About

I started rescuing animals in my twenties,
then started working in veterinarian offices and then studied
holistic animal health. I have almost 40 years experience caring for animals,
especially senior and special needs animals.

I became a certified, licensed and insured professional pet sitter in Birch Bay, WA,
under the business name Birch Bay Pet Sitting, from 2004-2014.
After a 30-year divorce, I relocated to Bellingham in 2017 with four senior,
mostly special needs pets: Piczi and Oscar (dogs) and Cassidy and Evinrude (cats).

Piczi looked like a miniature Aussie who had been shot in the face
in the Coral Sand Dunes in Southern Utah and brought to the rescue I worked for.
She was less than a year old and suffered a broken jaw, lost many teeth,
and had nerve damage that resulted in an adorable Elvis-like lip and eye twitch
(made even more so after she developed a head tilt from vestibular disease).

Oscar had the great good fortune to be in the cage next to Piczi
when I went to "foster" her (eternal foster failure, I am).
The words on Oscar's cage read "BITER!" in big red letters.
I stooped and saw this little Rat Terrier/Chihuahua huddled in the corner, shaking.
"Don't reach in there - he'll take a finger off," I was warned.
I didn't care - I knew that little guy was coming home with me.
He never bit me, or anyone else, for the rest of his life.

Piczi and Oscar were inseparable.

I lost Piczi on March 20, 2019 and lost Oscar on June 29, 2019.
This is the first time I've been dog-less for my entire life.

Cassidy Catters was a rescue from the Salt Lake City area.
I was already fostering an incredibly wonderful special needs
black kitty, Pretty Kitty, with mobility problems.
She was a failed "Twisty" or "Squitten" cat (a horrible practice),
so the owners simply abandoned her.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squitten

The rescue contacted me because Cassidy's owner
had left the umbilical cord wrapped
around her left foot until it fell off and
then she brought the 5-wk old kitten to the rescue.
They asked if I would foster another physically challenged cat.
I didn't need to be asked twice. On the way home, she meowed so loud
that I seriously considered naming her Aretha. She had pipes!

She needed sub-q fluids from 2017-2020 for chronic kidney failure,
as well as twice daily medication for her hyperthyroidism.
She was, and always will be, my "soul kitty."

Evinrude (named for his extraordinarily loud, motor boat-like purr)
was brought to me at less than 6 wks old by neighbors in Birch Bay.
I searched for the owner and found him, then counseled him
on not letting a tiny kitten out at night
because we had raccoons, coyotes, eagles, owls, etc.

About five weeks later, another neighbor contacted me,
saying that there was this kitten that was very friendly but seemed hungry.
This was over a mile from where the kitten lived.
I went to pick him up and realized it was Evinrude.
Needless to say, I didn't contact the owner again.
Evinrude is now 16 and is the very needed comic relief in my life!

I have relocated again to Birch Bay and couldn't be happier
and am offering my pet sitting services again!

Piczi Dixie Doodle Bug

Oscar Proboscar

Cassidy Catters (aka Baby Girl)

Evinrude, aka Rudy, Rude Dude, Ru Manchu, Rudester, Rudy Doody Man