sorry, buster

Damn. Just damn.

Putting my dog to sleep is one of the hardest things I have had to do in life. That read breaks my heart.

I remember my cat being put to sleep due to illness. I'm still haunted.

That really touched my heart and made me want to rush to my mother's home and retrieve my English Mastiff!!!

:cry:

Maybe this doesn't belong here, but it seems apropos.

Mrs. Nutkin (Not Goodye Tiptoe) has been on this "We need a leather couch" jag for a few months. Since we got rid of our old couch ostensibly due to young Nutkin's allergies to Dogs, Cats, Dust and other vessels of human psychological projection.

After a few weeks of near regular searches of Craig's list I found a leather couch for sale about an hour and a half away. I called the woamn and got the 411 on the couch and though she had cats and dogs, I figured it was leather and therefore easy enough to clean.

She also told me that she'd only had the couch for a week when she decided that it was too nice to let the cats trash it.

Then she tells me she's the animal control warden and has 7 or 8 dogs, 50 cats, (some living in the barn) 15 horses, Arabian goats, etc etc.

I get there, the couch is in decent enough shape and had been kept under a blanket. The house stinks to high heaven. It reeks. The smell of shit and animals is truly overwhelming. I cannot describe how bad it smelled. Perhaps like Hercules' ball sack after he'd just finished cleaning the Aegean stables.

So the woman's husband and kid move the sofa and chair and ottoman out to the truck for me. Very nice. On the drive back home my buddy and I reek from just standing in the house for 10 minutes. We move the stuff into my kitchen where it now sits awaiting a total disinfecting and sage / pine incense treatment. Then I'll febreeze it, put the ozone machine in there, then take it out into the yard and burn it.

At least I don't have to hear about the fucking couch any longer.

But this woman adopted and rescued all of those animals in her capacity as warden. I imagine most of them would be as happy to be put to sleep. I mean since we're projecting our feelings onto animals and all.

There is a woman here who runs a rescue service for cats. I got my two cats from her. I'd say she had 20 - 30 cats when I went there. Probably 15 cats inside and another 15 or so outside. Her home did not smell catty in the least. She spays or neuters them as quick as she can get them to the vet's. She obviously must be cleaning the litter boxes twice a day. All the cats looked super healthy with clear eyes and shiny fur. I was very impressed with the time and effort she obviously puts into her kitty rescue project. Its sad to read about people whose hearts may be in the right place, but for some reason don't or can't follow through.

Putting my rebellious teenage son to sleep is one of the easiest things I have had to do in life.

:lol:@ SN

Some people can't smell their own armpits let alone the stench of too many animals.

How did waking him up go?

Ha! I'll let you know in about 12 hours...

okies. don't envy you, my 12yo just went to bed.... :eek:

Gosh, I lurk the forum for a thread short enough for a noob to read and post on (since mods need to see some decent action, which I somehow like), and I find this?
Good thing I don't have a heart anymore, you'd have broken it. I love my furry companions and they are not just pets - they're family. When things come to this, I tell you - there are a lot of people out there I would not think of twice, but with them I hope they go really gently.
That is if I don't have a heart attack alone in the house and they chew my face until someone finds us.

Time for some happy thoughts now (and hope mods work weekends here, I feel like howling in the woods alone).

Kindof along the same line as this thread... When asked by nosey busy bodies why I had dogs and not children all these years, I always would answer 'because if I get tired of MY children, I can take them to the vet and have them put to sleep!'