Completely change careers is what Suzanne Pelletier managed to do. A pastry chef for 20 years, she gave up everything to follow her passion for animals. She shears the most fearful and aggressive cats in the Montreal area and has never been happier.
Helmet, tactical gloves and blankets, Suzanne Pelletier equips herself this Wednesday morning to go find a hostile cat at her home in Oka, west of Montreal.
She prepares for the worst having already ended up in the hospital because of a stressed animal which dug its claws into her skull.
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The owner of the company Tontedechat.com returns to Lise Dagenais who uses her services every four months. “I don’t want to take her myself since she is aggressive, I’m afraid she will bite and scratch me,” says the client.
In her truck, Suzanne Pelletier takes care of the shearing and grooming. She brushes or detangles the fur, cleans the ears and cuts the claws of “the most fearful and aggressive” felines, she explains.
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“A pig’s head”
The 59-year-old Quebecer shears animals that cannot be taken to be groomed by a professional outside the home.
“Those that others don’t want to do. I have a pig’s face. I put myself at risk, I’m a little stupid around the edges,” admits Suzanne Pelletier.
Suzanne Pelletier spends around 15 minutes per chat.
Photo Axel Tardieu
That suits Cécile Grenier, her client for years. “My pussy is wild. I prefer that it is in a truck so that she does not have contact with other animals, there is no danger of infections or diseases,” she says.
Like his father
However, his early life was far from meowing. For 20 years, she was a pastry chef, like her father, until the day she realized that she wasn’t doing what she loved.
“It’s not easy to change careers at 40, but it pays off, because you do what you love. It takes courage and people to support you, but it makes you happy.”
Suzanne Pelletier writes an invoice to give to a client.
Photo Axel Tardieu
A trend in society
Career changes are becoming more and more frequent, according to Caroline Dufour, president of the Order of Guidance Counselors of Quebec.
“There are values of life balance […] which means that people now have more of a desire to listen to each other and change jobs. They wonder how to be happier,” she says.
Access to more job offers thanks to the internet and an aspiration for more freedom would explain this trend, according to Frédéric Piot, guidance counselor.
“Now, we change jobs between 5 and 15 times in our professional life, whereas before, the paths were more linear,” he explains.
Views on TikTok
It’s a successful bet for Suzanne Pelletier. He doesn’t miss “getting up at 3:30 in the morning to make a series of mochas or mini-cakes”.
Today, around thirty customers call on her per week.
Suzanne Pelletier is so proud of her job that she put herself on TikTok and gets recognized at the grocery store by strangers. This little notoriety bothers her, “but it also allows me to send messages”.
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