[Mitzpah]

I have pets too!
Dogs have always been a very important part of my life, a love that I shared with my h.
before we had children and were building our first house, he gave me my first Rottie, unfortunately he escaped and was hit by a bus. Soon after that h. bought another Rottweiler pup for me, this dog was a real star and was devoted to me, we got a female to accompany him and we had two litters of puppies from them.
When we moved to the house we live in now, they came with us and ended up dying of old age, we got yet another female rottie before the old male died and I still have her. Over the years we have had a variety of strays and inherited odd dogs. At the moment, I house two rottweiler elderly ladies and two Labs (the younger one is the daughter of the first - she got out and mated with an unknown 'bounder').
H. has no interest in the dogs now, he says we should never have had so many dogs ( I agree, except he forgets that he was the one to accept them, giving into the kids). He only, reluctantly, pays for their food.
We are overrun with fleas and ticks, inside and outside the house and it drives me scatty! Fleas are very hard to get rid of, not to mention expensive! H. blames me for the fleas!
I feel the dogs are very much affected by h. leaving home, they adore him and would do anything for him. I love my dogs, but I am so frustrated with the fleas and the constant fighting among them that I end up not dedicating much time to them.
The oldest Rottie is in a sorry state, covered in flea induced sores, very thin and quite obviously on her last legs, she has an eye 'affliction' that needs prescription drops to keep the constant formation of a purulent 'sleepy wax' at bay.
The adopted Rottie is sad - she really loved my h. and she stays by herself in the garage (highly infested by the fleas) most of the time (the place he liked to be) - she has gotten thinner too.
The Lab is always fighting all the others - I woke up this morning to see she had sustained another bite to her nose - it was swollen, spoiling her otherwise beautiful face, but I know she is the one who causes the fights...
The youngest Lab (she is two today!) is just covered in fleas and it makes me despair when I see her scratching...
Does anyone else have this kind of experience? h. leaving and dogs/pets having problems?

[BonBon]

Hi Mitzpah,
Oh gee.  I'm sorry to hear the doggies are in such a state.  These MLCers just have no idea the chaos they cause, do they?

I was wondering if you've tried homeopathic remedies for them?  I know some people say some of these remedies work but I don't have them at hand.  We use Advantix to keep fleas at bay but I'm not sure that helps when they already have them.  As for the dogs being sad, or confused enough to fight, that just breaks my heart. 

I'll keep you all in my prayers...
Hugs,
Bon

[brokenhearted]

Oh Mitzpah, I  feel for you. It is overwhelming when we realize the person we trusted most has left us, our families, our children and even our pets. My partner and I got our St. Bernard from a rescue group. He loved that dog, talked about her all the time, rubbed her belly, bought her special treats even rode through Mcdonald's for a cheeseburger for her. Now he shows no interest in her even though she is old and lame. I do believe she misses him also.
I am so sorry about your dogs. I wanted to say that fleas can get out of hand quickly and cause many illnesses besides just itching. I am concerned that you said they are so thin and have sores. Is it possible to move them somewhere for a couple of days and set off flea bombs in both the house and garage and have them treated. If not I believe they will get sicker. I know vets are expensive but if you call your local animal shelter and explain the situation they may be able to guide you on what to do. Fleas multiply rapidly if left untreated. Will also bite humans. The dogs are definitely not doing good if they have fleas you can see and open sores. I know it is all just too much sometimes. Is there someone close by who could help with the flea bombs and treating the dogs. I work with rescue dogs and know how out of hand it can get. Also can the dog/dogs that are fighting be separated especially if they are getting wounded.    Not sure where you live but if you were anywhere by me I would be glad to help.
Right now I have a blind, deaf lame St Bernard and a 70 pound newfie puppy. I wish my partner were her to help. But that just isn't going to happen. So for now my furry buddies are depending on me to make them comfortable and happy
There are so many good souls on this site I am sure that if a LBS lived near you they would be willing
 to help.  I know how it is when you feel like you just can't do one more thing but our families and pets count on us so we march on.
If I were closer I would be happy to help with the poochie flea problem and give you a break

[Mitzpah]

Thank you for your kind answers. The fleas really are a monstrous problem, I have hired someone to come and professionally de-flea the place as of today. These critters are really out of hand, My daughter and I are covered in bites too!
BH, I live in Brazil, so I don't have any LBS I know of near me, although I am sure they exist!
This treatment should take three weeks and I am going to 'sell' part of my vacations in order to pay for it.

[Musica]

We have 2 dogs, 1 cat, 20 chickens and some ducks which come and go! Since H left I take responsibility for all the animals, feeding them walking them etc etc. He used to do most of that. A couple of years before he left he started getting really impatient with the animals, especially the youngest dog ... who used to bark and dig holes (he's a dog right!) He shouted at the animals, and my D's sometimes saw him treating them badly. He took out his anger and frustration on them. It wasn't fair at all, the poor animals didn't know why.

Just recently he's said ... that dog isn't so bad after all ... about the younger dog. Actually he's a lovely dog with a wonderful gentle soul, he still digs holes, but as I said to H ... he's only having fun!!

So sorry to hear about your problem with the fleas etc Mitz ... hope the treatment sorts it out for them. xxxx

[WarriorPriestess]

Bumping for the pet lovers who haven't seen this yet. 

[BonBon]

And a great reminder why in most cases, I prefer pets to peeps....
Anonymous...

[Believer]

I was at a Theta Healing course the other weekend. One topic we discussed was about the energy field surrounding our pets. It was interesting to learn that they truly respond to what is happening in their owner's lives. There were cases where the pets took on the pain and hurt the family was experiencing in an attempt to give back to them all of the love they had been given and to give the family some peace.
Really quite emotional when you think about it.

I went home and gave my kitty and pup the biggest hugs...coincidently our kitty is unwell and has been since h left..

[WarriorPriestess]

A good friend of mine recently had bladder cancer.  Just previously to her symptoms starting, her cat had the same symptoms and eventually died from them.  She is convinced that he took it on energetically for her as long as he could.  Animals are amazing.  There is so much more to them than science acknowledges, both personally and spiritually as thinking loving beings in their own right.

[Finding Hope]

Bumping this thread and making an addition..

I have one dog at home. He is my best friend. His name is Chase and he just received his Service Dog Certificate.
At BD, h started pulling away from him. H would come home and Chase would go up to him to be petted and h would yell at him to go away. Finally one night I had enough of that and told him to not take anything out on my dog.

Chase sleeps with us (he weights 90 lbs), and when he knows that Im upset with my h, he gets inbetween us and pushes my h with his big ole paws. I hear my h telling him to stop but he just keeps pushing until h is hanging on the edge of the bed. I just lay there smiling

He has been the one stable thing out of all this. He knows my feelings and thoughts.

Lately h has been connecting with him. Sometimes Chase will grace him with his company and other times he makes my h work for it. It really is funny to see him work h. Karma is a @itch. He is sooooo smart and loyal.

He's the best....................

C