Animal Welfare Professionals

At our shelter, and I'm sure many others are like this as well, our dog volunteer program is fairly robust but our cat volunteer program is pretty lacking in my opinion. For the dogs we have dog walkers of different levels (red, yellow, and green), canine welfare volunteers to help with feeding and cleaning, playgroup volunteers, and dog enrichment volunteers. For cats we have kitten feeders, and feline welfare volunteers, and that's it. I want to have more options for our volunteers, especially when it comes to helping with cat behavior which I'm slowly getting our own cat behavior program more robust as well. My grand idea is to have a similar system to our dog walkers of red, yellow, and green volunteers where the greens would help enrich the "normal" cats or frustrated cats, yellows would be able to focus more on fearful cats, and reds would help work with the overstim cats. I'm curious what other shelters do with their volunteers and if they have systems like that already.

At our shelter, and I'm sure many others are like this as well, our dog volunteer program is fairly robust but our cat volunteer program is pretty lacking in my opinion. For the dogs we have dog walkers of different levels (red, yellow, and green), canine welfare volunteers to help with feeding and cleaning, playgroup volunteers, and dog enrichment volunteers. For cats we have kitten feeders, and feline welfare volunteers, and that's it. I want to have more options for our volunteers, especially when it comes to helping with cat behavior which I'm slowly getting our own cat behavior program more robust as well. My grand idea is to have a similar system to our dog walkers of red, yellow, and green volunteers where the greens would help enrich the "normal" cats or frustrated cats, yellows would be able to focus more on fearful cats, and reds would help work with the overstim cats. I'm curious what other shelters do with their volunteers and if they have systems like that already.

At our shelter, and I'm sure many others are like this as well, our dog volunteer program is fairly robust but our cat volunteer program is pretty lacking in my opinion. For the dogs we have dog walkers of different levels (red, yellow, and green), canine welfare volunteers to help with feeding and cleaning, playgroup volunteers, and dog enrichment volunteers. For cats we have kitten feeders, and feline welfare volunteers, and that's it. I want to have more options for our volunteers, especially when it comes to helping with cat behavior which I'm slowly getting our own cat behavior program more robust as well. My grand idea is to have a similar system to our dog walkers of red, yellow, and green volunteers where the greens would help enrich the "normal" cats or frustrated cats, yellows would be able to focus more on fearful cats, and reds would help work with the overstim cats. I'm curious what other shelters do with their volunteers and if they have systems like that already.

At our shelter, and I'm sure many others are like this as well, our dog volunteer program is fairly robust but our cat volunteer program is pretty lacking in my opinion. For the dogs we have dog walkers of different levels (red, yellow, and green), canine welfare volunteers to help with feeding and cleaning, playgroup volunteers, and dog enrichment volunteers. For cats we have kitten feeders, and feline welfare volunteers, and that's it. I want to have more options for our volunteers, especially when it comes to helping with cat behavior which I'm slowly getting our own cat behavior program more robust as well. My grand idea is to have a similar system to our dog walkers of red, yellow, and green volunteers where the greens would help enrich the "normal" cats or frustrated cats, yellows would be able to focus more on fearful cats, and reds would help work with the overstim cats. I'm curious what other shelters do with their volunteers and if they have systems like that already.

I work for an all-cat rescue right now, so it's not hard here to focus on the cats - ha! But I used to volunteer for another shelter that had a municipal contract. They had the basic cat volunteer level and you did all the basic cat care and enrichment/play in the main cat room and iso (cats with various illnesses). There were 3 shifts: morning , mid-day and later afternoon/evening. But they also had a cat behavior team. Once you had put in so much time as a regular cat volunteer you could apply to be on the behavior team. It required quite a bit more training, but it was really fun to be on the team. We were able to work with cats designated as behavior cats, cats who weren't eating, and some cats that the basic volunteers were not allowed to handle. We were allowed to move cats from place to place if they needed moved to a new location. We had our own Trello board to communicate with staff and other volunteer team members so that we knew which cats on any given day needed the most attention, what progress had been made, what behaviors we were seeing from certain cats. Teaching objective language is key for this. We had a pile of tools we could use when working with cats including plenty of treats, of course. There was also a separate play room that you could take frustrated cats to play and get some energy out or just give them a break from their enclosure. They also used it as a spot for adopters to interact with cats they were interested in adopting. There was a lot more responsibility, but this still ranks as my favorite volunteer experience. We knew we were making a big difference every time we showed up.

