Living with depression and caring for pets

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Mister

Member Since 2013
Do any of you suffer from depression? Do your pets/cats provide a relief for it or exacerbate it? Are your pets a constant source of happiness for you or do you struggle with them from time to time?

I've chronic depression. Most days I get out of bed only because I've to take care of my pets. I've posted a lot on other 'per' boards about my depression and received a lot of support through them. I try to stay honest and open about it. I do struggle sometimes having six cats, a stubborn husky and a somewhat OCD German Shephard. It gets overwhelming at times and I just wish I could rehome some of them. And with Mister having diabetes I worry a lot. I also have really bad anxiety and the constant though of losing one of my pets die to negligence or a mistake or an accident makes me want to pull my hair out as well as pull everyone else's fur out...lol.

I really would like to get to know some of you and and how you deal with depression and taking care of your pets?
 
Hello and welcome! I also have a battle everyday with depression. My critters are sometimes the only reason I do get out of bed. I however do not have as many as you. In May I lost my kitty Boy George. My depression has been much worse in the past 2 months because of it. I have 1 sugar cat named Chicken Little and a dog named Little Dog. The cat is 13 years old and the dog is 10 1/2. I know that they are getting on up in age and wont be with me much longer. Knowing this gets me out of bed so that I can spend as much time with them as possible. Chicken was diagnosed with diabetes in Dec of 2011 and I have not gone on a vacation or spent the night away from home since then. She is pretty much feral and along with the diabetes makes it almost impossible for me to get a sitter. A sitter will never be able to inject because she will hide from anybody but me. All of this angers my husband who thinks I should not worry about animals at all. We fight about the animals constantly. He will never understand how I feel because he is just not a animal person. Hes not mean to them but he says he wont cater to them or walk around on tip toes just because it upsets them. He also gets very angry that I wont dump them at the vets office and go out of town with him. He is a big time traveler and is going somewhere every time you turn around. I was thinking about taking a trip and was touring places to leave them when George got real sick and died. That put a end to me thinking about going somewhere real quick. My parents want me to go to Gulf Shores with them in Oct and Im trying to figure out a way to do it. Everyone I know thinks Im crazy because I worry about leaving them. Anyway I did not mean to write you a book, I just wanted you to know that you are not alone. There are a lot of people who suffer from depression just like you and its a battle every single day! Again welcome and you can talk to me anytime!!
Terriy & Chicken Little
 
Depression, anxiety, nervous, stress, OCD, insomnia, even a person with their feet firmly planted in the ground can be thrown out of whack with learning to treat feline diabetes or any situation with their loved ones, be it furry or not. It's hard!

We live in an extremely stressful society. "Life is full" for so many of us these days and we wonder how we juggle everything we do.

Prioritize. Delegate. Meditate. Take some "Me Time". Cut back where you can. Do some deep soul searching and ask yourself "is this where I want to be?" Where do I see myself in 1 year? 5 years? Do I want to make changes in my life, major or minor and then set about doing that.

We all get frustrated and anxious about our pets at times. Sometimes, I lock them out of the room I'm in when they pester me too much and I really need to get something done.

On the other hand, I could not live without them in my life. My 3 cats, Wink, Delta and Monet keep some balance in my life, provide me with so much affection, let me know I'm making a difference in their lives, that I would never give them up. They help lower my heart rate and blood pressure when I pet or brush them. They snuggle with me at night. They let me cry in their fur when I'm overwhelmed. They make a huge difference in my life and I am grateful every day for their sharing my life with me.
 
Something to consider for you - more than depression may be happening and getting anything else identified and treated may have a lot to do with how you feel. Be persistent with your doc(s).

I've been fortunate to find an antidepressant that worked, to get the sleep disorder diagnosed and treated with prescriptions, and to get the low thyroid diagnosed and properly treated. Before that, it got to the point that I was sleeping 14 or so hours a day and working between naps.

Many individuals with depression have irregularities in the hypothalmus-pituitary-thyroid or hypothalmus-pituitary-adrenal hormone systems. Remind your docs of that and, because it is more common, ask to get your thyroid checked, including antibodies to thyroid if you have a family history of autoimmune diseases like arthritis, or diabetes. When you get the results back, if they say your thyroid is "normal", remind them they are treating a person, not a lab, and those numbers might not be normal for you. It took 20 years before a lab test finally indicated I needed thyroid hormone. Meanwhile, I was always cold, stiff, lethargic and plodding through everything. That just made the depression worse! If a thyroid test has you at the low end of normal and you are "running slow", discuss with the doctor about trying a therapeutic trial of thyroid (ex 1/2 of a 25 mcg tablet daily) for 2 months and retesting. If you don't need it, your body will readjust its own production to keep the levels the same; if you do need it, the TSH should go down and the T4 nd T3 should go up. Informed consent: if you don't need it, your body may have adverse reactions. If you observe those, then you stop the thyroid med.

