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.

For my first post I’d like to talk about small pets because I recently got a pet mouse. Growing up we had a number of small pets including a hamster, a few rats, and some birds. I have been craving that furry connection while at school and really wanted to get a rat again because they are excellent pets and are easy to care for. When telling people this I got a lot of “ew that’s gross” and “rats freak me out” and “why don’t you get a hamster?”

I am going to be honest here and say hamsters are terrible pets. After having one and hearing others stories about their experience with them I think I can say that. They are cute and fluffy, but they don’t want anything to do with you. Now I don’t know if it is the species itself that is like this or if the pet stores they grow up in isn’t giving them the support they need. Regardless if you get one from a pet store your hamster most likely won’t be that good of pet like everyone thinks they will. Which I think some people may not notice if they just keep getting them over and over, but after having a hamster and then a rat I can say that rats are much better companions.

Rats are not gross. They’re actually very clean little creatures. Much cleaner than my hamster was and the mouse I have now. If you show them love they will do the same in return. Both of my rats would cuddle with me and they never tried to run away or bite me. Rats love their owners similar to how dogs love their owners unlike hamsters. The only draw back to them is their short life span.

I’ve explained these points to many people over the years, but its fresh in my mind because of one of my roommates. When I sent pictures of my mouse Turnip to my roommates one of them said “no that’s gross” and “it better not bite me.” After giving my spiel like I did above I convinced her he was a sweet little mouse that would not even attempt to bite her. Now after meeting him she absolutely adores him. The point of this post is because I will always advocate for rats as pets and want the stigma around certain small pets to be diminished.

The topic of my blog is animals. I’ve had an assortment of different pets growing up and have always had a love for all type of animals. I probably get it from my mom because she also always has had a strong passion for them. My mom wanted to be a doctor of veterinarian medicine for most of her life and in her late forties finally decided to pursue her dream. She became a veterinary assistant and started working at an animal hospital. Three years ago I started working at the same animal hospital in the kennel part because of her. Since then I discovered my love for animals again and now decided that is the career path I want to be apart of. On this blog I’d like to share information I have learned through close observation and to use this website as a tool to find out more about this subject.

https://www.instagram.com/adoptionskah/