Puppies trump Prozac

I am having a devil of a time with Depression these days.  We are trying to get me on much LESS medicine, and that includes cutting out a lot of my anti-depressants and trying some new stuff.

But one thing that does work for me is animals.  playing with my sugar gliders, even cleaning their cage, helps me feel much more... of value.  They need me, you know?  And boy do I need them.

So Saturday I went to my first school activity. Awesome because it was working with animals.  Intimidating because it was meeting a new group of people. And horses.  For some reason horses and I don't get along all that well.  (Megan, remember when Flurry tried to scrape me off of her like I was some sort of skin irritation?  And even Chief, the "sweetest" pony at work, pretty much hates me.)

Anyway, I went with SCNAVTA to Friends in Need Animal Rescue and Sanctuary in Eagle Mountain.  They are mostly a farm animal sanctuary and dog rescue, though they also have one of the biggest Red Eared Sliders I have ever seen.  She seriously makes Tortuga look like a miniature figurine.

First we spent some time grooming the dogs, brushing them, clipping nails.  Those further along in the program gave them little health checks, wrapped some hotspots, etc.  Then we walked all the dogs.  One very strong pittie about yanked my arm out of its socket it was so excited for the walk.  That actually STILL hurts.  But yeah, I had to say "umm, I am not actually strong enough to walk this dog!  Can somebody swap me?"  I felt so silly but I am pretty sure if I hadn't I would have permanent damage to my rotator cuff had I walked the dog, and probably lost the dog, too.  However, walking the little ones... a poodle named Pepper, a chihuahua named Mini, etc. was really fun, but tiring.  My energy level is still really low, I haven't even been doing water aerobics every weekday lately, I have just been hurting so much.

After we helped feed all the dogs, we headed over to the farm area. They have EVERYTHING.  Goats, cows, horses, turkeys, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, emu, and even yaks, water buffalo, and a long horn!  I "socialized" (played with) goats, rabbits, some chickens, and ducks.  We corralled some pretty wild little horses, which was a bit scary.  They would run right at you then skid to a stop in front of you because you were holding your arms out wide.  I kept thinking as they ran towards me with their tails lifted up all angry-like "stopohpleasestopohpleasestop" but they always did.

Then we made rope halters for a few and we brushed down the horses. One girl checked their hooves and made some recommendations of some veterinary stuff to do, and who needed to see a farrier and such.  I left the horses and helped muck out the pens.  Then I helped clean out the trays under the bunnies.  It was all really hard, but very good for me, emotionally and physically.  Except maybe I over did it a bit because I am STILL hurting, but I hurt ANYWAY, and at least this way I helped some animals in need.

I think it will be good when school starts.  I am scared to go back to college, but I want to go somewhere, and I think being a Vet Tech might be a great thing for me.  I will still teach at Thanksgiving Point, though.  And work on growing Critters 2 Go.  It's just a more "stable" direction. (I hope.)