01/05/2026
👋 Hi. Want a real insider peek at this thing we call ? Let me tell you about today... its long, but this is our lives.
Today? If you mash together: stress, worry, sadness, crippling anxiety, more drugs than I care to list, 9 dogs, at least two WTFs, one holy 💩, two band-aids, 8 or 9 rounds of baby-gate-hurdling, one fall, a late-night strategy session, pride, relief, one bad-ass veterinarian, six bad-ass rescuers, three angelic foster moms, and one excruciatingly LOOOONG day - THAT. WAS. TODAY.
8 spays & neuters. No big deal, usually. But today we had to neuter the Hoarding House boys. Which meant we had to *catch* the Hoarding House boys. 🥴
, , and have me worried. I'm not gonna lie. Not gonna sugar coat. Not gonna pretend they're something they're not. They're sweet boys who have trauma to work through (but who doesn't?).
I don't have the capacity right now to find the words to adequately thank our vet, Dr. Dave, for instantly recognizing the worry and crippling anxiety I'm holding for these boys. 🥺 He's a 'fixer' in more ways than anyone knows. We chatted on the phone last night about the surgeries planned for today, and the medication plans to 'sedate them for capture' (😂😂😂➡️🙄)
I *may* have had a smol 🤏 sleep-deprivation-induced panic attack about how I'm going to find the time and the help to TRY to pull these boys through their traumas, let alone catch them for surgery when tranquilizers didn't seem to phase them on our "trial run."
He hopped in the car, grabbed some food (because he knows I haven't been eating right) and drove an hour down here so that we could brainstorm step 1 - get the boys caught, and get them here for surgery.
And then? He was here first thing this morning to go WITH me to get the boys - ANNND he brought the 'Doctor-use-only' back-up drugs - just in case.
Charlie gave up first and went into his crate without any fuss. Easy-peasy! 🙌 Shenzi took a little more teamwork from me and Foster Mama Cathy, but he went into the crate after some skillful maneuvering. 🙌🙌
Billy... ahhh Billy. 🥴 Bruised knees and a little blood build character, right? Long story short, we had the boys loaded up in about 45 minutes.
Next challenge? Giving them injections of pre-anesthesia medications to make them sleepy. 😳 Dr. Dave takes the 'HOLY COW - YOU DID THAT!! 'Award. *MY* restraint skills aren't shabby by any stretch, but Dave? He's spent his entire adult life finding creative ways to NOT get bit. He's a jedi. Knocking all three down was a cakewalk! Thank you, Lord, for little wins. 🙌
Shenzi went first, with an impressively-sized umbilical hernia repair and neuter. But... his christmas baubles weren't right. Like, something was really different with his testicles. 😳 We don't know what or why, but they were small and not formed right. Either way. They're OUT. If any vet friends want to take a look at the photos and let us know if you've ever seen anything like this, we'd love to get opinions because no one here today had ever seen anything like it.
Charlie and Billy were next and their surgeries were pretty textbook, though doc did have to tack their impressively-sized scrotums to help ensure they don't develop complications.
Somewhere along the line I came up with the idea that while the boys were under anesthesia, (and we could hold them and love them and kiss them... finally,) that we needed to take full advantage of this and go full-hypnosis on their fuzzy-butts and Whisper into their ears all the good things that were waiting for them if they would just trust us - a little.
And that is exactly what our recovery team was doing - Non-Stop - while they were waking up. And judging by the behaviors we're seeing from them this evening our fingers are crossed that it worked and we hope that we will see the same from them tomorrow.
The , who are the most precious things on the planet, had their spays and neuter done today too.
NO. No. I take that back. The GIRLS had their spays. Gunner, the only boy, threw us a curve ball. Literally. ONE BALL. 🥴 So this little cryptorchid tot gets to hang out with us for a few more weeks while we see if we can't find that other testicle. If we can't find it then he gets to go into the big boy Hospital so the doctor can open him up and go looking for it. 🧐
Billy and Shenzi went home with Foster Mama Cathy tonight after all was said and done (about 7pm 🥴) I am getting reports just now at 10:30 p.m. that shenzie is allowing everyone to pet him. Shenzie wouldn't let ANYBODY near him at all. Period.
I'm praying that all the subliminal messaging (anesthesia hypnosis ™️) that he received today is working.
I made the decision at the last moment to keep King Charlie with me. It cracks us wide open to separate them, but if we don't, we're never going to reach them. They *HAVE* to learn about the world and build confidence and trust. They're never going to do that when they are sitting in their anxiety and feeding off of each other's fear.
Cathy brought them a really long way in the past two weeks. She's an absolute Angel for opening her home to these dogs. And when they showed up *not* in the emotional condition that we were expecting, she didn't run. She didn't demand that they be removed from her home. She adjusted. She gave them Grace. She showed them kindness and what a real home feels like... and she may be the first person who ever has. 🥺
So now it's 10:30 at night and King Charlie (who has gut-wrenching, sad puppy-dog eyes that will Crack your soul in half) is settling into home-base with me. We are starting small. He's in a pen recovering from surgery. He has met the other dogs and he seemed to like them. But for now I am sitting on the floor of this pen with this sweet, beautiful boy, writing a post for all of you as I think about just how AMAZING our entire team is...
They are there for the dogs... and each other. Everyone... doing everything they can, to support one another and save animals who *literally* have NO ONE BUT US. The finality of that statement AND of their situation does not escape us.
And while I am doing this, Shenzi is at his home, still getting lovies from Mama Cathy and her grandkids. 💜
