Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Pet Tax Breaks and Stiffy Ribbons




The headline today includes this:
BILL: Tax break of up to $3,500 for pet care expenses...
click link to read the story.
What a great thing that would be for people who have to pay for catastrophic care for a beloved pet.
I think pet insurance is a good thing too.
I would love to get a pup but I know I cannot afford vet care so it would not be fair to the animal.
There are some decent plans from what I have heard. But this tax break would be a good thing too.
Animals serve far more purpose in a home than just as "pets". They are friends, lower blood pressure, give the lonely a reason to go on but they also serve as watch dogs, rodent control , even bug control in some instances.
A house with a dog is far less likely to be broken into. Some pets are used to help the deaf who can't hear fire alarms or even wake up alarms. Our furry pals do so much it would be nice if they get a tax break for their family.

So many animals are coming down with odd diseases and rare forms of cancers lately.
I have wondered if the inclusion of melamine into the dog and cat food has had some effect on all this.
There have been poisons in many things imported from China. Toothpaste, powders, baby creams, shoes and pet food!.
One woman bought plastic flip flops from Walmart imported from China. Soon her feet were rotten with sores where the plastic touched the skin. It looked like a very ugly, deep bad burn.
It worked its way down into the flesh a good way too.
She posted a photo of her feet on the internet hoping someone else might know what was wrong since doctors were stumped. She got a number of replies from women who had bought the very same sandals.
So I wonder about the pet food. No one made a big enough deal out of it. Yes, there were web sites to go to and see if your food was "safe" but the manufacturers themselves should have pulled the foods from the markets and in many cases did not.
The fact that we had to search for where the melamine was is wrong. Plain wrong.
The information should have been available, made simple and plain and all those foods dumped.
Instead it was like pulling teeth at one point to find out what foods were okay and what were not.
Obfuscation abounded in the scandal.
Is it all gone now? Nothing has been said! The industry is silent on it to this day. This is not a good sign since we have no real clue whether they are using Chinese products or not anymore.
Each bag and can should bear a label telling you if imported ingredients are in it and giving you the option of whether to buy or not.
It's sad what some companies will do for money.
Becareful what you feed your pet !




This is Crafty Wednesday when you show a craft you have made.
This is a porcelain ribbon bow that I made using cotton gingham material cut into a thick ribbon, hemmed on sides and I also formed a separate bow.
Then I filled a large mixing bowl with "Stiffy" which you can buy at most craft stores and is just white craft glue that dries clear.
I dunked the big ribbon in the glue, squeezed out the excess carefully, being sure not to wrinkle it too much.
Now, using push pins I attached the ribbon to the wall forming it into a sweeping swag formation as I went. I stuffed the bow part with waxed paper and used push pins to hold them up . I used some balled up waxed paper to push out parts of the ribbon for a puffy effect too.
It takes several hours to dry but the results are lovely, though the awful photo does not do it justice at all.
You can make all sorts of things ...bows for the front door, flowers, anything!

You can click the mirror photo to see it enlarged but it just looks more doofey that way.

I promise its really pretty in person !

9 comments:

  1. I can't believe the cost of Vet care for pets. I spent a fortune on a dachund years back. I have a cat now who, so far, has no problems after 13 years. I bet you are right about the food.

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  2. Hi Annie;

    Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I've been under the weather (I'm still not feeling well) and wrote all about it in today's entry.

    It's impossible to go to the stores and find anything NOT made in China. What ever happened to America made goods??? It's terrible!!

    My head is spinning and so I'm off to bed. Have a lovely day.

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  3. Hi Annie, I have taken a long break from blogging for the first time in years. I think I was just burned out and I had lots on my mind while trying to do things in my house. Wood floors, ceramic tile, furniture, etc. When my blogging friends starting posting on Facebook I thought it would be perfect for keeping in touch with my friends, but that's not the case. I still haven't decided what I am going to do...I do miss my friends. Thanks for still keeping in touch with me.

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  4. I had no idea about the e-mail thing. I removed the one I had on the sidebar and will get another. Thanks so much for helping me with this!!
    Do you know how this happens, when the person does not have a blog? My friends have received this message from people who do not have blogs.

    Pat

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  5. The vet bills for my dear dog ran into thousands ! There was a pet insurance offered by the vet that worked like a credit card...allowed up to $5k in expenses , enabled her to have needed surgery . Unfortunately , the cancer she had (hemangio sarcoma) was so virulent , another big tumor grew within those last 33 days after surgery , and she was gone . How sad those in charge cannot protect our beloved pets (and us ??)from outside contamination . Has greed really replaced moral responsibility ?

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  6. Hi Annie, I truly beleive it certainly is the pet food, it's a scary thing. I went into Petsmart once to read the ingredients, and to be quite honest there wasn't one bag of food in there that was healthy for my Ben. I know the food has a lot to do with their overall health, most times.. unfortunately some are born with the bad genetics.
    There is a great pet insurance that I heard of a few weeks ago. I know, now I hear of it.
    I miss my Ben, and I know you miss your babies too.
    Wouldn't that be great if the law was passed for the credit before the end of the year? Highly unlikely, but Darylynn and I sure could benefit from it!
    Hope your having a lovely day!

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  7. Hi Annie! I wrote to all my state representatives to support that bill. I posted about it, too, a month or so ago. A lady at the vet told me she was happy with Pet Insurance from the ASPCA so that might be worth looking into. Most of the pet insurance that exists wouldn't help much with major things like what our dogs had.

    Have you looked into rescue groups? I've heard some will offer to help with medical bills should they arise and some offer free or low cost vaccinations. I have a friend who volunteers with a Boxer group that does those things.

    (((Hugz)))

    PS. That photo of Ryan in Jessica's gravatar is when he was only 6 months old. :) She needs a new one.

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  8. HI Annie I have used that stiffener agent before and it's great. That's a gorgeous bow you made with it.
    Since you have it on a white background now it would make a great element for digital scrap art. You should look into that, if you can do that. I love how that turned out. I think it would be a cute frame for digital photos. I Love animals, but I don't know about a tax credit, we all pay for that, I have enough taxes and read that each American owes over 100,000.00 now, in fact much more then that. It's climbing and we need to keep it down. I don't want to live like a popper, so the government can live like Kings that they are not!!!!
    I do hate big gov if you can't tell. LOL! have a great evening sweetie. I hope you might be able to find a puppy and perhaps you can check into low cost pet care at the vets. They have that, and that is reasonable. Although there is not insurance for everything in life. It's a big gamble isn't it? Big hugs

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