u/RoughElephant5919 — reddlx

First time foster here.. how do you deal with the guilt of not wanting to keep them? It’s eating me alive 😞

EDIT TO ADD: We were told he was 8. My vet says based on his teeth, he is likely 10+, however, after starting antibiotics and gabapentin, he is moving awful swift for a 10+ yr old. He has lived in foster care in Mexico for the past year (or two) where they practically just feed the dogs, albeit inconsistently due to limited resources, and they typically don't receive any veterinarian care. So there is a chance that he looks older than he is due to lack of medical care, grooming, and consistent nutrients. His foster in Mexico told me she had him for roughly 3 months, and before that he was living on the porch of his deceased owner's house whose family just left him there. He was flea/tick ridden and had plastic in his stomach when he was rescued.

Mexico sterilization records say he was 5 when neutered (2025), Mexico foster says he is 8, and my vet thinks he's 10+. I feel conflicted because if he really is 10+ then I want to keep him for the sake of knowing it's not right to push a senior dog into the chaos of being rehomed AGAIN. And I would be okay with that. But if he really is 5-6yrs old, then it wouldn't be as challenging since that is still considered young for a small breed like him.

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Currently on day 4 of fostering a senior dog (or at least we think he is a senior) that experienced years of neglect. Periodontal disease so bad that he’s anemic, which he is now on antibiotics and Gabapentin to keep him comfortable until his dental in a week or two.

I am really struggling with the idea that he will go to another home. One day I wake up and am certain I want to keep him, and the next, I find ways he might not fit into our lifestyle at home. Which feels so selfish to say.

Experienced fosters- what questions do you ask yourself to realistically make a decision you know is best? I can be quite emotional in my decision making, especially when it comes to animals. Any advice would be so appreciated. This is really hard 🩷

u/RoughElephant5919 — 1 day ago

▲ 1 r/FosterAnimals

Struggling with my first senior foster dog - need advice

I’m struggling, because I’m furious. Furious that a small, 12 pound animal has been treated in such a way that if I stand up too quickly he soils himself. I’m furious because transport stuck a small dog into a crammed crate for 14 hours and I had to help break apart this wire crate just to get him out, and he ultimately peed and pooped all over himself. Once he was in my car, he had a bed, a blanket, and a brand new toy to snuggle in his crate. Thank god.

The rescue I foster with is 7 hours away. They have partnered vets in my area, but this dog needs medical care now, or very soon. His teeth are rotting, and people from his previous foster thought his tongue hanging out was “so cute!” But it’s clear as day to me that this dog is in pain.

I adore him. He is terrified, and has been traumatized in ways I will never know the extent of. However, am I wrong for giving him back to the rescue in a few days where they have a veterinarian-run clinic to give him a once over medical check, and a dental as well?

I could do it locally with a partnered vet, but the vet is booked out a few weeks, and the dental would have to be fundraised. So ultimately if he stays with me, he has a quiet, predictable, and incredibly accommodating foster parents who tend to his needs, but at the expense of being in pain and waiting for medical attention. OR I give him to the rescue on Wednesday where he’ll get care, but he’ll be in a kennel again and lose the one sense of comfort my house offers him.

What would you do? I have been crying off and on all day today. This poor dog deserved so much better and I just want to do the right thing 😞🩷

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u/RoughElephant5919 — 5 days ago

▲ 215 r/FosterAnimals

Fostering a senior this weekend - how can I prepare? Any tips appreciated 🩷

These are pictures from when they rescued this little guy a few days ago. His family left him behind at their house after owning him for 7+ years. They just moved, and left him behind. He has not left since they abandoned him, and has survived off of scraps that nearby neighbors throw him. I am told he is assumed to be 8 years old.

So far I have moved my home office into our second living room, and have created a comfy space for him to decompress when he gets here. What should I do to prepare? I am new to fostering but have owned dogs and other animals throughout my life. Thank you for your kindness 🩷 I pick him up this Saturday.

u/RoughElephant5919 — 7 days ago

▲ 647 r/homelab

How do you keep your server builds safe from people who have this ungodly urge to power it off when they feel like it

EDIT: wow can I just say you guys are all awesome, seriously. Thank you all for the validation and understanding. I don’t have a lot of wiggle room for installing/mounting because I rent my home, so we just chose our guest room as the landing spot for the server since that’s the only Ethernet cable access the home had. It’s a very old house, and only 2 bedrooms. I have gathered many great ideas from this comment section, and I wish I could thank you all individually. I really appreciate you guys 😭🩷

Also I really want to emphasize that my server is literally just a pi 5 in a small case the size of a gum wrapper. So I promise I’m not sticking my guests in a server room that sounds like it’s about to take flight 😆. I’m just a simple, early learner to this stuff. So my set up is genuinely as bare bones as it gets while I strengthen my understanding of this small scale building to hopefully build something more robust in the future :)

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I live with my husband, and he knows the drill. Don’t look at the server, don’t think about the server lol. The first time we have family over since I built this extremely humble (I.e. small and noiseless) server, we have a guest who felt the need to turn it off. This guest who slept in our office/guest room mentioned on his last night here that “oh yeah I’ve been powering that thing off every night. I figure it’s your server or something”

How do you protect the outlet that powers your server? Would it be wise to install a small lock box around this outlet? Because this unhinged individual just ripped it from the source.

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u/RoughElephant5919 — 8 days ago