Soulfulness and Mindlessness

For some odd reason (all in my mind)? When HH looks up at me with the pretty yellow eyes, they always look soulful, like she has something to say to me (let it be feed me, give me more water, or change the litter box). Her looks always appear meaning. CC, on the other hand, his stares are just blank. He was looking straight at me but he might as well be staring into the air. It seems to me there was no brain behind those also beautiful eyes. Maybe it's because we haven't bonded as much yet? Or was it because of his young age of seven months?

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

This has not been a good year for me; this has not been a good year for the cats

My cousin O said that according to Chinese tradition, the year you are born in is your "bad luck year." The concept completely baffles me. I mean, the year you are born in has got to be like your "birthyear" of sort (kinda like birthday, but its the year). Anyway you look at it, it should be your good luck year. But he said generations of Chinese say that, therefore that has to be true. Perhaps he has a point there (or that the generations of Chinese have a point there) and that also extends to other life forms... at least to my cats. Our year has been: human doctor, vet, human doc, vet, vet, human doc. I have never been sick 5 times in one year, ever. And HH hasn't been sick since the year I got her (year of the pig!!). This line of thought can be kind of scary.

More Coincidence

Entirely unintentional, I realized that both cats and I are all "pigs," according to the Chinese horoscope. :O I'm 36, HH is 12, CC was born this year, age 0. Wow! Couldn't even have been that perfect even if I have planned it -- I'll be too impatient to wait for a specific year to pick out a cat!

Super Cat

So we finally adopted our second baby (cat). Funny thing, I've heard a lot of stories about women who never wanted kids then turn 34, 35 and all of a sudden really wanted one and had one. I suppose many people told me that (Hubby included) to let me know one day my biological clock can tick and I'll want a child, little do they know I know my body very well. I know when I ovulate; I know when I am needy; and frankly, that boat has sailed. The time I wanted to have a baby most was in my early twenties. And looking back, I wasn't sure if I wanted a baby, or just believe, as many still do, that it's a natural and mandatory step in life. But I digressed, at my young age of 36, all I wanted was another cat. Not sure why. I guess that's as close to how a woman want a baby as I'll be able to experience. So after a month's search, we finally found our perfect kitty - CC.