Furry Tales

Spay and Neuter

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post about volunteering, and I’ve put in about 30 hours at the shelter. It has been interesting, exciting, overwhelming, and gratifying. Every time I go in I learn something new about the shetler and what the rules are. Everyone is excited when an animal gets adopted, especially if you’ve put in a lot of time socializing that animal. I was surprised by my protective feeling for one cat that I had spent a fair amount of time with who was being adopted. She had been returned by an adopter for a ridiculously lame reason (the cat jumped on the counter), and a man came in to adopt her for his family. I was caught off guard by my protectiveness of the kitty – wanting her next home to be her last. I believe any good home is better than the shelter, but I was surprised by how quickly I took a personal interest in the welfare of this cat.

I also helped a group of teenagers search for their lost cat. We walked through many rooms of cats and kittens and I was disappointed when I heard one of them talking about “when their kitten grows up and has babies”.  I reminded them how important it is to spay their pet because, as they could see, there a countless homeless pets in the shelter and many are euthanized. But they were a little too young and naive to “get it”. I only hope I planted the seed of understanding that cute as your kitten is, there are hundreds of other cute kittens and cats out there that need homes, and you don’t need to make any more.

Being an animal lover and wanting each animal to have a quality life, it does get overwhelming seeing cage after cage of cats & kittens just sitting in their cages with nothing to do. It’s also discouraging to know that the supply of cats and kittens is never ending. This week, I heard we had about 280 cats in the shelter.

In order to reduce the chance of feeling overwhelmed, I’ve decided to focus on the adult cats that live in the cages. There are multi-cat rooms in our shelter with furniture, perches, and room for the cats to play a bit, and the cats in these rooms have a pretty good living arrangement. The caged cats have their basic needs met with shelter, food, water, and clean bedding. A mom & kitten may be housed in a single cage, or a few kitten littermates, or a solitary adult cat. They can only take about three steps in their cage, don’t have any room to play, and get very bored and stressed. Each room of 8 cages has an adjoining large room where potential adopters can spend time with a cat.

My goal is that every adult  cat is taken out of its cage at least three times a week for 10-15 minutes for some interraction and a chance to stretch or play in the big room. I know that’s a lofty goal that will require the dedication and time of many volunteers. And I realize my goal may be unatainable, but I figure it’s better to try and fall short than to not try at all.  Another volunteer sent out an email with a quote from Helen Keller that I thought was appropriate:

I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.
And because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

If I have 2 hours to volunteer that means I can get 5 or maybe 6 cats out for 15 minutes each. I also spend some time checking all the cages for food, water, and litter box cleaning. Some of the kittens are so desperate for attention that you can’t ignore them, so that takes a little time too. There’s also the chance that a visitor will have questions or will need help looking at the cats, and that takes priority since the point of sheltering the animals is to get them into permanent homes.

There are some cats that really need to get out of their cage to play, some are content to stay in their cage an just be petted, others want to come out and sit on your lap for petting. Playing, petting, brushing, cuddling, or just walking around the big room sniffing and getting a stretch – whatever the cat seems to need is what I try to give it.  I do try to be a bit sneaky with the cats who just want petting and I move around the room and try to get them to come to me for petting.  At least that makes them move around a little more!

If it’s a hectic 2 hours, the last cat or two may only get 5 minutes of my attention because I want to give them some petting or a chance to stretch in the big room. But I figure that’s better than nothing. And I can’t spend too much time worrying about the cats that didn’t have a chance to get attention that day or it would be too disheartening. I am only one person and I can only contribute a tiny piece to this very big puzzle. But so far, the volunteer experience has been positive and I look forward to going back another day and trying to help the animals just the little bit that I can.  

Spay & Neuter graphic courtesy Tangri Adapt A Rescue

Spay and Neuter

Sunday I completed my third volunteer training session at the animal shelter and I’m now an official volunteer who can come in to clean cages or socialize with the cats. This is the most basic training, and I’ll learn more as I volunteer more time and ask to be shown how to do more things. Over the last 3 weeks we’ve become familiar with how the cats are housed in different areas depending on their health and adoption status.  As you enter the shelter you see the multi-cat “luxury suites”. Then there are the rooms of cages with adoptable cats, and a room where the cats with the sniffles need to be isolated and observed or treated before being placed back in the adoptable area. Then there’s the areas of cats that are not available for adoption. These may be strays that are held for a certain number of days in case their owner is looking for them, the recent or soon-to-be moms, and the animals that have been confiscated or are in protecitive custody.  

