Tori,
doing what you love is not "dreaming". It's the objective in life . You have excellent photographic skills and very good rapport with your subjects. That's very important.

As for some technical advice: you need consistent lighting -- even on location -- so you can clean up those images. I have 2 Alien Bees B400 strobes that I take everywhere with me whether it's in my studio, at a dog show for formal portraits or in somebody's home. That way, I can always control my lighting. My "typical" shooting ISO with them is 200 and my F-stop is F8.0. That insures sharp images from each lens and low noise.

The downside of using strobes for cats is that they can get spooked by the flash. Some dogs have issues with that as well but, overall, I can get my subjects used to the flash better than I can try to squeeze light in places there isn't any.

As for how I got into the "pet" business, I've been a professional photographer for over 30 years doing commercial work, weddings, events, etc. I started shooting dog shows when we became active in showing dogs about 12 years ago. That naturally migrated into shooting the dogs in more natural settings such as my studio or in the home. Right now, pet portraits account for about 70% of my business if I include those we shoot for advertising purposes.

The key to any business is how you market it. Once you know you can deliver the images, then you need to find people who want what you're selling. And you need to be able to reach them. Photography is the easy part .

Jim