Kathy Crotts was born and raised in the Hill Country of Austin, Texas.  From a young age she has always had a special connection with all kinds of animals.  Kathy’s parents, both marine biologists, taught her to respect nature and to protect it.  Family pets included dogs, cats, hamsters, parakeets, tropical fish, koi, finches, snakes, and even White’s Tree Frogs.  Many of her pets were rescued either from the wild or from shelters.  When she was about 8 years old she raised a baby squirrel that had lost its mother.  Too tame to be released, he spent a wonderful life at the local Science Center for kids. 

When Kathy was 11 her family moved to Florida with a hamster, a rescued kitten and a shelter dog.  She and her mother began rescuing seabirds and delivering them to the local bird rescue organizations.  She has helped to rescue all kinds of birds over the years, from doves to Pelicans and just about everything in between.

Kathy’s mother, a nationally known wildlife artist, got her involved in photography and they began taking trips to Yellowstone and Grand Teton to experience the natural wonders there.  In 1999, Kathy and her mother started The Nature of Art Gallery.  The gallery represents works from more than 35 local artists including her mother’s paintings and Kathy’s photography.  Kathy and her mother have donated many of their pieces to local rescue organizations over the years including Save our Seabirds, Big Cat Rescue, Florida All Retriever Rescue, SPCA Tampa Bay, Humane Society of Pinellas, Suncoast Animal League, Pinellas Animal Foundation, and The Pier Aquarium.

When their Chow Chow passed away at the age of 14, Kathy and her husband, Robert, decided to adopt a Labrador Retriever.  They went on Petfinder.com and fell in love with a Lab mix puppy named Brady.  Brady was a rescued dog from Thomasville, GA.  He was found ill and abandoned along with his mother and sister, starving under a trailer.  The local shelter took them in and then a rescue group from Florida picked them up and placed them in foster homes.  Kathy and Robert went through the application process and Brady became part of their family.  About 8 months later they decided to add to their family so they adopted Maggie, a Yellow Lab/Golden Retriever.  Maggie was also from a rescue group, the product of back yard breeders who didn’t take into account the expenses and demands of raising puppies. About a year later they rescued Daisy, a white Lab.  Daisy was a Christmas gift for a little girl that didn’t work out.  Having never dealt with an active puppy before, the family didn’t really know how to handle Daisy and she ended up in a crate most of the time.

Brady’s, Maggie’s, and Daisy’s stories, along with the stories of other rescued pets, touched Kathy.  She had been painting custom dog collars for her dogs and for her friends’ dogs and found there was a demand for unusual and artistic pet products.  Kathy recruited her mom’s talent and imagination and they began making all kinds of items for pets & pet lovers.  They named the business “Adventures in Bradyville – Artsy Gifts for Pets and Their People” and they began working with local rescue groups, donating a portion of their sales to homeless pets in need.

From there, pet sitting seemed a natural extension in her work with animals.  Kathy has been a professional pet sitter since 2007.  Every pet she cares for is treated like her own.  Kathy feels very lucky that the work she does, at the art gallery, with Bradyville, in rescue and in pet sitting, involves working with animals, and that what she does benefits animals in one way or another.