Animals are my passion

I have been passionate about animals my entire life. I was the kid who had to go to the zoo in every city we visited. I had dreams of being a vet or a zoo keeper. As soon as I was old enough, I asked for horse riding lessons and for a variety of pets. As a kid I had guinea pigs, rabbits, parakeets, finches and, of course, dogs and cats. In Middle School I even spent a summer with an equine vet hitching a ride on farm calls and observing surgeries. Since my dreams of veterinary medicine and zoology did not come to fruition, I have found ways to make animals a big part of my life. When I lived in Ohio, I volunteered at the Akron Zoo and I became one of the only "Edzoocators" to be trained to handle the collection of animal ambassadors which I took off-site to educational programs. During this time I got experience working with invertebrates, reptiles, parrots, birds of prey and a wide variety of exotic/wild and domestic mammals. I loved my time at the Akron Zoo and only left because my family and I moved to the Wake Forest, NC area. Since the closest zoo was over an hour away, I reached out to the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, NC and got my first experience working with primates which I have always loved. The years I spent as a Technician Assistant prepared me to take over as a temporary Primate Technician to cover a maternity leave. This experience was truly a dream come true! I was a zookeeper, even if it was just for four months! While volunteering, I took a position as at a local animal rescue as a Farm Animal Technician caring for a variety of farm animals including cattle, goats, pigs, chickens and an unsocialized and very sick miniature donkey. While most of the animals were at the rescue permanently, I successfully adopted out pigs and the donkey found a loving home once he was completely rehabilitated. From the DLC, I took a job at NC State College of Veterinary Medicine and worked as a Medical Support Technician. I learned to handle equine and farm animals for medical procedures and also became familiar with how to keep them healthy and happy. After two years at the CVM, I worked at SAFE Haven for cats as a Bookkeeper, Cat Care Associate and ultimately spent a year as Shelter Manager. During this time I learned a great deal about cat health and shelter medicine. I now can take all of the knowledge that I have gained from my years of experience and use it to run my own business that is focused on giving the best possible care to my clients' pets so that they can fully enjoy their time away from home!