You cannot control someone elses drinking-period. I highly suggest you get yourself to an al anon meeting asap. If you think it will get better after he retires you are kidding yourself. I come from a long line of hard drinking alcoholics and I promise you the only way you will get some control over your situation is to get a good support system and learn all you can about alcoholism. You can't make him stop or change his drinking patterns. Only he can do that. Please, please take care of yourself and try at least 3-4 differnet al anon meetings to get comfortable with how it works. Hugs, keeping you in my thoughts. ~Cat

Vet tech from a small-dog and cat practice here. Correct-- small breeds are like little high-performance sports cars. They go fast and they have small "gas tanks". Thus, they can't eat a lot in one meal to meet their high energy demands. Growing puppies have even higher energy needs, and are at even greater risk of hypoglycemia (HG). The best thing to do for these little ones is to feed them small amounts every few hours, rather than just once or twice a day. DO keep Nutrical (or at least some honey or Karo Syrup) on hand for emergencies. Try to give these supplements AS SOON as HG symptoms hit (before the pup passes out), and then follow up with food and a trip to the vet if the pup doesn't perk up very quickly after treatment. The one problem I have with any of the "rescue glycemics" is that they can cause the blood sugar to spike suddenly, then tumble even lower as the sugars are digested, resulting in an even-worse crash. This is a potentially serious problem if the pet doesn't eat much after giving the rescue. However, HG is NOT the only reason for seizures. Chi's are more subject to problems such as open fontanelles ("soft spots" on the skull where the bones are still separated); hydrocephalus ("water on the brain"); epilepsy and other neurological problems. Other seizure causes include electrolyte imbalances and various metabolic problems such as Addison's or Cushing's. In cases like these, of course, no amount of honey, Karo, Nutrical or anything else like this would make a difference. So no, small dogs don't really need honey every day as much as they need to keep their blood sugar levels stable. Frequent small meals will help-- just be sure to watch how MUCH they eat all day so they don't get fat. One way to do this is to measure out the daily ration in the morning, then feed a little from that ration as the day goes along. Hope that helps.

Please take your baby to the vet to rule out anything serious.

How did a question about wasting turn into a slam-fest? Everyone does things that are wasteful as well as conservative. I still have old lightbulbs that have not burned out yet, and CFLs in the ones that have. I have a plasma TV, a new microwave, a jacuzzi and a crockpot. The crockpot is used around 1-2 times a month and I love it in those instances. I drive a truck, don't have a clothesline and use my air conditioner. I recycle religiously. I conserve water, pick up trash in parking lots, give anything away that could possibly be used again, use freecycle and drag my scrap paper from work home (with my boss's permission)for my daughter to color on. I turn off lights if I'm not in the room. I turn off the water when I brush my teeth. I also fly back to my homestate of Hawaii 2600 miles away(and fly my daughter back) using tons of jet fuel. Before we throw stones at our neighbors try googling Al Gore's house and George Bush's house for a shocking comparison of energy waste/conservancy. It just goes to show we all make choices. Acknowledging that we are making a choice when we expend/reduce energy use is the first step towards using less. That person who uses old bulbs and a crockpot may recycle everything, drive 50 miles a month in a tiny car and not use plastic. As a side note, I grew up 30 miles from the nearest town, where we didn't have a Wal-mart/Kmart/Costco or anything similar. Due to bad roads it took over an hour to get there, once we made the 1/2 hour trip down our 4wd road to get to the highway. We had catchment tanks for water, and the water went right down the sink and onto the trees on the side, outhouses, solar and kerosene for light. I got my clothes from the "free box" at our local co-op, and we bought our food in bulk. We had no refrigerator/freezer/television/radio/appliances except for a gas stove, and that was used by ten or so people in a community kitchen. The shower was a hose attached to a tree. When we got hot water, it was from a paloma, and we took "Navy" showers. (Some habits die hard, I still take 5 minute showers and turn the water off when shaving, etc). Our homes were made out of recycled lumber and bamboo, with every scrap used. We'd go to town once a week for supplies, and we'd carpool with neighbors to get there. You may be imagining someone living like this pre- 1950. I'm 30. I've lived in San Diego for two years now and enjoy having air conditioning. I think that frugality is only as good as quality of life. Awareness and compassion for why people are living the lives they choose is essential. When people tease me for saving every last drop of water I remind them the mentality I grew up with...When you are constantly conscious that the water you are using can be depleted and there is no way to get a water truck to fill the tank up you use a lot less! Sorry.... I just grew up more frugal than most people could ever imagine, so the argument about bulbs, etc. is just silly to me. Try using a kerosene lantern at night to do anything. We got everything done during daylight hours, believe me! Wear them until they're standing on their own, then wash clothes by hand, wring them out with a foot powered wringer. Don't use any pesticides, herbicides, anything not organic. Wash your hair with fresh Awapuhi ginger. Live in harmony with the bugs around you... misquitoes, cockroaches (we'd call them B-52 bombers), you name it- and the way we killed them was with our feet and hands. This was in the rainforest, with 100' trees, 1-2' vines, giant tree ferns. There was mold. On everything. So, after venting! The waste I see every day (personal pet peeves): 1. Watering giant lawns that no one ever sits on 2. Private swimming pools 3. Eating food out of season 4. Throwing away plastic containers