In 2004, shortly after my Grandmother's passing, my mom brought some homeless kittens into my grandmother's vacant house to care for them and help them find a new home. In a few short years, a few kittens turned into 25 cats living in my basement and my mom actively searching for a facility to move them into. In the past 12 years, Pet Angel Adoption and Rescue has been my second home. Growing up, I used to spend half of my day at the cat rescue. My brother and I turned the parking lot into our playground and turned the cats into our friends. I didn't have the kind of childhood where I got to go home after school, and spent my summer breaks playing in large dog runs full of cats. Growing up at an animal shelter, I learned things at a young age that most people don't learn their entire lives.

Growing up at Pet Angel, I learned how to properly care for animals. I saw how some humans in this world cared for animals incorrectly. We've had animals dropped off at the rescue door in carriers in the middle of the night, dripping wet from the thunderstorm that struck over night. I listened to a man in our neighborhood threaten to poison the wild cats that lived in my back yard. We went into two different animal hoarders homes and removed over 40 cats from the horrible living conditions, to provide them love and new homes. My mom taught me that all of this was wrong. She taught me how to care for animals the correct way, and give them love and attention. She taught me how to care for kittens that didn't have a mother and how to care for a cat that was sick. She showed me how to take care of cats with epilepsy and how "putting an animal down" is not the only option when an animal falls sick. We took blind cats, cats that can't walk, kittens with no mom, cats covered in motor oil, and even provided chemotherapy to a cat with mammary gland cancer. We gave these animals a second option at life, which is one of the most important things I learned.

I have learned the ins and outs of cat care. I learned how to care for ring worm, how to give animals pills, what to do when a cat is bleeding, possibilities of why a cat is not using the litter box, and how to notice when a cat needs to go to the vet. I have learned about different programs to take care of feral cats, like 'Trap Nuder Release.' I have learned that declawing is like cutting our fingers off at the knuckles, therefore being inhumane, and I have learned that fixing a cat is vital to its health as a pet. I can read an animal's body language, and know when somebody needs to walk away because the cat is getting ready to bite.

Growing up the daughter of a woman who took care of cats, I was titled "a crazy cat lady," and I learned how to deal with it. I was once told that my family doesn't go anywhere without our cats, which is absolutely absurd and completely incorrect. Kids used to "meow" at me in the hallways as a joke. I learned that kids at my school thought that about me, because that's what their parents said about my family. However, I learned that just because my family cares for animals and find them new homes, does not mean that we are "crazy" or "obsessed" with them. I learned how to cope with bullies and how to stand up for what I believed in. I learned that what other people said about me wasn't who I really was and I learned to not let others define who I am.

Working at the cat rescue, I learned how to deal with people. I'm not a crazy cat lady, but let me tell ya-- I have met PLENTY of crazy cat people in my life. I've talked to the ones who call to ask me to take their animal, and then keep me on the phone for a half hour telling me their life story. I've met the ones who come into our rescue to find their new family member, decked out in cat clothing and end up taking two instead of one. I've seen the crazy cat people who are borderline hoarders. The ones that come into the rescue just to cause trouble, lying about their situation or adopting an animal and then letting it outside and it getting hit by a car. The people who don't understand that their animal must go to the vet, or that their animal isn't eating because it is sick. I have dealt with animals that have emotional scars from abuse, I have rushed dying cats to the vet because their owner brought them in seizing. I have had unreal situations arise, and have learned how to handle myself when I'm uncomfortable or when somebody else does something wrong in my rescue.

Pet Angel is a 5(o)1(c)3, non-profit cat rescue that has found homes for over 1,250 cats over the past 12 years. We have provided love and a safe home for the animals that have come through our doors, sometimes providing them a loving environment to live out their last days in. We have gone from paying out of my parents pocket for the care of the animals, to the rescue being dependent on donations and fundraisers. We started in my grandmothers vacant house, and now have an entire facility designed for our cats. We have supporters around the globe, and have re-homed animals as far as China. In the past 12 years, I have gone from a nine-year-old who liked to play with the kittens, to a twenty-one-year-old who works as the Social Media Marketing Coordinator at the rescue. I might have had a different child hood, and call me a crazy cat lady, but I sure do love it here.

For more information on Pet Angel, click here.