, he would cry and drop on the floor just when I'd lift them to look. I don't think he'd tolerate the taping. Thanks for the thought, though. I do keep them shaved out on the inside (if that makes sense) to take some of the "bulk" off and so they can get a bit more circulation.

On the bright side, Pauly-NO seems to be feeling better. Whatever magic potion Doc made up (some concoction he created), it's working like a charm. I did save the recipe for the blue power stuff just in case this becomes a chronic thing.

The hubby thing... he's going for an MRI scan next week. When I asked the doctor what we're looking for, he said "growths" or "masses." :o

Oh well, one day at a time. :wink:

[ellieangel]

Sorry I missed this till now hun :(

This year has started bloody awful for so many people ( including me)and I have felt at times that it will never come to an end :(

Will hubby get the results straight away ?

I will be thinking of you hun you are not as tough as you put across I know that,but you are strong,you have to be to do what you do day in day out.

You are a wonderful person and you have done so much for so many you really don't deserve this.

Sending you love and hugs

Zoe xxx

[tammy123]

so sorry to hear you are having such a bad time I can't really offer any advice but one thing I can do is to send [color=red][size=7]BIG [/size][/color]hugs hope things start looking up soon [/u]