The momma kitty we had seen the over the past two weeks had been moved from the maternity ward over to the adoptable area. The first week she had about 6 kittens. Last week she had 3 kittens. This week she was in a cage alone, waiting for her forever home. Our volunteer trainer thinks her kittens did not survive. But momma kitty seemed very content and was extremely happy to be getting attention and petting. She was like this even on the maternity ward, always wanting someone to pet her. I hope she’ll find a home and I think she will because she is gorgeous and very affectionate. 

In the unadoptable area of the shelter was a very friendly black cat who needed some TLC. The note on the cage card said it’s owner had died. This poor kitty had fur mats over large areas of it’s body, but was still very friendly and even started drooling when one of the volunteers started petting it. The cats on the unadoptable side of the shelter aren’t given quite as much lovey-attention as the other cats because they’re still adjusting to being in the shelter and are being observed for their behavior and medical status. When I go back I hope to see that it’s “hold” period is over and maybe even gotten a “lion cut” to get rid of all the fur mats.  

The three training sessions have been very interesting. We’ve gotten a glimpse into how the shelter operates, seen lots of rambunctious kittens and a wide variety of personalities among the adult cats. The kittens are all very cute and I hope they find good homes. But it’s the adult cats who tug at my heartstrings. All the animals are there through no fault of their own and are fortunate to be getting shelter and good care. But I just imagine that the adult cats feel a bit confused about being in this situation and want to get out of their boring cage and be in a home with someone and sit on a couch or lounge in a windowsill. 

If you or someone you know is looking to add a cat to your family, please visit your local shelter. There are so many wonderful cats to choose from that I’m sure you’ll meet your new best friend. 

If you’re wondering, I’m not ignoring the dogs that are at the shelter. Learing to walk and provide basic care for the dogs is a different training class. Right now they have plenty of volunteers to walk and socialize the dogs, so I’m focusing on the cats. 

Spay & Neuter graphic courtesy Tangri Adapt A Rescue

Spay and Neuter

Today’s volunteer training session at the shelter was more hands-on. Our shelter has two types of housing for the animals. The “luxury suites” are the indoor multi-cat rooms that have a cat perch or maybe a donated living room chair, cat beds, scratchers, and toys. They have the pretty towels & beds, and a regular litter box.  This is “marketing” to make people comfortable coming to the shelter and see cats in relatively low-stress living conditions. But the majority of cats are housed in stainless steel cages. There’s one adult cat or multiple kittens per cage. Each cat cage is a cube about 3 feet on each side. There are three compartments, each with its own front door, and holes where the cats pass from compartment to compartment. The larger side has a little upstairs shelf. The narrower side has upper and lower decks. The upper deck is for resting/hiding, the lower deck is for the cardboard litter tray. I’ll try to get a photo, but the drawing below gives you an idea of what each cage looks like. 

Cage drawing

Today we learned how the cages are “refreshed”, which is different than being cleaned. The cages are thoroughly cleaned each weekday morning, and sanitized if needed. Refreshing a cage inclues: 

1. Cleaning the litter box. This doesn’t mean cleaning like you or I would clean the box at home. I call my cats’ litter box their zen garden. It gets scooped three times a day and cleaned immediately if I see they’ve used it. The sides get wiped with a disinfetant wipe, and the litter gets raked smooth. But at the shelter the litter box is a thin, collapsable cardboard tray. And you don’t scoop & toss litter because litter costs money, and the shelter has an impossibly tight budget. Instead, you pick out any solid waste and dirty litter, saving as much as possible for reuse. Also, there can’t be much more than a single layer of litter pellets covering the bottom box because that would be wasteful. And if the cardboard litter tray is wet with urine but isn’t falling apart, it stays in the cage until the morning cleaning.
2. Replacing the wet or dirty newspaper or towel that lines the cage floor.
3. If the cat has a little bed, making sure it’s clean or replacing it with a clean one.
4. Refilling water bowls and making sure the bowl is clean.
5. Adding a little extra dry food to a food tray if there are several kittens in a cage or if a cat looks a little thin.
6. Wiping the cage and removing obvious dirt and litter dust.

