I Told You So!!

When we got our cat back in 2009, Trupanion pet health insurance was still a fairly new product in small animal medicine. Since cats are fairly inexpensive to insure, Rich & I decided to enroll our cat as a test, to see if it was really worth it. We enrolled our cat as soon as he was eligible at 8 weeks of age (we had him since he was 4 weeks old). It cost $25 to enroll, and our monthly premium was $21. At the time that we enrolled Emmett, he had had no illness or injury, thus there was nothing that would be considered "pre-existing," or excluded from insurance coverage. The coverage that Trupanion offers is simple. They pay 90% of your vet bills for diagnostics and treatments of accidents, illnesses, medications, and lab work, excluding the office visit and certain items such as special diets. You can read about their coverage HERE.


When people found out that we had a health insurance policy for a cat, they snickered, snorted, and hooted. Some people even had more to say than just funny comments. It was kind of surprising. :) However, Emmett turns 2 years old this month. And I have to say, to all the nay-sayers, BOO YAH!!!!


Five weeks to the day that his coverage started, Emmett had a freaky episode. While we were playing with him, he turned blue and couldn't catch his breath. He started panting (which is NOT ok for a cat) and screaming. I was getting him loaded up to take him to the vet when he started breathing again. The next day, a work up cost us about $300. The Dr. wasn't sure if he had asthma or possibly a cardiac issue. Radiographs showed a slightly odd shape to his heart. The radiographs were sent out for review by a radiology specialist, and an echocardiogram was recommended. By this time we were about $700 in. It turns out that Em had a genetic heart condition that was causing slight shunting and therefore, shortness of breath. I submitted my claim to Trupanion, and after I had paid them a total of $45, I got a check back in the mail for 90%, fully covered...over $600. Nice.


This cat has had continuous issues for his life. Ear infections, heart problems, allergies, asthma, skin infections, chin acne, and on and on the list goes. In the total lifetime of the pet I have paid about $465 to Trupanion, and the check I'm getting back from them for January 2011 vet bills alone is $407. The insurance has saved my patootie!!! 


The main thing I have learned about the pet insurance is this: enroll your pet while he or she is still young, before they have any issues or injuries. Thus, your premiums will stay very low (Emmett's are still under $25/mo) and everything will be covered. There are many, many insurance companies out there. Trupanion is my favorite. Not only because they pay my claims, but because I see that they pay the most and the fastest for my clients as well. 


Having pet insurance has enabled me to provide excellent care and a good quality of life for my kitty. I will definitely be enrolling any pets I get in the future!!! If you want to read about Trupanion or get a fast online quote for your own pet (you known you want to now, nay sayers) you can look at their WEBSITE. It's easy to say you will not spend a lot of money on a pet, but when something bad happens, you'd be surprised how much your feelings can change!! I see it happening all the time in my office!


Cheers to pet health!!

Acapulco & the Stairs

I dedicate this post to my obnoxious, adorable, (sometimes) grouchy, (slightly) land-sharky, old, devoted Chihuahua Acapulco. He landed in my life when he decided to hang out in my parents' garage until a rain storm was over. He was barely 5 pounds, starving, bald, and extremely pathetic. I decided to keep him because I was certain nobody would want him. For a long time I did not really want him, because he was a real "challenge". But after he and I learned each other a bit, I loved his little self and was so glad that I got him!!
When I first got him, I hid him in a crate in my parents' garage for about a month. He did not make a sound; in fact, he would not even walk. He would drag himself around the house on his belly and keep his eyes downward. If anyone looked at him or talked to him, he would tinkle all over himself! After a few months of that, I got married and he graduated to having the run of a whopping 490 square foot apartment. He would run in tiny circles all around, so happy to have "all that space" to play in. I still remember, after almost a year, when he figured out that toys were for him. He loves extremes: either VERY tiny toys, or VERY large ones. He does not allow the cat to play with his toys. When we moved to Fort Lauderdale, he did not know what to do with our 1,000 square foot condo. He raced around like a jet rocket. He never stopped moving or wiggling. He was so excited to have so much room to romp!!

It almost short-circuited his brain when we moved into a house with STAIRS last week. I could see the wheels turning in his little brain and his bright, naughty brown eyes were full of mischief. First I taught him stair safety and made sure he could get up and down without falling or hurting himself. Paranoia after the thousands of dollars that stairs have made me in my profession. :) Next I made sure that he knows he is not allowed on the stairs without permission. He is so smart, it's scary!

After 3 tries he can zoom up and down all 16 stairs and the landing in about 6 seconds flat. It is so funny that I tried to take pictures, but all I can catch of him in motion is a black blur racing past and wagging his little tail at the top. I have attached a bunch of pictures like the psycho pet parent that I have proudly morphed into over the past three years. But seriously, rescue a little bundle of brattiness, and have a little dog watching your every move with devotion (not to mention convinced that you are the center of his universe), and I think you'll understand where I stand. :)

 SO excited that he is halfway up!! See that tail wagging furiously between his ears!









Racing down the stairs on Ninja Speed Mode

That smirky little face and play bow that he gets
when he is excited!

 Doing the VICTORY DANCE at the top!!

