It's been a while since my last post, I'm sorry for that. Things have been pretty crazy in my household and I've not been handling it very well. I mentioned before on Twitter and Facebook that we had to move because of money issues, we had to down size from a 3 bedroom house with a huge back yard to a 2 bedroom apartment in a complex. To make things worse, we could not take any of our beloved pets with us. We searched for a while for a place that would let us bring them but they all either said not (flat out or because of breeds...BSL really needs to stop) or we could not afford the extra rent they asked. Finally we couldn't wait any longer and had to move, re-homing 2 large dogs and 3 cats is not easy at all.
Floyd (5 year old cat) found a home with friends fairly quick but our other two cats sadly ended up in the shelter where I work and are still waiting to be adopted (if your looking for a cat and are in the Philadelphia area email me epictalesftm@gmail.com). It kills me to see them here everyday.
Deuce (12 year old Chow mix) already had some old man problems and in the process of trying to find him a home his back legs started to give out and sometimes he could not get up at all so Hubby and I made the heartbreaking decision to have him humanely euthanized. It was the worst day of my life and I don't think I've ever cried so much, it was about 3 weeks ago and I still cry all the time. I asked one of my managers at work to do it so it was less impersonal, Hubby and I were with him the entire time and he died looking into my eyes with my arms wrapped around him. I'm seriously crying right now as I type this. Deuce and I went through a lot together and he got me through some pretty tough times in my life, I've had him since before I was with Hubby. To make things worse, I didn't realize Hubby had never seem an animal euthanized before, it's hard enough to watch when you know what to expect but he went into it totally blind. I wish I would have known so I could have at least explained the process to him, he said he can never watch that again. I don't blame him. Having Deuce put to sleep was the kindest thing I could do for him and I know he's waiting for me in the after life, probably playing in the snow.
Alice (4 year old American Pit Bull Terrier) is a while other story that still doesn't have an end. My cousin (who is studying to be a veterinarian and is deaf) wanted her with the intention of training her to be a service dog but was in the process of moving to Iowa. Hubby and I were thrilled because being a service dog would mean she can go anywhere and Iowa is cold so it would be great for her allergies (that only flair up in the heat); we just needed a foster home for 1 month until she could get settled in to her new place. Foster home #1: Didn't feel right from the beginning. A family of 4 was looking to foster a dog to show their 2 children how much responsibility it was before making the commitment... I can respect that and thinks it's a pretty good idea, I just didn't realize neither of them ever had a dog before. We drove over an hour to their house and were very honest up front about her medical conditions, her barking and how strong she was and the family was perfectly fine with it until about 2 days later. They emailed my cousin and said she kept having accidents in the house, wasn't eating or taking her meds and barked at everyone and their neighbors did not like a Pit Bull in the area. They didn't want to deal with any adjustment period on Alice's part and just wanted her gone, they did offer to take her to where ever she was going though. Foster #2: Another family member, loves dogs. Seemed like the perfect solution until their resident dog tried to attack Alice not even 30 minutes after she arrived. They brought her to our house as we were literally in the process of moving out on our last day there. Our landlord was nice enough to let us keep her there for 2 nights (Hubby stayed there with her) after which she went to Foster #3. Hubby's manager: A bachelor with dog experience living in Philly, when I dropped her off he told me he did not expect us to take him up on his offer and 2 days later I had to pick her up because she didn't fit his life style. We were out of options and I had to bring her to the shelter. I knew she wouldn't do well there, she's not crate trained so she would hate the cages and special needs dogs don't usually get placed. As I was about to do her intake one of my co-workers found a volunteer who knew someone tat could take in a foster. I waited around for over an hour when she and her kids finally showed up. Foster #4: They had special needs dog experience and seemed nice but again a few days later she called me and said Alice tried to attack one of her cats (which I still don't understand because Alice has lived with cats her whole life). She agreed to keep her one more night since it was later and Minion was sleeping so the next day I picked her up while I was at work and brought her back to the shelter. She was so depressed and it was very hard to see her like that, she's such a bubbly dog normally. The next day she caught another break! A boarding facility the shelter works with previously offered space to a dog with a home that couldn't take them right away. My cousin still wanted her so off she went and her updates said she was doing very well there. Then the airline jacked up her plane ticket to over $500 and said because she is dangerous (based solely on her breed) she needed a special metal kennel that would cost almost $1000, non of us could afford that but my cousin quickly decided that she would just drive the 18 hours here and back to pick Alice up. Now we just need a foster for 1 night on September 27 till the 28th when my cousin gets to town. I refuse to believe it's over until she is safely in Iowa.
As I'm sure you can imagine my stress level has been through the roof lately, all this on top of getting rid of things we no longer have room for and funding a place for the things we can't get rid of (like Halloween and Christmas decorations since our apt complex has no storage). Aside from the lack of space, the apartment isn't too bad, it has a 24 hour gym and a pool I'm pretty sure most of the Philadelphia Soul players live in my building, I guess they don't get paid like the pros (no I'm not at all surprised). It's all just an adjustment, neither one of us really likes change (although I can tolerate it better then he can) so it's been interesting to say the least. My body is also still out of whack from Minion causing me to be extra moody. Poor Hubby, I'm pretty sure I take most of it out on him. I just keep trying to tell myself we only have to stay here a couple years until we can save enough to buy a house of our own, things are already looking up, Hubby has a job interview on Friday. Pray it goes well.
