Rescue Journal

holding (or pushing?) the rescue line

Carol  ·  Sep. 20, 2011

big sigh.

katie (skaters) went home with helga....a new cat coming in. charlie is an old, sick, messed up cat with a cauliflower ear who is drinkling far too much water.....diabetes? kidney disease?
whatever...he is not adoptable, his time is up and he needs in here.

tomorrow one of our little guys go home with a pre approved senior family. tomorrow is the actual meeting day between the family and the short-listed dogs and we will see who will have a very lucky day to get to go home with pam and fred (long time volunteers and supporters of citizen pets..one of the oldest animal welfare groups in our area.)

and waiting for this soon vacated spot....three senior and messed up cruelty seized, unadoptable dogs are trying to get in and we simply cannot take all three. one of them i already met last week. super nice dog, big and totally sweet but his back end is deteriorating badly...hip dysplagia? severe arthritis? spinal neuropathic degeneration? whatever it is..it is nothing that can be fixed or minimized..it is progressive in nature.
he will have a hard time navigating around here when we are so full of rambuctious big guys and he is too social to leave in the office alone for great parts of the day. he has been happy and well loved by the shelter staff, spending most of his time up in the front office and reception. if and when his time comes to an end...i think he will feel that he had value and was special.

the other two were harder to choose from...both in terrible condition, both with the possibility of finding a better quality of life with some decent and kind long term care. both are small and easier to fit in.... and neither is currently all that happy yet so i am concentrating and thinking about these two today.

so tammy and i are making a trip out to chilliwack this afternoon...we will probably come home with charlie and the 2 small wrecked dogs unless i think any of them will not do well here. no point in moving someone unless life will get better..sometimes it is just too late to even try.

i feel like we are in this ongoing and constant battle to stand firm and do what we are supposed to be doing, which is rescue wrecked and homeless seniors all clamoring for a better life...our lines are stretched so thin now and it is hard not to be overwhelmed with the onslaught waves of devastasted lives.
we are an island (an overful island) whose shores are constantly pounded by a relentless sea of sadness.

it is easy to get depressed by it all but....


as i look down at my feet...i watch tess, another cruelty seized senior and she is laying on her soft pillow bed, ripping the shit out of her puffy blanket because she thinks it's satisfying ripping sound she can make...it makes a pretty good toy.

note to self...bring tess in some more stuffies from the shop today...she needs a few more toys.

and today...senior life goes on...but only for some.

Comments

Marla in SD

I'm so glad to hear someone else say that a dog is ripping something apart for the sheer pleasure of the noise it makes! My border collie and first lab LOVED to rip apart the arms on this big overstuffed chair we had - they never ate the stuffing, they never ripped apart something that was difficult to get to - but they LOVED those arms and the fabric that came off. I think the hardest day either of them had (well, at least until they started having health issues) was the day I decided to use corduroy to fix the arms - it didn't tear as easily! I miss coming home to their version of torn up furniture...

Keep your chin up - you're doing a wonderful thing, and even if they can't say the words, every one of the saints know that you love them and they appreciate everything you all do for each of them!