Mobile business cuts pets' nails with care | Business | ahwatukee.com – Ahwatukee Foothills News

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 98F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..
A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 80F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Updated: July 31, 2022 @ 2:49 am
Tattoos have come long way since the days of rudimentary butterflies and the like, and a stu…
Gov. Doug Ducey cannot deny COVID relief dollars to schools that impose mask mandates or giv…
Clint “Flash” Santoro has become a track & field icon in Ahwatukee.
By Andy Lenartz
When Tim Shaffer’s wife, Diana, was diagnosed with dementia, both their lives changed. In th…
After enduring the COVID-19 pandemic and navigating around a barrage of state and federal ex…
Angela Zimsky trims Maya’s nails as owner Annaliese Hensel provides a head scratch. (Geri Koeppel/AFN Contributor)

Angela Zimsky trims Maya’s nails as owner Annaliese Hensel provides a head scratch. (Geri Koeppel/AFN Contributor)
Like many pet owners, Greg McCambridge of Ahwatukee Foothills finds it time-consuming and a bit of a headache to take his two cats, Baby and Odin, to get their nails trimmed.
But he’s not exactly comfortable clipping the claws on a squirming kitty himself because he’s afraid of hurting them.
That’s why he books Angela Zimsky’s mobile pet nail trim business. “She’s convenient,” McCambridge said. “She comes to the house and she’s done very quickly; she’s in and out.”
“She’s super nice with the cats. She talks to them; she pets them. She builds a rapport with the clients and the cats.”
Zimski, of North Phoenix, has built a steady customer base over the past two years solely in Ahwatukee doing pet nail trim house calls, mainly on weekend mornings.
“I try to tell everyone it saves you the hassle of getting the pet into the carrier, into the car, the car ride, sitting in the lobby—that’s all added stress for the pet, and it’s going to change their experience,” Zimsky said. “It’s all about making the experience not traumatizing for the pet.”
A veterinary technician with 12 years of experience, Zimsky started the business during the pandemic when she was employed at a clinic in Ahwatukee.
“I worked there for almost two years, and I developed quite the clientele with pet sitting,” she said. “When COVID hit, my petsitting clientele depleted,” and she saw a need growing, because it was difficult to get in to see vets and groomers.
“I needed to supplement my income because being a veterinary technician and a single mom wasn’t cutting it,” Zimsky added. She started advertising on the Ahwatukee411 Facebook page under the name Angela Audrey, using her daughter’s name instead of her last name, and “it kind of just snowballed,” she said.
Although she has since taken a job closer to home, Zimski still takes appointments, usually in two-hour blocks for the northern and southern areas of Ahwatukee on a Saturday or Sunday morning, depending on her schedule at her day job.
She starts at 6 a.m. during the summer and lets clients know which block they’re in, and she keeps them posted with a more specific window once she maps her route.
However, sometimes things come up at the last minute—her daughter gets sick, for instance—and she could have to reschedule.
“I find people are more understanding when they know I am a single mom doing this outside of my 9-to-5,” she said.
Despite the rising cost of gas, Zimsky aims to remain affordable. She charges $20 for cats, $25 for exotic pets and $20 and up for dogs based on weight. “I just kind of go up in increments depending on how big the dog is because it takes a little bit longer,” she explained.
“The cost is on par if you take them to a grooming facility,” McCambridge said. “One was charging $15 to $40 depending on how difficult the cat was.”
Guinea pigs, rabbits, and birds’ wings are all in a day’s work as well.
“I just trimmed a chicken’s wings last weekend,” Zimsky said. The client said her chickens can “get in trouble” if their wings aren’t clipped so they can’t get flight.
Despite clipping anywhere from eight to 12 pets each morning, Zimski has only been bitten once.
“Animals, they’re unpredictable, and you have to pay attention to the signs that they’re being pushed past their breaking point,” she said. “There’s a lot of times where I’ve absolutely said, ‘I’m sorry I don’t think we’re going to be able to accomplish this today.’”
However, she noted, she’s always happy to try, because many pets do better at home than in a facility. And, she added, many older clients or those with physical limitations have trouble getting their pets into carriers and in and out of the car.
Zimsky said her love of animals started when she was 11 and her neighbor’s cat had kittens.
“I had come home with a newborn kitten and my mom was very upset,” she said. Her mother made her take her allowance to the feed store to buy a bottle and formula.
“I bottle fed her from a baby,” Zimsky said. “She survived. I had her for a total of 21 years. She developed diabetes and asthma at the age of 19 and she survived another two years with proper medical management.”
She continued: “That’s really what did it for me. That stuck with me throughout junior high and high school. It felt like that nurturing was something I needed to do in my life.”
To book a nail trim, call or text Zimsky at 480-438-1533.
Your comment has been submitted.

Reported
There was a problem reporting this.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.

source