About Amanda

I didn’t always think I’d be a veterinary technician. In fact, when I was in school I had aspirations of working with trees. I received my forestry degree from Michigan State University in 1998 and shortly after that began my career as an arborist (a tree doctor of sorts). One thing led to another and I soon found myself partially unemployed and mostly uninspired.

I’d always been a decent writer in college so to help pass the time and pay the bills I began looking for freelance writing work. It wasn’t easy but I got a few jobs here and there. To keep me company while I worked from home I decided to adopt a puppy. And so they say–the rest is history.

My husband and I adopted Maggie, a 12 week old mixed breed puppy, from a local rescue group. Even though I had pets growing up, I felt clueless about raising a puppy so I began learning all I could about dogs–especially training. I soon became fascinated with the topic of animal behavior and devoured every book I could find on the subject. In fact, one of the very first articles I wrote for a veterinary-related magazine was written on that very topic!

Maggie was due for her next puppy vaccine so I made an appointment with our local veterinarian. She didn’t like the experience all too well but the veterinary staff was very nice. When I was paying the bill the receptionist asked if I knew of anybody that would be interested in working some part-time hours at the clinic.  I started the next day!

After working as a veteinary assistant, one thing led to another and I decided if this was to be my destined career path I needed to become a licensed technician. I was also beginning to miss school (I’m a certified geek) so I attended Macomb Community College and received my license in 2004. I have experience working in emergency and shelter medicine and currently work in a general four-doctor practice that takes care of cats and dogs.

I still spend a lot of time writing. I’ve written articles for a lot of companies in the pet care industry including Bow Tie Press, the American Animal Hospital Association, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Learning Systems, and Purina Pet Care. I’d like to shift my focus now on educating pet owners. There’s so much information to know about dogs and cats–sometimes it can be hard to sort the good from the bad–especially when it comes to our beloved Internet!

Behavior is still one of my favorite topics but my interest has shifted more to cats–mostly because we share our house with five of them! I also have a strange passion for nutrition–both human and animal related. If I had the time I’d probably pursue an education on dietics. If only there were more hours in the day!

Besides my love for trees and pets I also have a strange passion for books. I like to buy books the way some women like to buy shoes. In my spare time I also love to bake, cook, do jigsaw puzzles and pretend to know everything about major league baseball.

Also, for the third year in a row I’ll be participating in the Michigan Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk. I’ll walk 60 miles in 3 days to help find a cure for breast cancer. If you’d like to learn more about my journey please visit http://www.breastcancerwalker.org

In addition to Maggie we also have Penny, a Jack Russell terror terrier. I could tell you the Penny story now, but we’ll save that for another day. 

And let’s not forget about the Jones cats: Reuben, Billie, Stanley, Grizzle, and Nermal. They all have stories too.

You can email me anytime at support@amandakjones.com