At my current rescue we have added programs like Reading to Cats, where kids come in and read to cats. We incorporated an office cat program for cats who are not doing well in a small enclosure (high energy cats), shy cats, medical cats that need monitoring and can't go to foster yet, etc.  We also have a designated "quiet room" in adoptions where the shy/stressed/anxious cats can be. This room has worked so well that it is now a high-demand area! We have temporarily changed it into an open room for high-energy cats when needed.  Having various spaces and options is essential for cats.

I hope this is helpful.

At our shelter, and I'm sure many others are like this as well, our dog volunteer program is fairly robust but our cat volunteer program is pretty lacking in my opinion. For the dogs we have dog walkers of different levels (red, yellow, and green), canine welfare volunteers to help with feeding and cleaning, playgroup volunteers, and dog enrichment volunteers. For cats we have kitten feeders, and feline welfare volunteers, and that's it. I want to have more options for our volunteers, especially when it comes to helping with cat behavior which I'm slowly getting our own cat behavior program more robust as well. My grand idea is to have a similar system to our dog walkers of red, yellow, and green volunteers where the greens would help enrich the "normal" cats or frustrated cats, yellows would be able to focus more on fearful cats, and reds would help work with the overstim cats. I'm curious what other shelters do with their volunteers and if they have systems like that already.

At our shelter, and I'm sure many others are like this as well, our dog volunteer program is fairly robust but our cat volunteer program is pretty lacking in my opinion. For the dogs we have dog walkers of different levels (red, yellow, and green), canine welfare volunteers to help with feeding and cleaning, playgroup volunteers, and dog enrichment volunteers. For cats we have kitten feeders, and feline welfare volunteers, and that's it. I want to have more options for our volunteers, especially when it comes to helping with cat behavior which I'm slowly getting our own cat behavior program more robust as well. My grand idea is to have a similar system to our dog walkers of red, yellow, and green volunteers where the greens would help enrich the "normal" cats or frustrated cats, yellows would be able to focus more on fearful cats, and reds would help work with the overstim cats. I'm curious what other shelters do with their volunteers and if they have systems like that already.

At our shelter, and I'm sure many others are like this as well, our dog volunteer program is fairly robust but our cat volunteer program is pretty lacking in my opinion. For the dogs we have dog walkers of different levels (red, yellow, and green), canine welfare volunteers to help with feeding and cleaning, playgroup volunteers, and dog enrichment volunteers. For cats we have kitten feeders, and feline welfare volunteers, and that's it. I want to have more options for our volunteers, especially when it comes to helping with cat behavior which I'm slowly getting our own cat behavior program more robust as well. My grand idea is to have a similar system to our dog walkers of red, yellow, and green volunteers where the greens would help enrich the "normal" cats or frustrated cats, yellows would be able to focus more on fearful cats, and reds would help work with the overstim cats. I'm curious what other shelters do with their volunteers and if they have systems like that already.

At our shelter, and I'm sure many others are like this as well, our dog volunteer program is fairly robust but our cat volunteer program is pretty lacking in my opinion. For the dogs we have dog walkers of different levels (red, yellow, and green), canine welfare volunteers to help with feeding and cleaning, playgroup volunteers, and dog enrichment volunteers. For cats we have kitten feeders, and feline welfare volunteers, and that's it. I want to have more options for our volunteers, especially when it comes to helping with cat behavior which I'm slowly getting our own cat behavior program more robust as well. My grand idea is to have a similar system to our dog walkers of red, yellow, and green volunteers where the greens would help enrich the "normal" cats or frustrated cats, yellows would be able to focus more on fearful cats, and reds would help work with the overstim cats. I'm curious what other shelters do with their volunteers and if they have systems like that already.