Changes

I have been a volunteer at the Animal Humane Society for 5 years. I started volunteering as a way to honor my poodle Phoebe after she passed away on June 30, 2008. When I was assigned to volunteer with the cats 5 years ago I was nervous. I didn’t know much about cats at all. I had lived with two cats for a couple years when my niece and I shared an apartment, but they were her cats so she was the one to take care of them. It took some time to get used to volunteering with the cats and to get to know how they communicate with humans. Does this one want to be held? Is this one going to bite me if I put my hand in the cage? Why is he staring at me like that, is he going to bite me? I’ve gotten pretty good at learning how to work with cats and who wants my love and who would rather I just piss off. In the last month there has been a major remodel at the Animal Humane Society and the role of the volunteer has changed drastically. We have more of a customer service role than just being there for the animals and answering occasional questions the customers may have. We now have to carry around tablet computers in a shoulder bag and when a customer wants info on a certain animal we whip out the tablet and look it up ourselves (before we would give them the cage card and ask them to go up to the front desk and they would help them there.) Basically it requires A LOT more communication with the humans and I’m NOT comfortable with it at all. Yesterday my shift was from 3:00 – 6:00. The first two hours were nonstop chatting with the humans and giving them info on the cats they were interested in. I did the best I could and at the end of the day there were several empty cages because so many cats when to their forever homes. However, I was physically and mentally exhausted from all the socializing with the humans. The only cats I was able to pet were when I was carrying one from its cage to the “get to know you” room for a customer. I don’t know if I’m cut out for this new volunteer role. I’m not ready to give up yet. I’m hoping my next shift will be less hectic. I love being a volunteer at the Animal Humane Society, but if I’m not going to be able to do a good job with these new changes I will have to find something else to do to honor Phoebe.