Fullfillment of Destiny???....

In the past 3 months, I have had to ethanized 4 of my own personal pets. Cherry~a lovebird, Panda~a rat, Mariah~a dog, and most recently, Valentina~a cat. I have to say that I feel a little bit like I have been repeatedly run over by a truck. I have spent the last 8+ years trying to make up for the lack of compassion and responsiblity shown towards animals by their owners. But at times, like now, or when I have to say no to an animal in need, or an animal is too sick or aggressive to be saved and I have to make the decision to end their suffering I wonder "Why am I doing this?".

Recenty, my cousin, Lee Ellen and I were discussing how overwhelming my animal rescue ambition often is for me. I tend to forget myself and sadly sometimes my family too as I am so overwhelmed with sadness at having to admit that I cannot save them all. It was in this conversation that she reminded me of the "orphanage" that I used to run in my basement as a child. In this "establishment I "cared" for unwanted "children". There was an area for sleeping, feeding, medical care, and playtime. I cannot even imagine how much time I spent playing "orphanage"....it was by far my favorite thing to do. Was it the beginning of my destiny?


The overwhelming times...such as ... holding Rascal (a wire-haired JRT)in my arms as he bled out and died of parvo because his owners were too irresponsible to have him vaccinated, or watching the pound website to see if an abandoned Rottweiler girl, only known as a number at the Summit count pound, was rescued by somebody before she ran out of time only to see that she had been euthanized hours before one of my fosters got adopted allowing room at my home for her, or the black lab/Greyhound mix that died at the Stark County pound because I chose to take an ex-racer instead, or Peaches the feral orange cat that I took in, had spayed, vacciated and released to find her dead on the side of the road just 3 days later, or the feral kittens that I just couldn't tame, or Newton, the big white cat with huge gorgeous green eyes, that I saved off the street only to have to have him euthanized because he had aids....or the little tortie cat roaming around my neighborhood with the frozen off tail that I have been trying to catch for months now, that I finally did catch only to have to let her go because she has babies...now I can only leave food out for her and hope that I can still save her and maybe her babies too....

So here I am, asking again, "Why am I doing this?"..."Is it my destiny"....am I strong enough to fullfill it? At what cost? How can I continue to make a difference without drowning in the sorrow that comes with it?

Mariah is in heaven..........

Tumor in the end.

Mariah licking her plate clean!

The plate before she licked it clean....

Mariah enjoying her trip to the dog park!

Enjoying her morning bones!

On October 11, 2006, we drove to Newton Falls to meet Maya. She was an 8 year old Rottweiler that had to find a new family because her parents had to sell their home and move to Nevada for a job. We took her home and decided that in her new life she should have a new name but similar so she became Mariah which she answered to straight away. She loved everyone right from the start..loved the cats a little too much at first but soon she fit right in. Mariah was Madison's protector.....so much so that when Madison yelled for her while in the tub, she came running and leaped right in with her....all 100lbs of her!

We celebrated Ms. Mariah's 10th birthday with a big bash(July 2008)...all her doggie friends came and enjoyed the doggie pools, doggie birthday cake, and special doggie party favors too. Her foot was already showing some signs of trouble then and being a Rottie we knew that her 10th was a big deal.

In November the vet decided that it was time to take the tumor, a toe and do a biopsy. The prognosis was not good....it was cancerous and likely to come back and go everywhere but they had gotten all the cancer so we did have 5 months longer with her.

Mariah is now in heaven with Nikita, of Nikita's Wish, 8 years and one month to the day later! Though I didn't have her as long, she was such a huge part of our family and so much like Nik that it is uncanny! I will continue to rescue in honor of both of them and plan to always have a Rottweiler!

Stuff~not good with titles!

Remington poses with the Webkinz Guinea Pig. "Am I a this?"

Jasper says, "No brudder you don't have white on your face like him...see, I do!"

Jasper again~"Wait, maybe I a this?"

This is just a good sign! Katelyn with the duck at Kraynak's in Sharon,PA.

Madison with Sponge Bob!
Kayla with Elmo!

Katelyn with Big Bird!


