Rescue Journal

floating hope...

Carol  ·  May 17, 2017

it was a bit of a stressful day again today.
yesterday we had multiple discussions regarding the issues with bear and our ability to find responsible and compassionate solutions to manage him. we brain stormed, came up with options, tossed them out when they were found to be flawed, back and forth and round and round. by the end of the day in considering not only his needs but the needs of the other animals here...it wasn't looking like a very good outcome.
it did not help that when i went to give him his insulin shot last night, he turned on me in anger. i can't muzzle and restrain a pissed off and struggling 80 pound rotti while trying to stick an insulin needle under his skin.

arghh.

we gathered again together this morning as soon as all of the staff involved arrived. ideas again were tossed into the pot and then tossed aside..he can't go in with phoenix's crew..phoenix is too mentally unstable, simon, robbie and kyah can be nasty and if they push bear too far..one bite and a good shake and game over for them. we considered moving deisel to the kitchen because he is good with cats..but we couldn't trust him with nicki, squirt and brat. plus if he was in a pissy mood, he would eat the volunteers and the volunteers need access to the kitchen and laundry room.

we thought about the computer room but keats, oreo and rocket are pretty damn grumpy and that just might set him off. we could move keats and oreo into the kitchen, but there was no where in there for rocket because he sucks with cats too.

the mp building was another bad choice because ella would probably start a fight, oscar is a royal dick and a diabetic needs monitering during the night, which would be hard for me to do.

in the end we did compromise with a less than perfect solution...keats and oreo moved to the kitchen...rocket stayed in the computer room and bear moved into there. i have been on rockets case like a dirty shirt..making him stop his rabble rousing shit to give the best chance of acclimatizing successfully in there. this is a trial..we will see how it goes and hopefully it goes ok. we can't find another solution to house him separately..we are just too full of jerks.
as to his aggression with his eye drops and insulins, since his distaste for both is escalating each day.....we don't have a lot of choice. he is on lantus which is a long acting insulin 18-24 hours. so we are hoping that we can control his diabetes and clean up his eyes with only once a day medications. that way there are 2 staff members available to muzzle and efficiently restrain to get it done quickly and safely once a day. IF this keeps his blood sugars stable and if this is enough to keep his eyes healthy and uninfected (at least until we can surgically repair them) then we can responsibly and compassionately manage bear here. if not...then there is only one option left and that will totally suck and none of us want to go there.

and i want to add something here in general terms...there are a great deal of people in the animal rescue world who believe that "no kill" is moral and ethical. i would disagree..there are times when what it takes to care for an animal and provide what that animal needs is above and beyond most shelters means. we will not allow bear to live out the rest of his life confined in a cage or a kennel, only out for a couple of walks every day. we also will not allow him to live out his life ill with uncontrolled diabetes and suffering thru deteriorating health, feeling unwell, eventual blindness, kidney function loss and whatever else that means because he will not allow us to treat him appropriately. there are times when despite those that believe in fairy tales, reality supersedes fantasy and reality has to be humanely dealt with.

we are doing our very best to help bear and meet his physical and emotional needs. but we also need to keep our cats, dogs and staff safe so this isn't a simple solution problem...it is a series of complex issues all stemming from one innocent dog. still...we believe that bear needs us to use our brains along with our hearts.
we are going to do our best for him and hope it is enough.

wish us the best of luck and say a prayer for bear..
hope floats for now..

Comments

Kimberley

Maybe this would be helpful- it worked for me in 2 days when I had a very bitey foster dog that needed baths every second day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FABgZTFvHo