I have been around animals my entire life. I grew up with dogs, cats and rabbits. When I went out on my own, my first two babies were a chocolate lab and a golden retriever. Later, my husband and I adopted two cats - one of which lived to be 20 years old. The four of them grew up alongside our three daughters. When we lost them, we adopted three more - an aussie doodle, a chihuahua mix we rescued on the side of the highway, and a teacup poodle. Our daughters talked us into even more pets, another cat, guinea pigs, fish, and even a 50 pound African Sulcata Tortoise. In their teen years, I began volunteering at Almost There Rescue working with mama dogs and their puppies. That led to fostering the puppies weekly - two at a time. When Covid hit and the rescue stopped their fostering program, my daughters and I took in five 3-week-old kittens which we fostered for 9 weeks. We survived ear mites and worms. Today, as empty nesters, my husband and I have our two small dogs.