I loved your post Lisa. I got so sick of dog vet bills, that last time my shepherd met up with a racoon, I got the neighbor next door who looks like a linebacker, to come over and sit on the dog while I shaved his face with the 40 blade clippers, and then I washed the wound every day with the saline betadine stuff they usually give me. That dog was way too late for stitches anyway, and it healed up nice into a stripe of black fur. Then the cat developed a incurable case of hairballs which could have been cured by some major abdominal surgery, or sticking a huge tube into her gut and flushing her out, but I just got the clippers and shaved her too. She has been shaved now for about 4 months, and doesn't have hairballs anymore, plus she lost weight and was cured of her sedentary habits by the loss of all that fur. I finally paid off the front section of my horse vet's gooseneck trailer. Of course there were the "buying a new horse expenses" Can anyone ever buy a new horse and actually have all the tack and supplies that they need? Even if they had everything for several other horses? Impossible! Can't be done! I have the wrong color shampoo for starters, you can't use Quick Silver on a horse that isn't grey, and furthermore, he needs a new bit and a new halter, and I have to track down the Kyro Kinetics lady. Just in time for Christmas. Beth