Jennifer Taylor, 34

“I used to be in the restaurant business, so working with cats is totally a career change for me. I’ve been at Tree House for six months now, but I was a pastry chef for 14 years and I managed a bakery.”

“I already have bee and butterfly and bird tattoos. Next I’m going to get a cat tea party. That’s going to be super rad!”

Where are you headed?
I’m going to get my eyebrows waxed. I just got out of work at Tree House. It’s a no-kill cat shelter and low-cost spay-neuter clinic.

Hence the scrubs?
Yes. [Laughs] I’m a vet assistant. Today was a dog day.

Literally a dog day?
Yeah. We don’t cater to dogs, but we do set aside one day a week for them. People often don’t understand that we focus on cats. We’ve gotten calls for rabbits and snakes and stuff, and it’s like, “Um, we don’t do that.”

I’m assuming you’re a cat lover.
[Holds up five fingers]

You have five cats?
Yeah.

Why so sheepish about it?
Because people assume you’re, like, the crazy cat lady.

You’re not a Cat Fancy magazine subscriber or anything?
No! I’m not, like, retarded! Cat people—we’re just different, different than dog people: a little bit more antisocial, more independent. We’re more artistic, too, I think.

Before you were a cat person, did you ever define yourself by your taste in music?
I used to listen only to punk rock. Only punk rock! I went to private school, so I could only be a part-time punk. I’d go to punk shows on the weekends, but during the week I had to be the little Southern Baptist. “Punk style” was specifically prohibited in our school handbook.

Did that get in the way of your punk cred?
Well, all the kids that got kicked out of public school went to my school, so I ran with the bad kids. That helped.

When did you start getting tattoos?
After I graduated and got out of my parents’ house. I won’t tell you what my first one was, because it was so bad. It was done in my dorm room, so you can only imagine! I’m in the process of getting a cover-up.

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