- Joined
- Apr 6, 2006
- Messages
- 3,152
- Purraise
- 86
You remember a while ago, I posted about being kicked out of my local government-run shelter, because "people might think I worked there"?
Well, I've found myself another shelter; and this one is a no-kill shelter! The Tenth Life shelter, near Dayton, Ohio, keeps its address secret to prevent people from dumping cats there; but of course they'll give you the address if you call them and ask to volunteer, which is what I did.
Phone Number
(937) 376-5550
They'll take donations and volunteers; and of course they want people to adopt. Call that number if interested.
The Shelter
They have 400 (!!) cats. Some are FIV or FLV positive... There are one-eyed cats, three-legged cats, and even one little girl who would be paraplegic if she were human, and has to be helped to potty like a kitten (she's the sweetest tortie; put her on your lap and she purrs away like a motor!--she's been "adopted" by the people who run the shelter, so she's still there; but she's a mascot now). Most of them are healthy, of course; and they're well-fed. They range all the way from completely feral to lap cats.
The cats live in small rooms instead of cages. There are about 10-15 cats to a room, and they have two windows, a sun roof, a cat tree, and two or three chairs and benches, a rug, pillows... (Yeah, the laundry guy has a lot of work!). They're a bit crowded, but they don't seem to mind; and if they want to hide, there are lots of nooks behind cat beds and under chairs. A couple of ingenious cats have taken to hiding under the blankets spread across the benches; one has to be careful before sitting down!
They neuter all the cats, and give them their shots, before they get into the general population. Also, they don't put a cat down unless it is in pain and can't recover; so that means the cats get vet care too. The vet who cares for the cats is the one paid worker there--they have their own clinic too. They do laser declawing there, if the cat's new owner wants it and the cat is still small. I don't like that, but at least it's laser (they told me laser declawing heals more quickly and with less pain). They say they've only ever met one cat who had trouble with declawing... *sigh* But, balanced out with all the good they are doing, and in light of the fact that I can't change it, and that I'm new, I'm not going to make a fuss about it. Maybe they will change their minds eventually.
On the Poo Patrol
I got assigned to four rooms; and all of them needed cleaning, feeding, watering, litter-box emptying, and blanket-changing. The cats helped me all the way through my work, which made it really quite charming, and much more interesting than my normal part-time job cleaning a church. And of course after I finished my rooms, I sat down, was immediately covered in cats, and cuddled them thoroughly.
I'm extremely sensitive to smells--so much so that I can't wear perfume or use strong-smelling soap or shampoo. So naturally the smell of 15 cats to a room (thank goodness there weren't any intact toms!) was a bit overwhelming. I brought some mint gum... it helped a great deal. And of course after I cleaned the rooms, they no longer smelled of cat pee. I imagine the cats are way more odor-sensitive than I am--I don't know if pee smells bad to them; but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't like living in a smelly environment.
So I'm the newbie... naturally I got the room in which a cat refused to use a litter box; so there were three piles of cat poo on the floor. Thankfully, despite my odor-sensitivity, I'm not psychologically repelled by poo. Like many 12-year-old boys, I can talk about poo and eat at the same time, no problem--it's the smell that's bad. So that gave me an advantage, and I didn't throw up or quit. The floor had to be mopped, though, in that and one other room, in which the cats apparently didn't know how to aim for the litter box. But then, boys never do know how to aim!
The Inhabitants
Those cats... beautiful cats! There were sixty of them; so I didn't have any time to really get to know them all, but I did get to sit there and pet them, if they wanted it. There was this really long-haired black-and-white cat with the softest fur in the world, who loved to sit on my shoulders; and two cats, a black and a white, who shared my lap looking for all the world like a yin-yang symbol. They all have names, the cats; but to learn sixty names is going to be quite a task.
And the most special thing in the world happened: When I cleaned one room, a big tiger boy kept on hissing at me, crouching and scared. I guessed he must be a feral, or very shy; so I didn't push anything and just ignored him. Then afterwards I made a point to sit near him while I played with his roommates, making sure I never made eye contact (which scared him); and just before I left, I extended a hand to him, and he sniffed it!!
