Animal Safety Pt. 2

This is the next installment in our animal safety series inspired by my mission to keep pet sitters safer on the job.

Animal Safety Part 1 talked about how to protect yourself from pet diseases. Below we will talk about how to identify scared or aggressive pets.

Animal Safety Pt. 1

I am proud to finally present Introductory Animal Safety.

This document is a labor of love, created over the past 8 months originally as a resource to help keep pet sitters safe.

You may remember my post in February, The Complicated Contracts of Dog Walkers, where I said I wanted to create training resources for new pet sitters to help them stay safe on the job.

Two excellent pet sitters, Chris Wooten of One of a Kind K9 and Kim Fields at Everything and the Dog generously gave of their time to make sure this document would be helpful to new pet sitters in their field.

I would also like to thank Lili Chin, Dr. Karen Overall, and Elsevier Publishing for making the animal behavior images in the document available for non-profit use.

Since I could not find any similar documents available through the two major pet sitting organizations I will also be sending this handout along to them in the hopes they can use it for their members.

Since this safety information is helpful for all pet lovers I will present it here too. It will be split into at least 3 posts. This first section focuses on how to avoid catching animal diseases:

Helping with Allergies

As a kid I always wondered why Snowball, our pet Jack Russell, licked her feet like they were ice cream cones every fall and spring. You can see the little brown stains on her paws in her picture. Does your pet do the same thing? Like Snowball, your pet may have allergies.

How do you know if your pet has allergies? What might they be allergic to? Find out below.

Daring to Change the World

Is "Vet Changes World" too daring a blog name?

At first I thought so. Thoughts like "How much of a difference will I really make?" and "What if I don't change things fast enough?" kept pestering me.

Ages ago, as an undergraduate in college at William and Mary, I majored in business as well as biology. At first, business (marketing specifically) was a back-up major in case my veterinary dreams fell through. However, it quickly became clear that the business skills I was learning would make me a much better veterinarian.

Every day, pets live and die based on the cost of treatment and a vet's advice. Vets who communicate well and who are cost efficient save pets' lives.

Vets that have *key business skills* save pets' lives.

When I realized this, I realized I could change the world. If I could teach other veterinarians these same skills, just think of how many pets we could help!

Through the rest of college and veterinary school I realized there were even more ways that veterinarians help change the world. We are shoulders to cry on, protectors of the food supply, and sentinels for new diseases. These discoveries made me feel even more empowered to make a difference.

If I'm so determined to use what I know for good, what's the hang-up on my blog name?

Finally I had to ask myself, "Am I daring enough to declare my intent to change the world and brave enough to let others call me out on it if I don't?"

Turns out that I am.

Hold me to it.