This is for 
I'm going to write about a "job" I did for 5 or 6 years, but recently stopped (you'll know why I stopped by the end of the post).
I was a professional pet sitter and house sitter, living in other people's homes and taking care of other people's animals.
I stayed with countless dogs and cats (well, I guess if I really put my mind to it, I could count them, but I don't really know how many dogs and cats I watched). Also on the list of animals I took care of:
- rabbits
- horses
- sheep
- a goat
- chickens
- rats
- fish
- a turtle
and... the easiest pet sitting gig I ever had: taking care of a slug in a tank for a month. I had to feed it every third day. That was it.
What I loved about it: Interacting with so many sweet, sweet animals. Each one had a different personality, a different intelligence level, their own likes and dislikes. Sorta like humans, I guess.
In fact, animals are really just beings in non-human bodies... a little bit different from humans, but in many ways very similar.
I developed relationships and rapport with some of the animals that I stayed with for long periods of time or for multiple stays. Generally, dogs are much quicker to accept someone new into their homes -- "Hey! It's someone new! Throw my ball!" -- than cats are. So when that moment came when a cat would accept me enough to brush against my leg or sit in my lap, I was happy and grateful for their affection.
And the reason I stopped? I got a cat of my own, and it just didn't seem right to leave her alone in order to go stay with other animals... kinda like I was two-timing.
=..=