When I was young, 4 or 5 years old, I'd go with my grandparents when they took care of the neighborhood animals - cats, dogs, and sheep. I really enjoyed their Siamese cats that they adopted from neighbors down the road. When I was 10, my family got Maxx - a Golden Retriever/Samoyed mix. He became diabetic and needed insulin shots later on, and I helped administer those. After I became an adult, I adopted 2 cats with a partner. When we split, I took the cat that had bonded with me and cared for her until she passed at age 18. She developed thyroid disease and it took me a while to figure out how to get her meds in her, but I did and she had a much higher quality of life. I also switched to feeding her Gerber baby food (she preferred that brand over Beechnut, I'm not kidding) when she started to get even fussier about her food. Before that I helped care fore my grandparents' Siamese - I would microwave small chunks of hamburger for him and give him subcutaneous water treatments at home, and he ACTUALLY sat quietly and patiently during the treatments, the vet couldn't believe it!