Groups seek volunteers to help care for critters
Many local organizations partner with shelters to help reduce the homeless pet population by fostering the animals to allow more time to find them permanent homes, providing low-cost pet care and satellite adoption centers to give animals more exposure in high-traffic neighborhood areas.
These organizations rely heavily on volunteer support to provide these services to the community.
Here are some of the many ways to help:
Petsavers
Volunteers must be 16 or older or accompanied by a parent or guardian.
•Daily caregivers and adoption facilitators: Provide cats with one-on-one attention, socialization and playtime activities while maintaining a clean environment for them at the adoption site. Transport them to PetsMart adoption centers, interview potential adopters and process approved adoptions.
Petsavers clinic
Volunteers must be 18 or older and will be provided with extensive orientation and training.
•Receptionist: Greet clients, admit patients, answer phones, book and discharge patients.
•Patient prep assistant: Assist technicians with pets during pre-surgical exams, administer anesthesia and other medical treatments. Help prep pets for surgery and transport patients to and from surgery.
•Recovery assistant: Work closely with vet techs to monitor patients after surgery. Some basic grooming duties such as cleaning incision sites, brushing out small mats in fur and trimming nails are performed during recovery to prepare patients to go home. Recovery assistants also ensure that patients have clean and secure crates for the ride home.
•Instrument care assistant: Clean and care for surgical instruments and supplies after surgery, including packaging and sterilizing them in preparation for the next surgery day.
•Facility prep assistant: Maintain the cleanliness of the hospital during and after surgery, including patient kennels, laundry and staff areas.
Volunteer opportunities for professionals
•Facilities director: Responsible for general maintenance and repair of building and grounds. Contact outside resources to obtain bids for renovation projects and oversee the projects under the guidance of the board of directors.
•Approximate time commitment: one to two hours per week.
•PR/marketing director: Work closely with Petsavers’ PR mentor and marketing companies to develop, budget, propose and execute a marketing strategy to promote Petsavers’ services and mission in the Spokane community.
•Approximate weekly time commitment: five hours per week.
Volunteers must have some personal or professional experience in these fields.
Contact Pet Savers at (509) 924-7826 or www.petsavers-spokane.org.
Contact Partners for Pets at (509) 893-9829 or www.partnersforpets.org.
Other opportunities
Volunteers are needed to staff the adoption center at Trent and Argonne as well as work at special events and fundraisers. Volunteers are needed between 1 and 8 p.m. during the week and between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekends.
Opportunities include, but are not limited to, socialization and play time with cats and kittens, working with members of the public to help find homes for rescued animals, helping with fundraising and membership drives, cleaning and feeding cats at both the Partners for Pets facility and the Valley PetsMart, working to help with publicity and assisting with administrative duties.
Volunteers must be 16 or older or accompanied by a parent or guardian.