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Volunteering

 
General Description of Volunteer Positions Foster Home (14+ hours per week, 4 consecutive weeks minimum)

  • Space to keep a cat or litter of kittens completely separate from your pets. The space can be a kennel (usually a rescue group can loan you one) or a small bedroom/bathroom/office where the door can be kept shut.
  • Time to feed. Kittens require AT LEAST twice a day feeding. If you foster very young kittens, they require bottle feeding every 4 hours, day and night. You must be sure that each kitten eats each day. Not eating is a very serious sign of illness. Persistent vomiting is also a warning sign.
  • Time to clean. Kittens required AT LEAST twice a day cleaning. A litter of kittens will be messy, and you may have to wipe their paws, face, rear in addition to cleaning their box and play areas. The litter box contents must also be monitored for signs of diarrhea, loose stools, and worms.
  • Time, at least 20 minutes each day, to spend playing with the cat/kittens.
  • Willingness to learn basic kitten care guidelines so they remain healthy and do not develop bad habits.
  • Transportation ability. Depending on the group you are working with, the kittens will need to see a vet for shots, dewormer, spay/neuter, colds, etc. You may also need to drive the kittens to adoption fairs on weekends. There may be some assistance available for transportation so please ask.

    • More advanced foster homes have:

  • Ability to handle older, non-social kittens. These are usually hissy and may be scratch and bite if you try to pick them up. They require more time for socialization each day in order to make them friendly for adoption as house cats.
  • Ability to administer medication. There are various types of medication that kittens may need such as liquid, tablets, eye ointment. As you may have heard, pilling a cat or kitten is not for the timid.
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    Pet Fairs (3+ hours per fair, once a month minimum)

    The requirements for pet fairs will vary depending on the organization.

  • Transport cats/kittens from foster homes or shelters to fair, and back
  • Set up
  • Assist potential adopters
  • Adoption processing
  • Clean up
  • Record keeping
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    Data Entry (4 hours per week, every week)

    Maintain data and run reports for:

  • Available cats/kitten database
  • Foster cats/kitten database
  • Financial database
  • Volunteer database
  • Adopter database
  • Donor database
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    Creative Writing (4 hours per week, every week)

  • Write attention-getting descriptions of cats/kittens for publication on web sites.
  • Thank you note writing
  • Newsletters articles
  • Happy adoption stories
    •

    Public Support and Assistance (4+ hours per week, every week)

  • Answer phones
  • Return calls
  • Return emails
  • Adoption follow-up
    •

    Transportation (flexible, as needed and available)

    Transport cat to/from adoption fairs, vet appointments, trapping sites, adopters, rescue groups, etc.

    Shelter cleaning and socialization (Requirements vary depending on organization)

    Spend time at a multi-cat shelter

    Fund Raising (flexible, intensive hours in the weeks leading to the event)

  • Design fund raising campaigns
  • Schedule and Plan events
  • Grant writing
    •

    Special event coordinator (flexible, intensive hours in the weeks leading to the event)

    Work with the fundraising planner, adoption planner, and community outreach to plan events.

    Communications (varies)

  • Develop content for newsletters
  • Mail (email or USPS) newsletters
    •

    Volunteer / Donation coordinator (4+ hours per week, every week)

  • Schedule volunteers for fairs, events, fund raisers, shelter time, etc.
  • Coordinate food and other donations
    •

    Education (varies)

  • Teach and advise people on TNR procedures through seminars and one-on-one training
  • Train new volunteers
    •

    Behavior adviser (2+ hours per week, every week)

    Work with troubled cat caregivers to resolve behavior issues

    Feral Cat Feeder/ Colony Management (1 hour daily, every day, for the life of the colony)

  • Feed a group of feral cats daily
  • Monitor the number of cats and ensure that all are spayed/neutered
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    TNR (flexible, 4+ hours per project)

  • Provide trapping assistance for feral and stray cats and kittens.
  • Provide transportation to and from the spay/neutering appointments
  • Provide overnight care for trapped cats before and after appointments
    •

    Adoption promotions (2 hours per week, every week)

  • Adoption Flyer design
  • Flyer distribution
    •

    Feral Cat Advocate (as needed)

    Meet with corporate, public, government, and media groups to advocate for feral cats

    Media relations, publicity (as needed)

    Maintain contact with various media outlets to promote cat issues

    Carpentry (varies, as available)

  • Build cat enclosures
  • Imprint pens
  • Advise homeowners on fencing in their yard to keep cats in or out
  • Build cat trees and scratchers for fundraising and shelter use
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    Sewing, knitting, crocheting (varies, as available)

    cat beds, collars and toys

    Photographer (4+ hours per week, every week)

    Take pictures of adoptable cats

    Web design and maintenance (varies)

    Help groups maintain their web site for increased adoptions

    Graphic design (varies)

    Design various types of graphics for web sites, flyers, events, etc.

    Groomer (varies)

    Experienced groomer to help cats with hair matts

    Provide storage space (varies)

    For food and other supplies

    Legal advice (varies)

    Pro Bono work for people with cat issues

    Vet (varies)

    Spay Neuter needs are always enormous

    Vet Tech (varies)

  • Train volunteers to administer cat medications