Perspective

After I bought CC (cat #2), a series of events followed and we ended up spending $1,300 on vet bills between both cats. To put things into perspective, CC only cost $100 in 2007 and HH $27 in 1995.

So finally we looked into insurance for the cats. Did a query for "pet's insurance" on Google and checked out the first three matches. To sum them up, one does not accept cats over 10 years old. Okay. The second stated that they reserve the rights to drop an animal if "conditions change and the cost significantly goes up." Ugh. Does a cat getting OLD count as a "condition change"? Are they going to just take my money and drop her in a few years? I emailed them with my one simple question and have yet to hear back. So we finally went with ASPCA's plan. Annual insurance for HH alone is over $300.

We have furthered started a health account for CC. The plan is to put $35 (same as insurance premium) into said account as our own insurance for him. Folks with kids set aside education fund; we set aside medical fund for our pets.

My friend, C, has 3 dogs. Insurance for a dog is $30 per dog per month (I think she checked when her dog was younger, because that actually sounds INEXPENSIVE), which comes out to $90 a month, almost $1,200 a year.

To further put things into perspective: evidently day care in this area costs $1,200 per kid per month. Holy cow! All of a sudden $1,300 for vet bills doesn't sound that bad after all. How DO people afford kids in this area? :O