What a fun resolution! I'm a garden/outdoor girl, so my skin is not going to be what it could be. Too much time outside during the last 50+ years. I'm okay with that...but, like you, I did make a decision to take better care of what I do have. I love Estee Lauder, but in the last few years, didn't want to spend the bucks for it. I've committed to Olay...the daily moisturizer with sunscreen and...the hardest to remember...the nightly moisturizer. You'd be surprised how often I forget to wash my face and put on moisturizer before bed. (I'm just now beginning to where makeup again--new business where I deal with people.) I do tell a difference when I use this...I have dry skin and it looks more alive and fresh when I'm faithful. I'd like to add facials once a month, too. Well see how the new business grows...

What about when its too late to not get a pet? I have one and he was recently diagnosed with epilepsy, this was after $3000 worth of test and that was our last bit of money. now he's getting bad seizures and we had to do emergency vet care that we knew we couldn't afford and we are now another $600 in the hole and this is just the beginning. we can't afford this. We love our dog and are broken up over this and we don't know what to do. we are worried we won't be able to find someone to take him from us that can care for him properly and we know that we can no longer care for him properly. So far we can't find anyone to take him and if we keep him that means when he has more problems or more seizures since the medicine doesn't completely keep them from happening it just controls them to make them less severe, so when he does have them we can't afford to take him in to the hospital when he has more than 4 in a day (he has cluster seizures). We are very torn as to what to do, it seems as though euthanizing him may an option because what kind of life is that if he needs medical attention we can't give him because we don't have the money.

In gen people who are in this situation shouldn't IMO keep pets unless they have plans for what happens to the animals in question, and the species they keep. Most people like this cannot afford good/decent pet food, or are too lazy, ignorant to see to that, stats show diet is often the most neglected aspect of pet care. I think this is an excellent idea though KF88 because people are not going to just wake up and see sense,and it is true there are curtain arrangements where I see it to be very very good. I'm lucky my parents will take my cats in the future, so bad things don't happen to them in the group home or the other way around with the people. Cats especially are by law, in MN at least, (only if loose and at large,free roaming) considered wild animals, and the ways group homes use to limit/control. problems such as scratching are barbaric as well as possibly dangerous to the people who live with them, we had a woman get bit by a de clawed cat- and I got bit by the cat when she brought the cat to work . On the other hand I understand why de-clawing would come up- my dad got a blood infection from a clawing that one of our previous cats in my childhood- the answer is then just not to have um in the first place. Many people do not like cats/dogs/pets, or are ill equipped to live with them especially those who are violent and unstable, we had someone throw a chair at one of my friends, at work, she, the attacker, probably lives in a group home, a lot of the people at my job do.. The victim got a bruised leg. - I asked what happened to stop the behavior from happening again., the victim reported to me the attackers mother was "rich and powerful" and so nothing was done. On the whole through if everyone is okay with it, accepts its what the animal does without resorting to cruel solutions, and no new people are going into that arrangement who may have an allergy, its a good idea.

For all my old pets I give subcutaneous fluids at least once a week. Most of my older dogs and cats have had some degree of kidney insufficiency in their later years and hydration alleviates the nausea associated with it and perks up their appetites. I believe this has extended most of their lives, but more importantly it keeps them comfortable. Probably of all the things I've done to help my senior pets, this has made the most improvement to their lives. My older cats enjoy(ed) their heating pad covered with a towel. In or near their 20s, they have all lost weight and it was/is harder for them to generate enough of their own body heat to stay warm. I have a 4 foot wide gradually sloping ramp that I built so that my old dogs do not have to climb stairs to get in and out of the back door into the yard. I covered it in that fake grass indoor/outdoor carpetting so that it is not slippery. It is tough stuff and I can scrape snow and ice off it without harming it. For my collie in the last months of his life (He had an inoperable tumor in his abdomen that I believe caused him to be incontinent) I wrapped his beds with plastic tarps and covered that with washable and comfy fleece blankets. (His beds were 2" thick blocks of dense upholstery foam that I had made for him when his arthritis made it too hard for him to get up on the couch.) When he slept urine would just run out of him, so I could just change his blanket and sponge off the waterproof tarp-covered bed with soap and water. I had about half a dozen blankets that I would just throw in the washer everyday. It was a system that was easy for me and comfortable sleeping for him. Likewise my last two cats in their 20s were "leaky" when they slept. I lined all of their beds with plastic waterproof tablecloths, cut to fit. Then I covered that with soft cloths made from old towels and old clothes that were disposable. I affixed the disposable bedding to their beds with masking tape that I could tear off the next day. I had boxes of discarded fabric items cut into cat-bed-sized linens. When the supply began to run low I bought a box of hospital pads and used those. When my dogs were very old their appetites waned. I home cook for all my pets, and I cooked only those foods that they liked the best in their last days, because it was most important for them to eat to keep up their strength and to get adequate nutrition. Poultry was a favorite, and I cooked many a 25 lb turkey back then. Toward the end it was too hard for my guys to stand to eat a meal, so I hand fed them so they could eat lying down. For my dogs, glucosamine/chondroitin and fish oil capsules have helped their arthritis noticably. Eventually old age gets the upper hand, but these remedies stave off the crippling effects of arthritis for some time. I hope some of these suggestions will help you with your older pets. I find it very rewarding to care for my pets in their later years. There are so many ways to make their lives more comfortable, and to provide them with contentment. They appreciate the extra care and enjoy this phase in their lives, even though their world and activities have shrunk from what they once were. And now that I, too, am old I can empathize even more with the difficulties they have, and instinctively take steps to alleviate them.