 More of the Victory Dance. this one includes a little yapping!

 Very suspicious of the camera. Most of the time when I try to take his picture he gives me an evil eye and hides under the bed.

 Very excited barking, waiting for me to c'mon so he could keep going to the top!

 ZOOOOM!!!

This black blur is about all I can catch of the little booger in action.

A Minute to Breathe!!

The last few days have been insane. I typically commit to obligations in life under the assumption that I am, indeed, superwoman. The only problem with this is sometimes I'm just....not!! Brief schedule of last week--Monday...5am, up. 6:15am commute to work, start work at 7:30. Work till 7:45. Commute home. By the way, it was storming. Bad. Tuesday...5am, up. 6:15 commute to work, start work at 8:35 due to an accident on the freeway. Walk in to work with a hunchback due to long time sitting in traffic. Leave work at 3. Get home at 4:30, eat lunch, get ready, go to special service at church by 7pm. Wednesday....repeat, only it was my last at the old job and I left work after 6. Went home, started packing. Thursday, thought that we'd be able to move our whole house in one day. Attempt. Fail. Didn't go to bed till 3:30am. Bed consisted of...the floor, because almost everything was already moved. Got up at 4:45am to get ready for a 12 hour paid working interview day at my prospective job. Worked from 7:20 till 7pm. GOT THE JOB!!! PTL!! :) 

I'll admit, it was a crazy day, and a crazy week. I wasn't sure if I could get the job while functioning on just over an hour of sleep, but somehow I did!! 

Thankfully I didn't have to work today, and I slept from 10pm last night until 11:20 this morning. That was amazing. Rich and I spent the day bumming around, went out to a super late lunch and then went shopping for furniture. Like a dummy  I forgot the floor plans to our new place, so I'll have to get them and then go back to EA next week. Hopefully we can get our place all put together quickly and painlessly. :)

Thankfully the week is over and tomorrow will be a day of church and rest!!! :)

Baby "Squirrels"

I had the most interesting argument with a client today. This lady walks in with a shoe box that had some holes punched in the top. I greeted her, and the next thing you know she is lifting the lid of the box...never a good sign in my business. Usually means somebody wants to show me something gross or a mutilated animal. :) Three tiny, gray little fuzzies were climbing around in a pile in the box. It was then that I noticed that they seemed to look a little crunchy on some of their appendages. The lady proceeded to tell me that these "poor innocent little creatures" had apparently been in a nest inside her brother's BBQ grill. He had lit the grill, then heard them squeaking and rescued them. One of them had no back feet, they were burned off. One had no front feet. And all three had only half a tail left in an unburned condition. The lady was stroking the little kits, and holding them up by her face and kissing them. Typical moron. The reason that she had come in was to find out what type of animals they were. She was fully convinced that they were newborn squirrels. Her plan was to raise them and teach them how to adapt to being four feet and 1-1/2 tails short of 3 real animals. :)

I smiled and kindly said, "I think they might be baby rats. I've never seen any squirrels that looked quite like that." TRANSLATION: Those are RATS. PLEASE STOP KISSING THEM as they carry bazillions of disgusting diseases and they are really NOT SQUIRRELS!!! The lady looked at me, horrified. Her brain refused to wrap around the fact that she had been kissing, cuddling, and bottle feeding tiny RATS for the past 5 days. Then she went into complete denial.

"Are you a Doctor?"

"No, Ma'am, I'm not."

"Well, can I get a professional opinion? I GOOGLED a picture of baby squirrels and I really think these are baby squirrels! I mean, they are getting really attached to me and they hold their bottles with their front paws. I don't think RATS would act like that, DO YOU!!!!!"

I calmly replied, "Well, I have a world-reknowned exotic animal specialist on site today. When he steps out of his appointment I'll ask him to step out and tell you exactly what they are."

The lady smugly sat down to wait. And when an extremely well-known exotic and avian specialist stepped into the lobby and pronounced the crispy little creatures BABY RATS, I felt supremely satisfied. :)

One of My Favorite Things, Rediscovered!

It's been years since I used a Furminator tool. As a groomer I loved my Furminator. But for some reason, I haven't ever used one on my own pets. Recently I started begging Rich to let me get his cat shaved. I feel like I spend half my life either vacuuming up cat hair, or seeing imaginary cat hair somewhere. Rich has had pity on the kitty, and has informed me how ugly our cat would look sans fur. I can only imagine how lovely my house would look without fur. :)

Finally I decided to order a new Furminator tool to use on the cat. I carefully combed the dead fur out and filled half of a Wal-Mart shopping bag in less than 5 minutes. I can't believe I haven't used it sooner!!! 

You can find a Furminator tool HERE if you would like to rid your life of cat hair! :)

Gas VS Lattes

Today it cost me $42.37 to fill the l'il gas tank on my teeny Corolla. No fair. But still, when I read the following, it's hard to be mad about gas prices. Makes you wonder what we are thinking sometimes! Unfortunately, I don't drink coffee (haven't in four years).

The average latte costs $3.59 for 16 oz. That's 22 cents per ounce~or $28.72 a gallon!

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.

                           ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe