Hmmm....I thought about it before posting too. Anyway, I'm certainly not trying to argue or dredge up dead horses or whatever, but since I made a post that might have had "glaring issues between the lines" I thought I'd clarify as well.
Yes, I sort of expect Mark to pay for the vet bills and dog/cat food. But, he also expects that he will have a clean house, dinner on the table, breakfast made for him before he leaves work, etc. Its not a Donna Reed situation by any means, its just the division of labor around here. My perspective on it is this. Just because I don't bring in the same amount of actual CASH that he does, doesn't mean that I shouldn't have any say in how its spent, or weather or not its spent on something I want that he doesn't. I work every bit as hard as he does (sometimes harder, honestly) and I think that if I want a dog, I should have it.
I'm not asking for 200 dogs. I'm not asking for a $5000 dog from a breeder. I DO take care of all of the cleaning, feeding, grooming, walking, tick-pulling, de-fleaing, de-worming, poop-inspection, etc. So, I realize that there should be a give and take, but I think that goes both ways. I mean, I don't feel that he has any more right to say "NO!" flat-out than I do to just bring a dog in without asking.
I don't mean to sound nuts. I guess I just get sensitive about the money issue. When you said that its unfair if we expect him to pay for the dog. I don't see that as unfair at all. If I were to work full-time outside the home, a LOT of the things that I do now wouldn't be done.