I have been around animals my whole life. In elementary school, I would be greeted by our farm cats as soon as I got home. After a quick pet or cuddle with each of them, I would refill their water and food bowls and sit with the bigger cuddlers for as long as I could. In secondary school, I trained our family puppy - from obedience to competing in agility competitions. I loved watching him learn new tricks and never forget the basics, even as a senior dog and with me living away from him. While in university, I kept animals in my life by volunteering at the local SPCA. I loved the bigger dogs, and my heart broke if I ever saw them afraid of other dogs or humans. Helping them through their rehabilitation was an honour. As an adult, I adopted an orange tabby, "Naranjito." Jito, as we call him, is celebrating 17 human years as of 2026. He sleeps a bit more, and needs an extra step to jump sometimes, but he's still strong enough to put his BIGGER 2-year-old spicy sister in her place when she attacks him in play. With only one cat, I craved helping more, and did some pet care for others in my 20s. This involved bird-sitting, and dog-walking. A friend asked me to take in her older cat when she had a family illness. "Sally The Cat" was the embodiment of love. She had diabetes, but would still purr through her blood tests and insulin injections. This made me more comfortable with taking care of more serious health issues. Our current family dog has epilepsy and allergies. His first seizure was a month after his adoption, and was pretty scary - for all of us. I quickly became the person in the family to stay with him through it, and comfort him back to his normal self afterwards. With him, I have become comfortable with giving pills, and asking for veterinary help when needed. I love all animals, but I get to spend my life caring for cats and dogs.