About Us
Pamela Ethridge
Founder & Managing Director
Professional Affiliations
- National Association of Professional Pet Sitters
- FEAR FREE PETS Professional Pet Sitter certified
- Pet Sitters International (PSI) CPCR/First Aid certified
- Greater Chicago Ferret Association (GCFA) member/volunteer
- Academy of Natural Health Science – Certified Canine Nutrition
- Academy of Natural Health Science – current education towards the certification Clinical Pet Nutritionist (CPN)
- PAWS Chicago
- Planet Paws – Inside Scoop
Paris, My Inspiration
My Princess Paris – my muse, my soulmate, and the love of my life. Those were words I shared with her daily from 8 weeks old until just shy of her 16th birthday. My lab/beagle mix with her stoic, intuitive, and remarkable mannerly traits – my cross-country trip travel buddy. Little did I know that my personal life experiences as her proud guardian would include such a large amount of respite care in her final senior year, just prior to her passing. That final year’s experiences led me to the discovery of my passion and life’s work – the birth of APEXpert Holistic Paws Care, a holistic, integrated, and customized pet care services business that follows “A Methodology That Redefines Petcare”.
The APEXpert Philosophy
At our foundation is the integration of your animal companion’s physical, nutritional, and psychosocial (mental-social) needs to be delivered through our core services, and together in harmony will help promote your pet’s optimum health and wellness and assist in their life’s longevity. We accomplish this through our Chicago services of daily dog walking, and pet sitting for dogs, cats, and ferrets. Extended time allows for incorporating mental stimulation/ enrichment activities, techniques, and brain games. Reaching a broader audience with holistic nutrition consultation and partnering with pet parents, where we address holistic diet modification and formulation, health/wellness optimization and supplementation.
My Personal and Professional Life
I cannot remember a time in my life that I was without an animal companion, starting at 4 years old. I was taught at an early age to have great respect, compassion, and love for all animals and extend to them the dignity they deserve; I truly believe our animal companions were a higher power’s gift to humans. As an adult, I have spent 20 years as a dog parent, 12 years as a ferret parent, and 8 years as a cat parent. A good sense of humor plays a huge role in my life and in my business philosophy, which is what I receive from my daily interactions with my and my clients’ pets. My other canine daughter is Sydney my sassy, protective, momma’s girl and 13-year-old basenji agility diva, who amazes me daily.
My professional career started with 15 years spent traveling the country in new business development and sales management, followed by 4 years of living and working abroad in Belgium and France. I returned to graduate school, followed by 7 years of work in the investigations and data gathering field. Since 2016, I have received education and training in canine holistic nutrition and wellness and currently work with canine holistic nutrition. At present, I am working on my CPN (Clinical Pet Nutritionist) certification.
I went through a recent 2-year period of back-to-back life-changing challenges, dealing with my own personal health/medical battle, major surgery and recovery. The day after surgery (and my hopes for a smooth long recovery) is when Paris’ health condition turned and showed signs of her age becoming very ill (chronic kidney disease, dementia, deafness, cancerous tumors in her abdomen, and a heart murmur were all discovered). Prior to that, she was the picture of great health her entire life. She followed a raw, fresh, whole-foods, biologically appropriate nutritional diet and holistic lifestyle. My life abruptly stopped when she became ill, and it became all about her and taking care of her needs; she required a great amount of daily care. After being her respite caretaker for so long, I developed the realization and knew what my mission had become – one of helping other pet parents transform their pets’ lives and longevity. To be happy, physically and mentally healthy, nutritionally fit, with living longer, enriched, optimal lives.
Learn more about the Chicago pet care services we offer.