Have you thought about fostering cats in your home? Several no kill shelters in my area have no kennel facilities; all their animals are fostered in homes. I'm afraid that I couldn't volunteer at the SPCA because I, indeed, would want to bring them all home. However, I am seriously considering fostering. By the way, you would really like to own two cats! I recommend it. I have two, and they keep each other entertained.

As a shelter volunteer, of course I would say - YES! Go volunteer!

I always have people say to me "I couldn't volunteer, I'd want to bring them all home with me" to which I always say, no you wouldn't.

You go and you do what you can to make their lives better while they are waiting for their forever homes. There are many sad stories and many happy endings. I wouldn't give it up for the world.

No more pets until you're out of school and have a stable residence and lots of money. Volunteering on the other hand is a splendid idea and a great way to make new friends with similar interests. In fact I may sign up to do some voluneering with animals sometime in the near future. Don't let it take up all your study time though. Gawsh I sound like my father.

I don't want to discourage you from volunteering, but I do want to add a word of caution. All shelters are NOT created equal. A clean, well-run shelter that quarantines animals of questionable health might be a safe place to volunteer. However, I have been warned by several local vets to stay away from my local shelter because of the overpopulation and sanitation problems that have caused the entire building to be rife with airborne diseases that attach to clothing as soon as you walk in the door. If I go to my local "shelter" (and I use that term very loosely in reference to the local facility), I run an unacceptably high risk of bringing feline diseases home to my own cats on my clothes and hair.

Before choosing a shelter at which to volunteer, talk to area vets about which shelter is kept the cleanest and how to minimize the risk of disease transmission to your own cat.

Laurie

Laurie - if your cats are up to date on their shots, wouldn't they be safe from any possible illnesses you might be a carrier of?

In my experience I have found some vets to be very biased against shelter animals. One example - about 9 years ago a couple adopted a puppy from our shelter and took it to their vet. The puppy had gotten sick and the vet told them to bring it back - it was going to die. A simple round of antibiotics and the puppy was fine - and 9 years later he's alive and well and living in my house.

Two summers ago we had a horrible round of parvo go through our shelter and we actually had to close the place down for a month. I kept going out there and all of my dogs were fine because they were current on their vaccines. I checked with my vet to be sure they would be as I would never put them at risk.

We stepped in bleach pans, we changed our shoes before leaving, when I got home I immediately threw everything I had on into the wash.

Our shelter is a piece of crap building wise. It literally is falling down around us, while we wait for a new building to some day be built. The circulation problems do cause illnesses amongst some of the animals, but as far as my cats or dogs ever getting sick from me being there, hasn't happened.

Sher

Sher, vaccinations offer significant protection from a very limited number of diseases. They do NOT offer absolute (or even any) protection from all diseases.

Laurie

I would guess no one would work or volunteer around any shelter animals if their own animals were getting sick from something they carried home on their clothes or hair.

Sorry, but I've never heard of it happening in the 3 years I've been volunteering.

Sher

Sher, I never suggested that every person who works at every shelter will inevitably bring home airborne illnesses to their own animals. What I said is that the possibility most certainly exists, particularly at shelters with poor sanitation practices and ill animals.

If vaccuumfreak does not want to put her own cat at undue risk, it would be wise for her to speak with her area vets to get a handle on the management of her area shelters in terms of disease transmission and sanitation before volunteering.

Laurie

I volunteer at a no-kill shelter not too far away from us.

I contracted ringworm last spring, which took awhile to go away, but I survived.

I take these precautions more religiously now:

I mist myself and my shoes with kennel sol, rocal, or cholhexedrine before leaving the shelter.

I spray my shoes; tops, sides, bottoms with Lysol when I get home, before entering the house. I throw my clothes in the wash before sitting down or touching my own cats.

I take a shower and wash my hair before sitting or putting on fresh clothes.

An ounce of prevention....

I feel priviledged to be able to go to the shelter and help out.