I was chatting with a client at the cats-only boarding facility, and mentioned (as I often do) my two dogs, Moose and Lally. The client asked if I had any cats, and I said that I didn’t.
She then asked me why I was working at a cat place if I didn’t have any cats. My usual answer is this: “So I won’t be tempted to bring any of them home!”
And that is part of the reason. We’ve had abandoned kitties staying at the boarding facility before. While I did become somewhat attached to them, I knew I couldn’t bring them into the family. Moose and Lally wouldn’t handle it well, and it would most likely traumatize the poor cat.
But I initially answered the ad for this job because of two things: the short shifts and the flexibility. An average shift is about four hours — that leaves me plenty of free time in the day to do my freelance writing (that’s my main source of income). And though I usually work weekends and holidays, my weekly schedule can vary greatly depending on how many cats are expected at any one time.
I always knew I’d enjoy working with animals. And to be completely honest, if I’d seen an ad for a dogs-only boarding facility, I’d probably be working there. It’s not too hard to tell from reading my work here at Families.com that I’m a dog person.
Working with cats has definitely been educational. Before I started this job, I had very little in the way of day-to-day experience with kitties. Sure, I’ve had lots of friends who have or had cats. But caring for cats the way I do at work is a whole new world. When I started back in December, I had no idea how to deal with an aggressive cat. Just this morning, I managed to give an insulin shot to a very aggressive (squirming, yowling, clawing, and biting) cat. There’s definitely been some real progress in my cat-wrangling skills.
I’ll probably never own a cat. My heart belongs to the dogs. But I can’t imagine a more perfect part-time job for me than working at the cats-only boarding facility.