Jamicha Phelps always knew she was an animal lover. That idea quickly turned into a booming business over the past couple of years. Phelps opened Grooming with Love and Kindness last year. Since then, Phelps said business has gone great, and she’s been a successful pet groomer ever since.

Phelps began at Murray State five years ago hoping to become a lawyer. However, after two years, she found her true passion and decided to pursue a degree in animal health technology.

After that, she realized that grooming was her niche, and the rest is history.

“It all at once blew up,” Phelps said. “I do nails, baths, ear cleanings. I trim goat hooves, lizard nails. I’m an all-purpose groomer.”

Phelps said she’s also had her fair share of rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters.

“If they bring it to me I can do something with it,” she said.

Phelps said she received her business license last year and opened up her shop in a room attached to her house.

Not only does she pamper people’s pets, she also takes care of all the equipment, inventory and goes to school.

She also owns five dogs, nine snakes and a lizard.

What gives Grooming with Love and Kindness an edge against all other grooming shops in Murray is that her prices are “dirt cheap.”

“I almost don’t advertise (the prices) because they’re so cheap,” Phelps said. “Full service is $25. Most shops are $35-40. Just a bath for a huge dog is $10. I do nail trims, any animal for $5.”

Phelps said in the future, she hopes to expand her business in order to reach out to more animals and more community members.

Her dream is to open a larger facility with a grooming facility, a reptile room and an indoor dog park.

She also has a passion for troubled youth, which she hopes to incorporate into her expanded shop.

“Being adopted, I want to bring in troubled youth to volunteer,” Phelps said. “It gives you a sense of family, a sense of being cared about.”

She also has a passion for pitbull rescuing, which she would like to expand in Murray as well. 

“You have to have a heart for animals in this business,” Phelps said.

One of the hardest parts of her job is dealing with the owners who allow their animals to get in such poor health because of their lack of grooming, she said.

“Probably the hardest thing I have to do is I have to take a matted mess and you don’t know what’s under there,” Phelps said. “I’ve found maggots or fleas, and I have to make that beautiful. I’ve had nails that have grown into pads. It would never get groomed if it weren’t for me,”

Other than the difficulty of having to save some of the animals from painful lack of hygiene, Phelps said she hates working with Chihuahuas.

“There’s only one dog on earth that I’m scared of and that’s Chihuahuas because that’s the only dog that you can’t predict,” Phelps said. “The ankle biters will get you.”

Story by Madison Wepfer, Assistant Features Editor