Animal Volunteers

[Dubb]

I was thinking about becoming a Volunteer for dogs. Possibly greyhounds. Does anyone have any experience in this? I just want an idea on what to expect? Any advice?

[Hope75]

I volunteered at a local animal shelter for a summer before I went to vet tech school. I enjoyed it quite a lot. Mostly I cleaned cages, fed animals and exercised them.

 

What do you want to know?

[COtuner]

You mean with a rescue organization? I've done that, helped railroad dogs going for adoption and things. It's rewarding but you have to pretty much be open to having all sorts of animals around you. Many are not housetrained, can be injured or ill, poorly behaved, some bite.... basically patience and skill with scared animals is what you need.

[Dubb]

Like helping dogs find homes and such.

[littlestar]

I think volunteering to help animals is one of the kindest, most worthwhile and rewarding things one can do in this life!

[Dubb]

I am going to look into it more. My work is a little unpredictable and that has me a bit apprehensive. I guess any time I can donate is good tho huh?

[Binoo]

I volunteered at a cat shelter in town and I loved it! It was difficult at times because I have such a strong attachment to cats especially and it was heartbreaking that some were ill and others just weren't being adopted. But I miss it there so much. I hope all my kitties found homes

I'm sure your work schedule won't be a problem. You're volunteering and I'm sure they'll appreciate whatever you can do for them.

[redhearts]

If anything I think you'll have to start at the bottom cleaning cages and poop.

[Catdancer]

I have done rescue work for 10 years and trust me ANY volunteer organization would love to have you!! We constantly need people to work adopt-a-thons and do promotion of events. We do alot of fundraising so volunteers and coordinators are always welcome. If you can foster a dog or two it's always welcome. There is so much paperwork and so much to do, and never enough hands. With our organization, it's a cat rescue, so we do alot of TNR (trap, neuter and release) back onto a person's property. We feed feral colonies. There is just sooo much. On our website there is a link to become a volunteer, you just provide your info and someone contacts you. Most rescue organizations advertise on the web, so you should be able to find tons of info on an organization that you'd like to help with. Over the years I've placed dogs as well a s cats and I've worked with Persian rescue, Himilayan Rescue, Siamese Rescue, Basset Hound rescue, golden retriever rescue, pit bull rescue, springer spanial rescue, and others that I cant think of right now! I also helped coordinate transport of golden retrievers into their foster homes all along Virginia at one point. See we also need people to just drive animals to their new foster homes. I did this for a while too.

 

This is a great thing to do. I am an animal lover and I've learned so much over the years from doing rescue work. I have to say I've benefited from it as much as the animals I've helped. There is nothing like seeing an abused, hurt, starved and scared animal develop into a confident, healthy and socialized pet. It's truly a miracle.

 

Good luck to you and many thanks for what you what to do.

[Dubb]

Well, I was at the pet store today and actually ran into an old friend. I mentioned to her that I was thinking about volunteering. Turns out she is part of an organization and is going to send me all the info. I am actually looking forward to whatever time I can contribute.