All my pets seem to find me. I've never gone out in search of a new pet. My Sandy, a 9-year-old chocolate lab mix, came to me from a friend when he was 5 months old. She couldn't take care of him anymore and so he found a home with me. He's still my boy.

Some pets come and go. There was Otis the parakeet I found at the Kern County fairgrounds. I took care of him for a year, then adopted him out to a nice woman who also had a parakeet in need of a friend. And I'll always have a place in my heart for Buddy, the high-strung American pit bull terrier who was in my life for five years, then went to live my ex.

And then there's Evie, an 8-year-old tortoise shell manx cat with a nub for a tail and a loose belly that swings when she runs. I saw her on TV as a "Pet of the Week" from the Bakersfield SPCA. She was licking the SPCA guy on the face during the interview and I thought, "Now there's a cat who isn't stuck up!" I went down there right away and adopted her.

There are so many animals out there in need of adoption, I can't imagine purchasing a pet. Here's a link to how to adopt pets here in Bakersfield.

— Jennifer Baldwin, KernLife.com site administrator