I wasn't willing to try antidepressants until the day a chocolate milkshake tasted like wet sand. There has never been anything so dire in my life that chocolate didn't taste good, so I figured it had to be physical. It took trying 4 different antidepressants until I found 1 that didn't knock me out, wasn't allergic to, and didn't give me reflux so bad I couldn't stand up.

After getting the depression and thyroid situation regulated, I was still having sleep attacks (but not like narcolepsy). When I woke up because the car was going off the road, I thought I'd better get that diagnosed! Currently, it is labeled "idiopathic daytime hypersonmolence" a fancy way of saying "we don't know why, but during the day, sometimes you get really sleepy".

Through all of this, I have had my cats to keep me on a schedule (got to feed the cat!), snuggle with when lonely, and play with.
 
Although I'm not chronically depressed, the past 4 years for me have been very rough, and the emotional fallout from that sure takes a toll, and I'm not 100% yet.

My youngest daughter headed off to college 2 years ago, and it's been me and Poe since then. I think him and I were pretty dependent on each other even before his FD diagnosis. He's always kept me on my toes since his first asthma attack about 5 years ago.

I've had pets my whole life, and he is the first I've really had to "take care of." All my prior kitties were pretty independent as long as you fed them, pet them when they wanted and kept their litter box clean, they were happy.

Poe has always been a more demanding cat. Even before the FD, he was always super affectionate towards me, not really towards anyone else.

I know for me, taking care of someone else has always distracted me from falling into probably a severe depression. So, now, even though there are days when his FD is stressful (like last night :P), my focus on him gives me a satisfying purpose.

Hope this helps. And you are not alone at all :-D
 
I just started and finished a book by James Patterson which deals with a similar subject that I highly recommend. It is called "Against Medical Advice". It is non fiction, easy to read, and will leave you with hope and WOW!!!!!
 
Mister I'm glad that you posted on this subject. I have learned so much! I was just diagnosed with low thyroid and put on medication for it. Maybe that will help depression as suggested.
I also LOVE to read and I like Patterson. Im going to go get the book tomorrow.
Thanks bunches everyone!!
 
I can chime in on being persistent with your doctor until you find a medication that works for you. Unfortunately my first psychiatrist (like vets and their prescription food! :lol: ) had an arrangement with her Zoloft sales person and insisted on steadily increasing my dose while I insisted that A. it wasn't helping and B. the side effects were awful. Needless to say, I found another doc stat.

And while not everyone can afford it, etc, I highly recommend talk therapy of some kind, particularly if you have a mood disorder (depression, anxiety). Whether it's a social worker, psychologist, or your pastor, PLEASE find someone to help you. Suffering from mood disorders can cause you to form bad habits in your thinking processes and while the meds make you feel better, they won't help you defeat the "bad" thoughts. A social worker trained in cognitive therapy was my biggest help with my illness. She taught me to recognize when I was headed down the rabbit hole of anxiety and depression and how to stop those thoughts. She also told me that every once in a while it's ok to just allow yourself to feel bad/sad etc. Sometimes I just take an hour to feel those things and then I can put them aside and get on with it.
 
You're not alone....I was surprised to see your question and pleased because I've been struggling through the same thing. If those pet obligations were not there, not sure I'd even get up in the morning.....at the same time, there is such a thing as having too many obligations and not enough time to vegetate quietly....
If you have too many pets and are unable to care for them all or it's causing major anxiety for you...it's not good for your pets either and perhaps rehoming some would be a good idea....only you know for sure. Do you feel a weight off of your shoulders when you are away from the house?
For me getting outside helps, having to walk the dog whether I want to or not has been such a blessing.....and shutting off tv, computer and all cell devices for several hours a day helps in a big way but takes an enormous amount of discipline to do. Also, letting go and allowing someone else to care for the pets while I go away on holiday (even for a day or two) is a huge therapy!
Hang in there! (and definitely keep seeking help, medical and interpersonal questions......there's a solution, it takes time and investigation, but surely there is!)
 
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