A mother-daughter duo is working to make farm life easier for everyone after starting a pet-sitting business called 'Hooves to Paws.'
Shawna Detrick and her daughter Chloe spend their days caring for animals they have rescued over the past three years.
"We currently have five horses, a donkey, and two cows," she said. "Two cows, two goats, two pigs, chickens, roosters, all of them have a story."
For these animals, they were at their worst when this mother-daughter duo came to their rescue.
"This is our boy that was found abandoned, and then Goldie, this little pony, was abandoned as well after the hurricane. The people had to move, I guess, and just left her," Detrick said. "He was our second rescue. Pride was our first, the white horse. He came with the property, and that's really how it all started."
These rescue stories started the 'Freedom Sanctuary' three years ago in North Fort Myers.
"Had the mission of rescuing farm animals in need that are abused, abandoned, or neglected," Detrick said.
Now, all the animals who live there, like Paco the donkey, Burbon, the turkey, Whelan the horse, and many others, are living their best and most happy lives at the sanctuary.
"It's the best feeling in the world, honestly," she said.
Chloe said this non-profit started all thanks to her mom's passion.
"Seeing all the incredible things that she's been able to do now, it's just honestly it's crazy because these animals, you just watch them run around, and you watch them rolling like dogs, and it's incredible to watch from when they started to where they are now," Chloe said. "When we're having vets tell us that they're too fat."
Shawna Detrick said she gets emotional knowing each of these animals can live out the rest of their lives happily and cared for.
"Just to see them in the condition that they are in now, just the love that they give back to us," she said, fighting back tears.
Shawna loves operating the 'Freedom Sanctuary' with her daughter. It's through this journey she realized there is an unmet need in the farm community.
"People need reliable, dependable, experienced pet sitters, and so we decided to start a business like that," she said. "When we would want to go away, we were like, what are we going to do? So we decided to start a business about six months ago."
They did not know who to trust to care for all of their four-legged or two-legged animals when they left town.
So, Shawna and Chloe started their own pet-sitting company!
"Hooves to Paws pet sitting," she said. "Where we go out and take care of farm animals from everything from calves to chickens to horses pigs."
They travel across Lee County, feeding baby cows and taking care of donkeys and ponies.
"For these guys, it's a pretty easy day," Chloe said as she fed donkeys at a client's farm. "I just making sure they have hay and do not pay to get them through since we're in that tough time of season where there's a lot more sand going on."
Some clients need more care than others.
"A couple of these donkeys get medication for pain and thyroid and stuff like that, so just making sure that everybody gets their necessary meds and then lucky for us with this one," Chloe said.
It is a great mother-daughter business, that financially supports what they love. Their non-profit.
"We need the support here for the sanctuary," Shawna said. "It costs a lot for all of these animals to feed them."
Chloe agrees. She said they are always looking for ways to update their sanctuary for their animals.
"Constantly fixing things up, whether it is fixing up from a hurricane or if it is fixing because an animal decided to go through a fence that day," Chlo said. "We are always needing help doing stuff like that around here so volunteers."
They welcome you to their freedom sanctuary anytime, whether it is to check out the animals, donate, or volunteer.
To visit their page, click here .