Sure, a lot of other volunteers have probably been working with him; but to have the big guy reach out to me felt so wonderful...
Well, I've found myself another shelter; and this one is a no-kill shelter! The Tenth Life shelter, near Dayton, Ohio, keeps its address secret to prevent people from dumping cats there; but of course they'll give you the address if you call them and ask to volunteer, which is what I did.
Phone Number
(937) 376-5550
They'll take donations and volunteers; and of course they want people to adopt. Call that number if interested.
The Shelter
They have 400 (!!) cats. Some are FIV or FLV positive... There are one-eyed cats, three-legged cats, and even one little girl who would be paraplegic if she were human, and has to be helped to potty like a kitten (she's the sweetest tortie; put her on your lap and she purrs away like a motor!--she's been "adopted" by the people who run the shelter, so she's still there; but she's a mascot now). Most of them are healthy, of course; and they're well-fed. They range all the way from completely feral to lap cats.
The cats live in small rooms instead of cages. There are about 10-15 cats to a room, and they have two windows, a sun roof, a cat tree, and two or three chairs and benches, a rug, pillows... (Yeah, the laundry guy has a lot of work!). They're a bit crowded, but they don't seem to mind; and if they want to hide, there are lots of nooks behind cat beds and under chairs. A couple of ingenious cats have taken to hiding under the blankets spread across the benches; one has to be careful before sitting down!
They neuter all the cats, and give them their shots, before they get into the general population. Also, they don't put a cat down unless it is in pain and can't recover; so that means the cats get vet care too. The vet who cares for the cats is the one paid worker there--they have their own clinic too. They do laser declawing there, if the cat's new owner wants it and the cat is still small. I don't like that, but at least it's laser (they told me laser declawing heals more quickly and with less pain). They say they've only ever met one cat who had trouble with declawing... *sigh* But, balanced out with all the good they are doing, and in light of the fact that I can't change it, and that I'm new, I'm not going to make a fuss about it. Maybe they will change their minds eventually.
On the Poo Patrol
I got assigned to four rooms; and all of them needed cleaning, feeding, watering, litter-box emptying, and blanket-changing. The cats helped me all the way through my work, which made it really quite charming, and much more interesting than my normal part-time job cleaning a church. And of course after I finished my rooms, I sat down, was immediately covered in cats, and cuddled them thoroughly.
I'm extremely sensitive to smells--so much so that I can't wear perfume or use strong-smelling soap or shampoo. So naturally the smell of 15 cats to a room (thank goodness there weren't any intact toms!) was a bit overwhelming. I brought some mint gum... it helped a great deal. And of course after I cleaned the rooms, they no longer smelled of cat pee. I imagine the cats are way more odor-sensitive than I am--I don't know if pee smells bad to them; but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't like living in a smelly environment.
So I'm the newbie... naturally I got the room in which a cat refused to use a litter box; so there were three piles of cat poo on the floor. Thankfully, despite my odor-sensitivity, I'm not psychologically repelled by poo. Like many 12-year-old boys, I can talk about poo and eat at the same time, no problem--it's the smell that's bad. So that gave me an advantage, and I didn't throw up or quit. The floor had to be mopped, though, in that and one other room, in which the cats apparently didn't know how to aim for the litter box. But then, boys never do know how to aim!
The Inhabitants
Those cats... beautiful cats! There were sixty of them; so I didn't have any time to really get to know them all, but I did get to sit there and pet them, if they wanted it. There was this really long-haired black-and-white cat with the softest fur in the world, who loved to sit on my shoulders; and two cats, a black and a white, who shared my lap looking for all the world like a yin-yang symbol. They all have names, the cats; but to learn sixty names is going to be quite a task.
And the most special thing in the world happened: When I cleaned one room, a big tiger boy kept on hissing at me, crouching and scared. I guessed he must be a feral, or very shy; so I didn't push anything and just ignored him. Then afterwards I made a point to sit near him while I played with his roommates, making sure I never made eye contact (which scared him); and just before I left, I extended a hand to him, and he sniffed it!!
Sure, a lot of other volunteers have probably been working with him; but to have the big guy reach out to me felt so wonderful...
I should find some way of knocking that fact into my thick skull.
