u/Full_Competition6579

Any insight or shared experience is welcome! My dog is the dog I didn’t know I needed. He is a poodle I rescued 5 years ago. He is 9 years old now and lots of issues began popping up. Within the last year he started exhibiting back end weakness, proprioception deficits, and CKD.

Overall we’ve been managing well- he eats well, responds well to physical rehab. My overall goal is palliative care management of his issues as I cannot afford major surgeries and care for my other pets.

He had an episode last night of intense pain, seemingly out of the blue. After talking to the vet, we put him on crate rest and increased some meds. Overnight he has improved greatly, not quite to his normal self but we’re getting there.

One thing I’m struggling with when to make the hard decision. Like, I see it coming- especially if these episodes become a pattern. And I suppose that is the point- if the bad days become more than good it is time.

He still has that goofy poodle personality most days. I also don’t want to draw out any unnecessary pain for too long. It’s just hard to feel like I’m approaching an edge and I don’t know when it’s coming, but it is inevitable. Always on the back of my mind “is this the official decline?” whenever he has a bad day.

This feels like I was rambling, so I’m sorry. I just have a lot on my mind about this and my husband and sister have heard it all repeatedly. Hoping other dog/poodle people will get it!

TIA

I have worked over 5 years in community mental health. I am ready for a change of pace and am preparing to transition full time to a 1099 position with a private practice. I already contract part time with them. So far, my experience has been good.

however, instagram must know something about my life. I keep getting reels on my feed about therapists struggling in private practice. The comments are fairly negative about the direction the insurance companies are going, and talk a lot about how difficult it is to maintain enough income to support a decent lifestyle. I don’t necessarily disagree with the discourse around insurance companies, but that’s a different post.

I take most insurances. I have a niche population I specialize in. Ive experienced a clawback before and while it was a hit, I wasn’t terribly put out financially.

So, is PP really that unsustainable? Or did I just get sucked into a weird algorithm on instagram?