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How hard is it to foster an aging or sick pet?

pete

not peace but 2 Beers!
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Nov 14, 2015
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I wish I'd seen a story like this at the beginning of the summer when I had more time at home.

Now I'm feeling selfish because its not good timing to do it.

as @coskigirl said, it's not being selfish to realize you just haven't the means to provide.

Sadly there will be more pets needing Hospice next year. This will allow you some healing time too and time to determine what level of care you can provide.

Rescue organizations providing care can always use money, while money may to some seem buying redemption, it's not. Without money they can't do what they do. One local shelter here has monthly expenses of over $30K a month. They have hundreds of volunteers who give up time to help with simple stuff but this too offsets their costs.

So if money isn't a one's thing, time might be. It may offer someone the chance to gain a feel for whether they're ready to foster before fostering.
 

fatbob

Not responding
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I'm going to offer the contrary view here too. It may be heartbreaking but it isn't your problem and unless your lifestyle accomodates it i.e. you spend most of your time at home, minimal road trips and not long hours away at work or other activities you probably aren't the best people for it.

I also think people get too hung up on pets in general. I would absolutely love to have a dog but until my lifestyle changes such that I have appropriate time it isn't happening.
 

Ogg

Skiing the powder
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Long Island, NY
I have a friend that only fosters elderly and special needs dogs. I think there are 8 in her house now(mostly small dogs) and 3 cats. Her life pretty much revolves around it. She is a vet tech so dealing with the health issues is easier for her than for many people. It's both heartbreaking and extremely rewarding at the same time and I doubt she will ever stop doing it.
 

VickiK

Out on the slopes
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So. Calif.
IMHO now might not be the right time. Perhaps follow @VickieH 's advice and use your free time now to investigate and consider, maybe get involved in other ways to help rescues. I get that you're grieving your loss with Zig. I'm still sad about my old cat, heck my beloved dog. I don't expect that to go away. Their time is so much shorter than ours. Many kind words on here. Take heart.
 

laine

I ski like a girl. Fast.
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Jul 31, 2016
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Palm Springs
IMHO now might not be the right time. Perhaps follow @VickieH 's advice and use your free time now to investigate and consider, maybe get involved in other ways to help rescues. I get that you're grieving your loss with Zig. I'm still sad about my old cat, heck my beloved dog. I don't expect that to go away. Their time is so much shorter than ours. Many kind words on here. Take heart.

To @VickiK's point - there are other ways you can help. As I said, I'm a volunteer at a shelter - maybe they have a program where you can volunteer a couple hours a week, get your dog fix in. When Ted and I went to Kauai, the Kauai Humane Society has a program called "Take a dog on a field trip" where they let visitors take dogs out of the shelter on a beach walk or mountain hike. Maybe there's something similar with a shelter in Reno or Truckee, where you can do that on an ad hoc basis.

It's incredibly rewarding to help the doggies (speaking from experience), and a lot of our volunteers are people who can't have pets, either because their lease or lifestyle won't allow it, and they can still help in some way. Consider other options - at least for the winter season - and then you can always reconsider in the spring.
 

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