Things Look Up for Loopot

First, thanks to all who sent good wishes my way for little Loopot, my cat. He had been ill, drinking water all of the time, and using the litter box all of the time.

I took him to the vet on Saturday, holding my breath. The vet checked him and said she thought it was one of three things: thyroid, diabetes, or kidney problems, the latter being the worst case scenario.

It turns out it is diabetes, and I think we caught it early. She wants to try to treat him with just a food diet first, and if that doesn't work out, then go to insulin. He also has a bladder infection that we are treating.

I have to say that after the first day of the new diet and the antibiotic, he is acting more back to normal. I am so happy. The food diet is not cheap--the cans are $1.50 at the vet, and $1.30 at Pet Smart, but it is cheaper than doing the diet and the insulin!

When she called me with the news, tears stung my eyes, I was so relieved. I know he has diabetes, which isn't "nothing," but I was afraid it was kidney disease, which is much worse.

Part of the problem of being in debt is not having money available at times like this. If he had needed an operation, I probably could not have done it. So I feel relieved that at least for right now, all I have to do is buy some special food. And keep working at getting out of debt.

Getting the Best Insurance Rate

Insurance is on my mind right now. In my current job, I have life insurance but not very much. I am single, no kids, so I don't really need a lot of life insurance, but sometimes you still want it to be part of your mix.

I have approached my "relative" boss about giving us some more options for insurance, but he seems unimpressed with the idea. I don't understand--it would cost him or the company nothing it seems, as we would tap into our association's group rates.

Well, anyway, I have good health insurance, but measly life insurance, and no disability. Just for the heck of it, I thought I would check some Websites to see what some prices might be.

For me, term life would probably be the better choice, as I am not really looking at life insurance as a way to save money. But for those who do want to use life insurance as a way to accumulate cash value, they might want to check out their whole life insurance.

Right now, I am more concerned about disability insurance, so I filled out a form on that . We'll see what I get back. I'd rather do it through our company, but that may not be an option.

Poor Little Loopot

My poor little cat, Loopot, is not well. I am not sure what is wrong. The last couple of weeks he has been drinking immense amounts of water, eating even more than he normally does, and going to the bathroom all of the time. It didn't really occur to me that there was really a problem until about 2 weeks ago. I really didn't have the money to take him to the vet, but I did this past Saturday. I had to take money out of my law review course money. I know that is not good. I was trying to wait until my next payday to take him to the vet, but last week, he seemed worse, and I just couldn't not take him. I'll just have to make up that money another way.

The vet says he probably either has a thyroid problem, diabetes, or kidney problems. Thyroid would be the best scenario. I guess diabetes would be the next, and the kidney problems the worst. I will find out tomorrow or Tuesday. He is very alert, so that is good.

I am really worried about Loopot. Prayers please that whatever wrong is fixable (and it would be better if it were not real expensive.) But sometimes you just have to spend the money.

Merchant Accounts

As consumers, we are always wanting to get the best credit card rate, if we choose to use credit cards at all.

But merchants are also looking for the best rates--better credit card processing transaction rates. Depending on what kind of businesses they are in, merchants can have an easier or harder time getting a good rate.

For example, brick and mortar retail stores are not considered very risky, because retailers can swipe the customers' cards and get the consumers' signatures on credit card purchases, which prevents a lot of chargebacks. So it is pretty likely that some companies would give a retail store a good retail store processing rate.

On the other hand, some internet retailers might be considered risky and have a harder time getting a good rate, because they cannot swipe customers' cards or get their signatures, which can lead to a lot of chargebacks.

For companies that are considered very risky or that have been rejected by a solution provider, they might consider applying for merchants services off shore. There are some drawbacks to using offshore processing providers, but Ms. Merchant Account states they work only with the most reputable international credit card processing agencies to protect their customers from fraud and other bad practices.