All pets deserve our love and commitment.  No matter what when you start to care for another life you should give them the best you can. Same applies when your animal becomes sick, disabled, and old. These type of animals are overlooked a lot, but they have some of the best spirits.

At work we get the occasional dog or cat with an array of disabilities the animal has no control over. I have such respect for these owners who take care of these pets. Its amazing to see first hand because most animals don’t seem to have any trouble with their physical disabilities.

Pugs come with a number of health concerns and its really common for them to have paralyzed back legs. We have one that comes in and at home she has a little wheel chair, but when she stays with us they leave it at home. Boy does that little girl scoot on the floor. She moves so quick for having to drag her bottom half. It doesn’t stop her, it doesn’t slow her down, and she just needs a little more help going to the bathroom and that’s it.

We had a “kennel cat” for many years who couldn’t be adopted out because of her problems. Her name was Roma and she was hit by a car when she was young and lost all feeling in her butt and tail area. That resulted in her getting most of her tail cut off and she had no control when she went to the bathroom. It’s hard to find a cat a home who will just pee and leave poop random places. So she lived in the kennel and had free rein over her domain. Roma was the best cat though, she was so unique and loved to be loved. I still miss her every time I work now.

I’ve seen a lot where someone gets a pet and they turn out to have something wrong or old comes with a bunch of health problems and they just give up on them. Its heart breaking because your pet loves you so much and they would never do the same to you. Thankfully I see more often than not people who stick by and give their pet the extra attention they need and really do love their furry member just like family.

I love dogs to death, but they are disgusting creatures. Poop gets everywhere, pee gets on you, and throw up gets re-eaten. Be warned if you can’t handle the subject of poop I would not suggest reading forward.

One of my first holidays I worked in the kennel I got a wonderful surprise; a dog had decided to paw print paint his kennel with his poop. The smell was absolutely atrocious and this white lab was now covered in brown patches that I had to bathe off him. I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve had to pick poop out of paws and fur. Its especially bad with puppies because they will shamelessly step in their own poop then jump up on you (which is one of my favorite things).

It’s really interesting how dogs react to situations they are stressed about. A good one is when you give a dog a nail trim and it’s like they become a loose noodle and let go of all the bodily fluids inside them, on you of course. One story that makes me laugh is I was giving a huge golden retriever a nail trim once and he was great, he just laid there and let me do it, but after he got up I saw he did a massive poop that was hiding under his body. Its very common for dogs to poop when stressed or scared and that equals lots of clean up.

I am also amazed at how some dogs will eat anything including poop and throw up. I have a dog at home who will actually wait until the other two have gone out, so he can go out and eat their feces. I feel for the puppies who come in skinny so they think they have eat anything they get in their mouth (including rocks), but I do not want their nasty breath or kisses on my face. And for some dogs its not “oh its been there a while I’m gonna go eat it,” it’s a I have to sprint with the poop scoop before they can get it because they are running to eat it.

I could probably go on, but I think you get the picture. My job is a whole lot of poop and dogs who really don’t care about having their own fecal matter on, around, or in them. It really doesn’t bother me much, except there are some smelly days I will never forget.

I take my job very seriously and it can become quite stressful. I’m working actual lives and its my responsibility what happens to them and I don’t take it lightly. I’ve worked with many people though who don’t treat it the same it is very frustrating.

I’ve had to break up dog fights, help animals who are having seizures, try to control the spread of diseases, do nail trims on mean animals, feed and clean feral cats, and make sure every animal is medicated. They are not all easy to work with like some people think. Whenever someone finds out I work with animals most people are like “wow that must be so fun” and “you’re so lucky I’d love to just play with dogs all day.” I do have good times with the animals and I enjoy it a lot, but it is not just playing with dogs all day. I can deal with the troubles that arise from the animals, however when my coworkers are not pulling the slack I get very annoyed. I worked with one girl who didn’t like dogs and never wanted to do anything dealing with them. She knew that dogs were a big part of this job why did she come to work here? I don’t get it.

The job is a lot of cleaning and getting things done at certain times. Usually I work with one other person a day unless were very busy then I work with two other people. Were supposed to split the work up and get everything done by around 6 to 6:30 pm. I’ve had many days though were I do 95% of the work load because my coworker is not doing things they should or could be doing. I just feel like I constantly have to pick up everyone’s slack. For example we’re supposed to scoop right after a dog goes in the yard and I’ll put the dogs out after not doing it all day and I’ll find poop everywhere. Which they don’t see it as a big deal, but that’s how diseases spread the most and if a another dog steps in then it gets everywhere.

I am not the best employee in the world, I make mistakes a lot, but I’ll never understand how these people can work where I work and not treat these lives they are in control of with the upmost importance. Rant over.