Dogs and Cats

Not Only Is Health-Care Costs Up for People, But Pets As Well (Fail!)

Published by Papa Giorgio

Heritage Called It:

So Democrats… Obama promised that health care costs would decrease and jobs would increase because of his Affordable Health-Care Act. Instead, you have human costs increasing, job lay-offs or moving people to part-time, as well as pet care cost increases!? Talk about another failed policy!

MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Pet owners listen up: You may want to start saving more money for veterinarian care this year. The reason goes all the way back to Washington and an unintended consequence from medical reform.

Dog owner Lori Heiselman was surprised where her veterinarian posted a warning on Facebook.

The notice read: “Because medical equipment and supplies will be going up in cost, that extra expense will have to passed on to the customers.”

[….]

Why the increase? Its part of a new 2.3-percent federal excise tax on certain medical devices that just went into effect. The tax will help fund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, intended for people, not pets. Manufacturers pay the tax, but a recent survey found more than half plan to pass it along.

Some vets say they can’t afford it. Dr. Mike Hatcher is one of them. He explained, “I’m extremely concerned how this is going to be a hidden tax to our consumers that is going to be passed on.”

[….]

“The impact this price increase is going to have on any of those families I think will be pretty devastating.”

Lori Heiselman said she worries about other families too, but she’ll find the money for her four-legged friends. “We’ll just have to cut back somewhere else.”

Veterinarians say, if your pet is sick or acting strangely, don’t delay care. That could just cause medical problems to get worse….

(http://tinyurl.com/cnnvt4d)

A Dog`s Tale ~ A Sad One

Published by Papa Giorgio

From THE BLAZE:

Imagine you’re fishing in your kayak, and instead of reeling in a fish, you end up with a dog. That’s exactly what happened to one Tampa-area kayaker on Saturday afternoon, in a story that is both incredible and tragic.

As the man was fishing, he saw the dog — named Barney — swimming to his kayak. He eventually scooped him up and took him to a local vet. It just so happened that he had a camera rolling during the whole incident:

But the story doesn’t end there. The kayaker, who was baffled as to how and why  Barney — who swam about a half-mile — got to him, then learned the tragic news. CBSTampa.com explains:

The man brought Barney to a local vet, who used a tracking chip implanted in him to discover his owner was Donna L. Chen, who was struck by a Nissan Altima and died moments before.

Florida Highway Patrol said Blake Talman, 22, was fleeing from an earlier crash in his Nissan Altima northbound on SR-758 when he struck Chen and Barney.

The two were jogging north on SR-758 when Talman allegedly failed to navigate a left curve causing him to leave the roadway and strike a metal pole before hitting Chen and a street sign. Chen was knocked from the sidewalk into the center of the road, reports indicate.

Barney took off, though there is no mention of him in the report.

From the video description:

UPDATE: the mystery is solved. However, it’s very sad and unfortunate:

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_sarasota_manatee/53-year-old-jog…

The accident scene was about a mile from where I found Barney swimming. Our guess is that he was so freaked out and traumatized that he just wanted to get as far away from there as possible. And when he ran out of land, he took to the water. I feel lucky that I was there fishing, because there was no place for him to go and I don’t know if he could have made it much farther. He’s banged up, but fine. Our hearts go out to the family who lost their mother.