Was pretty upset last week, we were out of town for four days. We trusted the house to a caregiver that miserably failed to do anything. 8/18 fish dead, guinea pig nearly dead and surviving off of the water and calorie contents of a lettuce leaf. Emaciated and in a cage so soiled it harbored a fly nest and infested the bedroom. Hamster and mice thankfully had enough food hoarded to weather this but the mice were definitely dehydrated. Cats were noticeably thinner with a full litter box, leopard gecko has no food, water, or coconut moss for shedding, no humidity either. Shit stains and piss everywhere from a dog that isn't even ours and wasn't supposed to be here!
And our poor ducklings, stuck in the hen house for days, sleeping in the mud, drinking the mud, defecating in the mud... caked in their own feces, coughing, and starving. Keels and lumbar vertebrae prominent and ready to eat my whole hand. And needing niacin. Total and utter nightmare at the house. Very very disappointed.
We were able to nurse everyone back to health, and other than the fish no lives were claimed. Everyone was able to rebound fantastically. However, our oldest dog is now experiencing end-stage renal failure. It's looking really bad, but we hesitate to euthanize him on his birthday tomorrow.