Cathy Krajenke, the proud owner of the Snaggle Foot Dog Walks and Pet Care in Lexington, KY, has found a way to get back to working with something she loves – animals.  Growing up in Ohio on a dairy and grain farm gave her a strong love and admiration for many different animals – cats, dogs, horses, cows, sheep – you name it, she probably tended to it at some point in her life.   Through a roundabout way involving college, engineering, sales, she found that that she really wanted to work with animals again.

After attending the University of Akron and getting a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, she worked for Parker Hannifin Corp in Memphis, TN for 3 years and then in Troy, MI for another 3 years.  She did engineering and project management for Parker and is grateful that a perk of her positions was being able to see the world due to the travel required.  She and her husband Tim, a native of Michigan, moved to the Lexington area in 2002 where he continued to work for Parker, but Cathy took a different route into luxury automotive sales to avoid having to travel again. 

One of the highlights of Tim’s continued work with Parker was in 2004 when they relocated to Shanghai, China for nearly a year.  They visited Beijing and Hong Kong several times, and also made time to go to Xi’an.  This was a completely fascinating experience in itself, but also opened her eyes to how different cultures treat their pets and other animals.  It also had a big influence on her switching to vegetarianism shortly after returning to the U.S.

Growing up, all pets were outside pets.  But now, she and Tim share their home with two dogs, Sammi and Herbie, who are nothing short of family.  Sammi is a pug/cavalier king Charles mix and has been with Cathy since she was a puppy.  She is a smart girl with a love for chew toys and a good game of tug-o-war.   Herbie, a pug, was adopted from a pug rescue group in Michigan at the age of two.  He thoroughly enjoys napping, sunbathing, and snuggling up on the couch for a good movie.  Both are now 10 years old, yet, if it weren’t for a few gray hairs, they still get mistaken for young pups due to their energy!

Cathy tries to support her local humane groups as well as several national ones.  Here in Lexington, she attends charity events and donates supplies when possible.  She would love to become more involved in it now that she has more time to focus on it.  Though her last job was rewarding and fun, it left little personal time to participate in community activities.  Now she will have the ability to work in more events and charity functions to her schedule.

Cathy and Tim enjoy life here in Lexington more so than anywhere else they have lived.  The people are friendly, the weather is great, and they have found great friends in this area.  For fun, they like to travel – Cathy likes a sunny beach, and Tim likes a good golf course – and they usually manage to find a good combination of the two.  Here in Lexington, they enjoy golf, the many restaurants around town, and also going downtown on weekends where it seems there is always something to do.