I’ve always felt a special depth of connection, love, and understanding for animals but my journey of pet care started when I was 7. I had asked for a hamster for my birthday but, knowing my maturity, my parents instead got me 2 cats. I loved and cared for them as if they were the little brothers I’ve always wanted. Over the years came more family cats and dogs that I also treated as siblings or maybe even children. When I was 13, my dog was attacked by another dog and her wounds became infected. We almost lost her. I slept on the bathroom floor with her for months so she would at least have someone by her side if she did pass. I changed her drains and bandages throughout the day and night. I would sing to her and pour my love and strength out upon her. (She made a full recovery and thrived for several more years.) I also trained her as a puppy and taught her to sit, stay, fetch, roll over, stop, come, go, drop it, lay down, go to bed, paw, other paw, go potty. I spent 3 summers in a row doing an internship with a vet who had his own clinic but also traveled to other towns to farms to work with livestock. In the clinic I helped him preform spays, neuters, c-sections, euthanizations, grooming, wound cleaning and stitches. I helped deliver many horses, cows, pigs, and goats. I assisted with an intestinal surgery on a cow. Livestock vaccinations and grooming. I preformed CPR on puppies and cows that where not breathing upon delivery and saved their lives. And many other tasks that strangely fulfilled my heart.