- Joined
- Aug 20, 2006
- Messages
- 4,092
- Purraise
- 543
This is for all the people who have worked or currently work in any sort of animal welfare or do it from home. I was wondering, how many of you can come home at the end of the day and not think about the kitties you look after or worry about them. I know as humans it's normal, but when i had my 2 month stint at Animal Aid it was drilled into my head that you couldn't get attached. Unfortunately i did. I know that animals get put down under the most extreme of cases, it is a shelter that keeps Animals long term if they dont get sold and dont get sick. Instead of killing them off after 3 months if they dont get bought or reclaimed.
There was one gorgeous cat named Heather, she was a b&w dsh about 5 years old. I was told by many of the ladies that she was unfriendly and short tempered. I did find that out but a few weeks into work she warmed up to me and never attacked me. If she was getting annoyed she'd give me a quick nip but nothing serious. She would spend ages sitting on my lap. She got so attached to me that she would follow me into the kitchen and jump up on me as soon as i sat down, and i didnt see her do that with others. I gave her my usual attention and went home, next week when i came back i noticed she wasnt in (even amongst the 40 or more kitties that would be there) and i was told she was put to sleep. Apparently she attacked someone and they couldn't sell her if she was vicious. I was very sad.
There was another cat named Odball. Pure white like Charlie, but he had one blue eye, one yellow, and was deaf. He meowed his head off for hours for attention if he was in his cage, and some of the women would forget he was deaf and get annoyed. I didn't mind it. He didnt like one of the bigger cats and they fought so he wouldn't be out the whole day. When he was out with me in the kitchen (the place where everyone converged to sit up on the benchtops and the kitties would hide on top of the bookshelf and in the just cleaned litter trays
) we would have string and little toys that he would go nuts with, he was such a lively cat and you would still forget he was deaf. Even i didnt know for a while because i thought he was just ignoring me
anyway, he got put down as well. I think because he didn't warm up to many people who came to look around. And they were worried about his fighting.
It was even harder working in quarantine. There were some kitties who weren't claimed after 8 days and sick, they went to sleep. There were some that just gave up and didnt eat or move from their bedding. There was one beautiful orange persian, i was told he was about 11 but he was so tiny and skinny i think they got the age wrong. He wasn't claimed and was a scared cat, i spent that week giving him lots of attention and hugs, being gentle and coaxing him to eat. It's so hard being human. There are so many animals that are dumped or left behind when people move. I sometimes wish they all were locked in cages to see how these babies feel. I never once was involved in any of those animals being put down, or helped carry them down to the clinic. I couldn't do it. But i still felt ashamed i couldn't help them more.
I know this is a long thread. I just want to know how you handle these things. When i came home i would give Jaz and CHuckie tonnes of cuddles and worry about if any of our cats would be there the next day at work. Some ladies there just shrugged it off because theyd been working there so long they'd just become numb to it. I know you have to be professional about it, and i did try to grin and bear it, or have my teary moments in private.
What do you do to get rid of that awful feeling? I haven't been there in months now, but i have photos of the long term cats and i got onto their website and keep checking to see who's there.
Im sorry this took so long, i just started feeling horrible and needed to let it all out.
There was one gorgeous cat named Heather, she was a b&w dsh about 5 years old. I was told by many of the ladies that she was unfriendly and short tempered. I did find that out but a few weeks into work she warmed up to me and never attacked me. If she was getting annoyed she'd give me a quick nip but nothing serious. She would spend ages sitting on my lap. She got so attached to me that she would follow me into the kitchen and jump up on me as soon as i sat down, and i didnt see her do that with others. I gave her my usual attention and went home, next week when i came back i noticed she wasnt in (even amongst the 40 or more kitties that would be there) and i was told she was put to sleep. Apparently she attacked someone and they couldn't sell her if she was vicious. I was very sad.
There was another cat named Odball. Pure white like Charlie, but he had one blue eye, one yellow, and was deaf. He meowed his head off for hours for attention if he was in his cage, and some of the women would forget he was deaf and get annoyed. I didn't mind it. He didnt like one of the bigger cats and they fought so he wouldn't be out the whole day. When he was out with me in the kitchen (the place where everyone converged to sit up on the benchtops and the kitties would hide on top of the bookshelf and in the just cleaned litter trays
It was even harder working in quarantine. There were some kitties who weren't claimed after 8 days and sick, they went to sleep. There were some that just gave up and didnt eat or move from their bedding. There was one beautiful orange persian, i was told he was about 11 but he was so tiny and skinny i think they got the age wrong. He wasn't claimed and was a scared cat, i spent that week giving him lots of attention and hugs, being gentle and coaxing him to eat. It's so hard being human. There are so many animals that are dumped or left behind when people move. I sometimes wish they all were locked in cages to see how these babies feel. I never once was involved in any of those animals being put down, or helped carry them down to the clinic. I couldn't do it. But i still felt ashamed i couldn't help them more.
I know this is a long thread. I just want to know how you handle these things. When i came home i would give Jaz and CHuckie tonnes of cuddles and worry about if any of our cats would be there the next day at work. Some ladies there just shrugged it off because theyd been working there so long they'd just become numb to it. I know you have to be professional about it, and i did try to grin and bear it, or have my teary moments in private.
What do you do to get rid of that awful feeling? I haven't been there in months now, but i have photos of the long term cats and i got onto their website and keep checking to see who's there.
Im sorry this took so long, i just started feeling horrible and needed to let it all out.