After each cage was clean, we spent a little time giving the cats some attention. Mostly we were cleaning cages overflowing with kittens, and they all wanted lots of cuddling and attention.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to let the kittens play in the adjacent room where they would visit with a potential adopter.  After sweeping the floor and puting the dirty towels in a pile for transport to the laundry, it was off to the next room of cages. 

Two of us refreshed about 24 cages in about 1-1/2 hours. Then we learned how to use the commercial laundry machines and took a peek at one of the momma kitties and her three kittens. They’re very cute now that their eyes have opened. At my visit last weekend I counted about 6 kittens, so several did not survive. 

On a very positive note, we did watch our trainer counsel a couple who were adopting a cute orange kitten. Our trainer was very happy because the kitten was one that she had been fostering. 

This week was another eye-opening experience just like last week. Our shelter is new, and first-class in terms of modern sheltering. But this is no luxury hotel. The cats are well cared for in terms of food, water, litter, and safety. But it’s a stressful way for the animals to live. It will be difficult to remain a bit detatched from all their cute little faces and reaching paws. But if they weren’t sheltered, they wouldn’t have the possibility of finding a new home. 

I will begin each post with a reminder of what I think is one of the most important messages we can all spread: Pet overpopulation, unwanted pets, and euthanazia of millions of cats and dogs every year can only be decreased if people spay and neuter their pets. 

My volunteer adventure begins

Like many communities, our local government has massive budget shortfalls and animal services were on the chopping block. The best I can tell from reading the county budget statements was animal services budget was cut, nearly 1/2 of the staff positions were eliminated over the past two years, and the shelter hours and services were reduced. Thankfully, the government realized the shelter has a strong volunteer organization and decided it was worth keeping the volunteer coordinator position and all services that were being provided by the dedicated volunteers. 

We’ve often donated to our local animal shelter by giving money or pet care items, but I’ve never given my time. This was due to a combination of having to care for senior & ill pets and not wanting the additional emotional turmoil of visiting animals in a shelter, only to go back another day and know many were put to sleep. But the situation in our house has changed. We’re not able to donate financially as much as we did before. But we don’t have any elderly or terminally ill pets now, so that emotional drain isn’t there. Knowing the shelter was in serious need of more volunteers to help the staff, I thought this would be a good time to attend a volunteer orientation meeting and learn what opportunities were available. 

Wow, what an education I got. I didn’t know that the volunteers are essential to the daily operation of the facility. The county staff does the “official” and “legal” work, but they don’t have enough people or time to care for the 300-500 animals that are in the shelter. So, volunteers help with feeding, cleaning cages, socializing the animals, walking the dogs, assisting the public looking to recover lost pets, helping the public look at adoptable animals and choosing the right one, keeping the laundry and dishwashing moving along, fostering animals, doing public outreach, and the list goes on and on. Volunteers and donations are also providing the “non-essential” items such as dog & cat toys, treats, gallons of hand sanitizer, fabric softener for the laundry, blankets, cat scratchers – pretty much everything that isn’t food, water, medical care for the animals, or basic office supplies. 

My first training session today was an introduction to how the shelter works, what volunteers can (and can’t do), and getting a tour of the facility. We got to see the parts of the shelter that the public doesn’t see – the kennels where the newly surrendered pets are, the “maternity ward” of new kitty moms and litters of kittens, the animals in the medical area, the cages and cages of cats confiscated (rescued) from a recent hoarding case, and other inner-workings of the facility.  I’m training to work with the cats, so we didn’t see much of the dog kennels – but we heard them! 

It was an interesting and educational session and next week we’ll be starting hands-on training with the cats.  I’ll let you know how hard it is to put the cute little fuzzballs back in their cages at the end of the training.