I was born and raised in Tennessee. I come from a big family, with lots of kids and lots of grandkids but I was always more interested in what had four legs and fur. A country girl at heart, I went to school at East Tennessee State University where I majored in Biology and minored in Anthropology.
I have had many dogs and cats in my lifetime, but none have taught me more about love than Muffin, the black cat I had for 18 years growing up who gave me lessons in patience and compassion for all living animals; and Delilah, my red nose Pitbull who taught me about loss and about the responsibilities that come with owning an animal.
I have lived in Los Angeles, California since 2014 and I am so excited to be a part of Hope for Paws with my rescue dog Beck, and my three rescue cats River, Mud Puddles, and Rain as we continue to help homeless and abandoned animals and raise awareness.
The best part of being included in the Hope for Paws family is being able to help our community when they reach out to us with animals in need whether it be by email, phone calls or text messages. We want to try to do what we can to spread love and joy 💜
Some of the exciting things that I get to help with include working with specialty veterinarians at a variety of hospitals on cutting edge procedures like enucleations, pyometras, inguinal and abdominal hernial repairs and various orthopedic procedures. These life-saving emergencies are an everyday occurrence for us and can happen at a moment's notice.
Each day is different and I don't know what will happen when someone will call us and we show up to a location only to discover that the animal may, in fact, be animals and they may be bleeding or in distress. I never even know what we are being called to rescue, it could be a dog, a cat, a possum, a skunk, or maybe something else!
We have an amazing staff of veterinarians including but not limited Dr. Lisa Youn, Dr. Gabriella Levy and Dr. Antonio Pedraza who have the same love and devotion to our rescue animals and spend endless hours pouring over our cases to provide the necessary care and treatment. The veterinary nurses led by Stephanie Babcock and Yonat Jellnick stay with our animals 24 hours a day while they are hospitalized to make sure that they receive everything that they need and update us regularly. Stephanie is my kitties godmother and she is the best animal dentist I have ever met!
Once our rescue angels are healthy they are placed with one of the incredible rescue partners that I have the pleasure of working with, like Su Roo and her husband Jason at LA Animal Rescue or Melanie Wagner and our friends at the Kitty Bungalow Charm School for Wayward Cats. These rescue partners have wonderful fosters and incredible adoption programs and we trust their decision making completely. They will handle the adoption process or us from here, with a little help from me posting the animals on our website and letting people know where to look! This is such a great partnership for us because then I can offer to help more rescue animals when our subscribers reach out, which is my favorite part of Hope for Paws! 😉