Dogenomics

Our cousins have gone home this evening.   After two days of playing and wrestling, Nala, Bella and I are ready for a nap, we crash in the entry and sleep till dinner.   We earned our nap, so we will be turning in early tonight.   We hope that sleeping is free because the financial times are changing.

The Bumpass Hounds set our human to thinking, which is a dangerous condition.    The Bumpass Hounds pointed out that President Obama has proposed cutting $100 million from a $3.5 Trillion Federal budget.   That amounts to 1/35,000 of the budget.   Now that our family is retired, we budget about $50,000 per year for our household budget.  Using this as a guideline, we have proposed cutting our annual household budget by $1.35.   That way we will be exactly in line with the cuts proposed by the president!   He said that we all need to tighten our belts during this fiscal downturn, and we want to do our part, no matter how much of a hardship cutting $1.35 will be.

The chauffeur began by soliciting suggestions from each of us as to how to cut the family budget.    Being an expert on Dogenomics, I immediately suggest that the tiny cans of canned cat food that Mini cat eats are 50 cents per can and she eats two cans a day.   We could balance the budget pretty fast and help her lose weight at the same time.   The reason they feed Mini cat special food is because Mini cat likes to hunt birds, and she is very good at it, if she is hungry, she goes out the dog door and finds her own dinner which means there will be feathers on the floor.  As far as Nala, Bella and I were concerned that is a great solution.   But it turns out that they don't  want her to hunt birds, so they won't let us balance the budget that way.  Something about protecting the birds.  Several nights ago, Mini caught a midnight snack, a mouse, and brought it alive into the bedroom and then chased and played with it till everyone in the house was awake.  Feeding Mini became a much higher priority.  This is going to be harder than I thought. 

Nala suggested that we could cut back on the use of dog shampoo.   She said we could save three or four times that much per year.   An eight dollar bottle of shampoo does not last long with all of the fosters coming through the house.    Besides, Nala does not like baths much, so she was willing to make the sacrifice.   But that idea was vetoed by the chauffeur as well.

Bella pointed out that it was time for the dreaded annual shots.   She would be willing to stay home when the rest of us went to the vet to get poked.    Then there is the cost of the heart worm medication that will be starting soon.    We could balance our budget in a hurry with her suggestions.    Again, the chauffeur said no, we all have to get our annual check up.

Mini cat suggested that if we limited the dog treat time to once a day from twice a day, we could save a lot of money.   I think she is still mad because I suggested taking away her food for three meals.  The chauffeur said that treat time is important, twice a day we all get to bond and he says that is important.   Something about making sure we sit and stay on command. 

Buddy cat said that she would be glad to go without a new collar this year.   She very seldom goes outside and no one sees her collar under her thick white coat.   The chauffeur pointed out that the reason Buddy cat is getting a new collar is because she pulled her old one off and lost the tags, she has to have her tags on, it's the law.   Once again we are stopped.

So we ask you, our readers, how would you reduce our annual living budget by $1.35 so that we can share in the huge sacrifice that our leaders in Washington are facing.   After all, that is a big cut to make.   So leave us your suggestions about where to cut.

Mogley G. Retriever