Volunteering at Shelter

[LittlePuffyTail]

My local SPCA usually has a couple of rabbits; right now they have a lot. Two of them are Bindi look-a-likes!!! I could have REW Lop Triplets!!

But, reastically, I can’t afford the time or money to have any more animals live with me right now so I thought it would be a good idea to try volunteering at the shelter.  I’ve thought about it before but I always put aside the idea because I feel I would become upset by a lot of things there; feeling sad for the animals, falling in love with a pet I can’t take home, etc. But now I want to do it for the animals, regardless of how I feel emotionally. I want to mostly focus on the bunnies. I’ll be the Crazy Bunny Lady at the shelter! I’m already the crazy rabbit lady at the petstore, at the vet, at my stable, etc…

I can’t start until next month because the first Monday of every month is a mandatory volunteer orientation session. I’m hoping my bf’s best friend will volunteer with me to start because I’m quite shy and he mentioned that he was thinking about it.

I know there are a few of you who volunteer. What is your experience? What precautions do you take so your bunnies don’t contract anything from the shelter pets? I’m a bit worried about my cats as they are not vaccinated because they never go outside so I will have to be careful to shower and change after every visit. I’m going to talk to my vet soon about the cost of getting my kitty trio vaccinated.

This is my shelter’s website (in case you wanted to look at the Bindi Loo-kalikes!&#160.

http://www.monctonspca.ca/

I also really like the Rex. The one named Papa has been there for a really long time, the poor guy.

[RabbitPam]

I’ve never done this, but I just want to say Congratulations! That shelter is lucky to have you.

[Monkeybun]

At my orientation session for OHS, they recommended having a totally different set of shows that your pets never see/smell/touch set aside to change into, a change of clothes just in case, and that you shower and change when you get home before interacting with your pets, just in case. You never know what some of the animals have been in contact with before coming to the shelter, and its better to be safe than sorry with your own pets

I have my first volunteer session tomorrow evening (ew driving to downtown portland at 5 pm.. what was i thinking? lol) should be fun

[Lis]

I’m a volunteer at Norfolk SPCA. Most SPCAs want you out in the adoption rooms, not back where the sick buns are. Sick buns stay in quarantine, which is a higher level of training. I wouldn’t worry about contaminating your own buns in terms of sickness unless you get to that point.

Still, having a different set of clothes isn’t a bad idea. I know I have a Norfolk SPCA shirt I only wear at the shelter (And on those days when I realize I have absolutely nothing else clean, but I’m at my own place and thus not seeing the buns).

[LittlePuffyTail]

Monkey- let me know how it goes!!! Good luck!

[Elrohwen]

Congrats!

I’ve volunteered at a couple dog shelters and one rabbit shelter – I honestly haven’t had a problem wanting to take home every animal and for the most part I don’t feel sad for them either. At least at the dog shelter most dogs were adopted rapidly, within a couple weeks, so it was hard to feel sorry for them because they were going to great homes. I did feel a bit sorry for the dogs who had been there for years (mostly slightly aggressive or hard to handle dogs) but volunteers took them home often and they had ok lives.

I felt more sorry for the bunnies because there weren’t many adoptions and most had been there for a long time, but almost all were bonded pairs and that made me feel better. They all had buddies to keep them company.

Everytime I come home I take off all of the clothes I wore to the shelter and change. Sometimes I show, but usually I just wash my hands and arms well (if I was wearing a tshirt) and that’s it.

I’ve had great experiences with all of the shelter’s I’ve worked with and I hope you enjoy it!

[Author]

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