24 hours with: The Maryland SPCA vet tech
Erica Mininsky was never an over-the-top animal lover — and certainly never expected to be working with furry creatures on a daily basis.
- Family meals always require cheese!
- Another pup who was hit by a car need x-rays to determine the extent of his injuries.
- Transport time… These sibling dachshunds are on their way to another vet hospital to receive the extra care they require.
- Taking a moment to snap some fun photos of a new little stray that made his way to our door.
- Getting some fresh air with this handsome gent.
- More eye medication.
- Off to pick up my weekly veggie delivery — 20 weeks of local produce.
- This four-mile drive home can often look like this — maybe not always with this crazy sky in the background, but always the brake lights.
- Our bounty ready for a hearty meal with friends.
- We always have a greeter at the door for friends bearing wine.
- The grill is hot!
- Happy little boy would be content to hang out in my lap all day.
- Prepping all these veggies is a team effort.
- Beautiful greens courtesy of Baltimore City.
- Post-dinner pit bull snuggles.
- A king looking over his kingdom.
- Taking the pups on one last stroll for the night.
- It’s couch time…pile on!
- I love to spend time every night in my work space (formally known as a dining room) to work on my latest projects.
- A night cap shared with a roommate.
- Sometime he sleeps in strange places — whatever you want, dude.
- Tapped out.
- First intake exam of the day… this little bean checks out A-OK!
- I guess I’ll wait…
- Foggy morning along the harbor.
- My wolf pack.
- Necessary fuel.
- Lack of opposable thumbs = no job. No job = all day nap time.
- “Warm up to a cold nose.” Reporting for duty.
- Morning meds being prepared for the pups.
- Checking on yesterday’s new arrivals. Aren’t they purrrrrrfect?
- Every morning, every dog gets out for a walk, the kennel gets scrubbed down, new blankets, new toys, and fresh food. The most labor-intensive part of the day.
- Morning bath time with medicated shampoo to make her skin feel better.
- “Is that really the alarm? Can’t we just keep sleeping?”
- Sometimes it’s hard to resist a good snuggle session in between the dozens of exams.
- Kitten Cuddling 101.
- Our spay and neuter clinic is always in overdrive. We perform 9000 surgeries every year.
- And they just keep coming. Today we got 17 kittens in, who will all receive full exam, vaccinations, neutering, microchips, clean and warm cages, food and lots of love while in our care.
- Box o’kitten! This litter is all too cozy being intertwined with each other.
- One of our staff vets attending to an infected eye.
- Our volunteers that make this place and our lives better for being a part of it. We can never thank you enough for the time and dedication you give to our shelter.
- More bath time!
- Bandage change time — this young pup was hit by a car and requires daily bandage change to keep his wound clean and properly healing.
Mininsky, 30, studied fine arts and Spanish at Towson University, and began working in design after graduation. But the job wasn’t right for her, and Mininsky sought out other interests.
“While I was there I started volunteering at the SPCA, and I felt the need to do more,” she said. “It wasn’t in the original plan at all.”
The Fells Point resident got a job as a kennel tech, and then returned to school to become a vet tech. From volunteer to professional, she’s now been with the MDSPCA for eight years.
Most of the animals at the MDSPCA are happy and healthy, Mininsky said — the organization deals with many animal transfers from other shelters in the area — but it’s the more challenging cases Mininsky finds rewarding. Though she hates to see animals come in with broken bones or burns, those are the cases Mininsky remembers most.
“As a big picture I’d say that getting in the cases that are neglect or abuse, those cases are so emotionally taxing, but also the flip side of that is we can fix them, we can help them, we can make sure it never happens again,” she said. “It kills you to see it when it first comes in, but you get to fix it and transform it. …It’s like a roller coaster ride.”
A typical day for Mininsky might involve intake exams, vaccines and monitoring the vitals of her patients. The MDSPCA also spays and neuters “all day, every day.”
She carries her passion for rehabbing into her home; along with making custom cornhole sets, Mininsky loves to come home and fix up old furniture. But she doesn’t entirely leave work behind; she has three cats, two dogs and one foster dog under her care at home.
“I never knew I was this much of an animal lover until I started volunteering, and then it all came out,” she said.
24 hours with is a series highlighting a day in the lives of Baltimore’s creatives and characters, from their perspective. Explore 24 hours with a professional drifter, a National Aquarium employee, a cystic fibrosis advocate and the man who rarely wears pants.
If you would like to suggest someone to be featured, please email community coordinator Quinn Kelley at qkelley[at]baltsun[dot]com.