When I was little I wanted every animal possible! My mother used to say "When you grow up, you can have a whole zoo!" (Maybe someday 🤞) Growing up we always had a family dog and cat. We also had several birds, a snake, ferrets, and fish. As a young girl and teen I rode horses and wrote a story about my favorite horse as a 7 year old and was given a young author's award. As an adult I have taken an animal massage course which included equines, canines, and rabbits. As an adult I have had 3 cats over a 25 year time span, and a dwarf bunny rabbit for 3 years. My pet soul mate cat lived to be almost 21 years old and I was present at her birth and was holding her when I had to put her down. In many ways she was the light that got me through some of the hardest times in my life. I started fostering a rescue cat who had been part of a feral cat colony in Paso and we just celebrated our 2 year anniversary so we are a bonded pair now! Not too long ago a friend told me that he had been feeding a stray cat but that she was very friendly. He could not take her in because he already had 2 cats and they did not want to share their papa with a 3rd sibling. So I brought over a carrier and we put her in there (which was no picnic) and I took her to the Cal Poly Cat Program where she was vaccinated, treated for a medical conditon, and found placement in her forever home. I am so proud that I took the initiative to give her a better life. Also, when I was about 10 years old I found a baby bird who had fallen out of the nest but was still too young to fly. I took it home and we fed it with an eyedropper and set her free about a week later when she was able to fly. We enjoyed that experience so much that we ended up having 3 family birds after that. I was also proud of helping the little baby bird, and we found that we enjoyed birds enough to get some. They got bigger each time (parakeet first, then a cockatiel, then finally a white fronted Amazon named Hector 😅🤣) I love animals because they love unconditionally and give so much joy, laughter, and companionship to our lives! We are so lucky to have them, and I know they feel the same way 😻🐶