Winnie the Pooh~because!

I LOVE sock monkeys!

The 6 foot chocolate egg~we were not allowed to test this! GEEZ!

The girls at Kraynak's!

The girls at home before Easter dinner!

I never seem to be able to get this thing to line up right! UGH. Anyhow, Valentina is doing worse again~poor kitty. It almost seems as though her medicine makes her worse. I wish I had just gone to school to be a vet but then again, I don't always agree with them....but at least I would have the knowledge to make intelligent decisions on my own. Toby doesn't have diabetes....instead he has the start of kidney disease. I know a little about that on the dog side but cats are like ...well, a different species! LOL.

We had to have one of our rats, Panda, euthanized while in Indiana. Yes, I did sneak two rats into our hotel room because Panda had an eye injury and I couldn't trust Rob to take care of her too. It was by far THE worst vet experience I have ever had! But Panda is not suffering anymore!

I posted pictures from the Indianapolis zoo on my flickr account. I didn't get any from the waterpark as my camera is crap and does not take photos inside places like that very well. Some day I am going to have to break down and buy a new one!

Val update.

Well, the vet said she has liver disease. But it sounds pretty treatable and she is already responding well just to the fluids and no meds yet. I am going to pick up some meds today.

Cats.......and more....

Me and my Buddy at a Parrot Hope event...www.parrothope.org!

Madison with Howie!

Katelyn with unstable Maybel!

My Baloopy~cuz I love him~

And my new Greyhound tattoo!

Well, cats are the hot topic at the zoo right now. Our Valentina has lost a significant amount of weight and was dehydrated so off to the vet for blood work for her. We are awaiting results.

Then we were outside jumping on the trampoline *I was supervising only.....and Madison went into the garage to get her car and heard a cat crying. A cat had gotten up into the rafters and was afraid to come down. Uh huh, the CAT needed MY help to get down. So I got our pool ladder and stood on the top two rungs coaxed him down with some canned food onto a cabinet above the tool bench and then said a prayer and grabbed his scruff to bring him down the rest of the way....knowing that if he decided he didn't like me that we were both going to have a nasty fall! But an animal in need....well, we both made it because he is a super nice boy!

The rat babies are now almost 5 weeks old and are separated by gender now. We have had some interest but not as much as we normally do. The economy has caused a decline in adoptions just like everything else.

I finally got my Greyhound tattoo!

We do have a new addition to the zoo because, well, I am a moron! Buddy our foster Hahns Macaw is now a permanent resident at the Gibbons zoo!

And another bird update~Our Howie has 4 eggs in his sleep sack...turns out he is a girl!

Maybel, our foster Beagle is moving to Indiana this weekend and we are going to have a little fun while taking her home. We are going to the Indianapolis Zoo and Caribbean Cove indoor waterpark! A little vacation over spring break!

That's all for now!

My Mariah

Here she is at Bow Wow Beach in Stow!

Well, Miss Mariah had surgery in November and though it finally healed she now has a new tumor on her foot and one on her hip too! She is also losing her hearing. Poor Mariah is still enjoying life...as you can see in the above photos....but I don't know how much time she has left. Though I tend to over-react and exaggerate because I stress so much about having to make such awful decisions!

A little past due.....

One of the babies from our foster rat mommy, Phoebe. She had 16 babies February 28th. One of them didn't make it though. 12 and under is average litter size so she does have a lot to care for! This baby will be a hooded.

This baby will be a PEW (pink-eyed white)

I haven't looked at all of them too closely yet but there is at least one berkshire in here too.

This is mommy's prego belly and her sweet little face!

OK. Lots going on but my computer has been on the fritz so..... We are fostering two birdies for Parrot Hope. http://www.parrothope.org/

Buddy~a Hahns Mini Macaw (he may have a home---we did a home visit for him a couple of days ago. http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=12820579

And Eli~a white capped Pionus (he is not yet listed and I do not have pix yet. (I just got him last night).

We also rescued a pregnant rat who just had babies last Friday~she had 16 but one didn't make it. Average litters are typicall 12 or under so she has a lot to take care of.