WHEN YOU WORK WITH PETS, YOU ACTUALLY ANOTHER DOSE
When you do what I do to pay the bills (I wonât say âfor a livingâ, because Iâm getting out), the things you once loved become some of the things you hate the most.
Pets.
I used to love them, love having them, love taking care of them, everything. They were a constant source of subject matter in all of my artistic endeavors: printmaking, drawing, painting, photography, mainly my old chocolate lab: Bailey. Iâve never lived a single day of my life without a pet. Not one.
It seemed a natural choice to work at a vet clinic, assisting Veterinarians and Technicians with exams, blood draws, x-rays, vaccines, and then the kennel workâŠnever fun for anyone, but hey. Dogs are cute. To a point. Itâs odd that now I love handling angry cats more than anything else. Maybe I like the challenge?
After six years of this, Iâve realized that the emotional toll is too much. Most of the animals that come through our doors are sick or dying or in pain. They are not at their best, to be sure. A room full of strangers pokes and prods them and tortures them as far as theyâre concerned and they have no idea why. The owners know somethingâs wrong, so they bring their pet in; the Vets have gone into the field because they want to help animals, as is the case with their supportive staff (aka: me). Somehow, everyone comes into the fold with the best of intentions, and somehow, everyone ends up confused, frustrated, upset, even physically hurt. Iâm either not tough enough or too tough, either not compassionate enough or too compassionate. It takes a special type of person to do this long term. As it stands, I am not that type of specialâŠIâm not any type of special that requires air-quotes either.
Iâm responsible for a small portion of social media that the clinic is invested in, and so am often responsible, forced, what have you, for finding the joy of owning a pet. It keeps me going, even when a favorite of mine declines in a single day for no measurable reason and in six hourâs time, is no longer himself, passes away, and no one can answer âwhy?â Youâd think six puppies getting their last round of vaccines would be a breath of fresh airâŠbut it was bedlam. Ok, theyâre cute. But you quickly get over that when their needle teeth pierce your skin, you draw up twenty vaccines while they pee on the floor and drag their leashes through it and you have to remember which one is Lincoln, Phoenix, Taco, SkippyâŠand then you loose track and wish they would go home. You donât have to go home but you canât stay here.
How do I find my way back to a life-long love? When I âget outâ, and the time is coming soon, will I be shell-shocked and never want a pet again? How do I stay interested enough to incorporate the vast knowledge and experience with pets back into my art, as I once did?
I though I misunderstood the concept of live streaming, and then I remembered...didnât I have a widget of my computer that allows me to watch pandas at the National Zoo? Yes. And arenât my friends eagerly awaiting April the giraffeâs new baby? And itâs on live stream too. Then I though nanny-cams, then I thought Paranormal Activity and Blair WitchâŠa little out there, but arenât they based on the same pretext? That you can see what is happening right now (in the case of films, obviously an illusion). I did understand it after all. Inspired by April the giraffe, I came full circle: puppy cams. There are TONS of these online, and there have been for years, I just didnât have a specific categorical name for them.
Puppy cams often include calls to action and embedded links to other social media. They may also advocate for animals, or encourage donations to a cause puppy-camers would care about. Itâs a fantastic concept, especially for someone like me who is quickly becoming disenchanted with the idea of pets. You sit and do your work on your computer.
whatever type of work: writing, graphics, animation, etc.
And those puppies are up in the corner, playing, sleeping, eating, growing, just being cute. They make no noise, they demand nothing from you, youâre not responsible for them in any way. They are there to make your life better, if even just a little bit. I love it.
Itâs not just puppies either. If you want to watch wildlife, either in captivity of otherwise, there are live cams for that as well!










