About a year ago, I wanted to start a blog that was all about animals. I was told that was never going to fly, so I put it on the back burner while I built a blog in a "less saturated" niche. But this isn't going to be the typical "about animals" blog you usually see. I fully plan on proving to myself, and hopefully to you too, that I should have followed my gut to begin with.

Let me explain.

Why I'm doing this

I run a multi-pet household, and I'm a bit frustrated by the mainstream pet industry's standard of care. It gets to the point where people have to choose between food for themselves or food for their animals, and if you're doing things on a budget, that automatically makes you a bad pet parent in some people's eyes.

When I was younger, in high school actually, I moved out of my family home into a one-bedroom apartment with my hamster, two bettas, and two dogs. I was looked down on for what I was feeding, how I was feeding, and generally for "not doing right" by my animals.

Spoiler alert: I wasn't feeding some obscure dog food nobody's heard of. I was feeding Purina. And that was enough for me to get "talked to" about my standard of care, while I was eating ramen noodles and choosing their food over my own.

I know that's small in the grand scheme of things (that was twenty years ago), but I've watched people be harsh toward others who are just trying to survive. (For the record, these days I spend enough on my own animals that it looks like I have at least one human child. So this isn't about being anti-spending. It's about not shaming people for doing their best with what they have.)

I'm not going to run a blog that paints a pretty picture. I want to talk about the tough stuff, across a variety of animals.

A quick disclaimer

I'm not a vet, a vet tech, or in the animal industry. What I do have is years of experience working with rescues, both privately run and nonprofit, taking on tough cases, and opening my home for long-term treatment and forever homes for special needs animals. My own animals range from mice to horses.

What you'll find here: 

  • The numbers: What I buy, and why I buy it. I know what's fine to buy cheap and what you'll regret cutting corners on.
  • Multi-pet systems: Managing smells, animals, and care can get overwhelming and genuinely chaotic. I'll talk about what's worked for me. 
  • The hard stuff: Aging animals, hospice care, medical management, wound care and honest conversations. I don't believe in doom and gloom.
  • Rehab and rescue reality: Including the tough cases like the fearful, under socialized, or abused animals that need specialized care, trust building, and extra patience.
  • Understanding and no judgment: I want to educate people so they can make better decisions on their pet care. If your hamster is currently in a really small hamster cage, I want to educate you on how you can change their environment without judgement. 

I don't claim to know it all. I'm still learning every day. I do things that are a bit controversial sometimes, like not following traditional diets with my sugar gliders. But I bring receipts for why I do what I do.

I plan on covering the animals I know best: pocket pets (mice, hamsters, gerbils), rats, sugar gliders, hedgehogs, rabbits, chickens, cats, dogs, and smaller domestic birds (cockatiels, finches, parakeets, and more).

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