Pets as Dependents; Why Not?

If you are a pet owner like I am you probably will support me in this suggestion. Pets are our family, they may be four-legged and furry, but they are family nevertheless. I have in my household, two cats, formerly there were four, Crystal, passed away, in February 15, 2009 from stomach cancer, Kit Kat, one of my grandmother's cat, died of brain cancer three years ago, surviving is Kit Girl, a Persian cat and one mixed Pomeranian dog, named Foxy. My dog was adopted from the Detroit Animal Welfare Society, replacing my dog Muppet, who passed away two years ago. Although she has replaced Muppet physically, my heart still holds room for her, Kit Kat and Crystal's memory.

The only thing that I am thankful for regarding the loss of my pets is that they lived a long and happy life with love.   As you can see pets suffer the same diseases as we do.   Why not treat them as a real member of your family?　 I do.

My pets were always well fed and wonderful to be around.　 I lived alone for over 20 years and the only companions most of my life have been my loving pets.　 All of my pets were adopted from shelters and as strays. When Muppet died, I thought I was going to die with her when she passed from congestive heart failure.　 She died in my arms and I wept for over two weeks until Foxy came into my life.　 She became my Christmas present I gave to myself, because Muppet left me two weeks before Christmas Day.  She loved Crystal from the start, and later Foxy grew on Crystal.　 They were like siblings and I their Mom.

　I felt the same pain of loss as I would any person or child, I take my pets to the vet, my dog rides with me in my car almost every where.　 I nurse them as I would any sick person, and I pay for food and care as I would my own child.　 So why can't I put them down as tax dependants on my tax return? I feel very strongly about this and I am going to make this known by writing to the United States Humane Society and my local humane society and see if there are any empathy there for this proposition.　 Mind you, I am not going to stop there, I am going to also write Congress and propose they look into this.　 I sincerely believe that　 should they be considered legal dependents that can be filed on your tax returns, that animals left in shelters waiting for forever homes, will probably find homes and forfeit euthanasia.