When a 2-month old kitten decides to take a nap on you, you clear your schedule.
I remember someone asking the question “What is the hardest part about volunteering?” when I went to the info session at the San Francisco SPCA in January. The mentor smiled and frowned at the same time: “The most difficult part is having your heartstrings tucked.”
At the time I rolled my eyes and thought “Yeesh, what is this? A cheesy romantic comedy?” (Which I love, BTW) But after 6 months of volunteering at the animal shelter almost every weekend, I now know what it meant.
Face of a heartbreaker.
Cats obviously can’t talk but they communicate plenty. The look of sheer sadness in a shelter cat’s eyes when I have to leave its condo after petting and playing with it for 15 minutes says “I don’t understand why you have to go. Please stay. ” Understand that this pet most likely has been through a lot- whether its owner passed away, or it was abandoned or lost, and it is suddenly in an unfamiliar environment. The staff at SPCA are the most wonderful people but they can’t spend all of their time with the dogs and cats because there are other important tasks to do for the well-being of these animals. The animals at the shelter may sometimes only get one chance of proper human affection and playtime per day. When I went to visit the hospital shelter cats, many of them get so excited about the opportunity of human contact that they start climbing the cages or crying loudly.
Praying for someone great to adopt him.
I remember vividly a few months ago, I went in a room to visit a cat that I had not seen around before. It was a white adult cat but it was so small and thin that I thought it was a kitten at first. I sat down and held out my hand. When it got up and came to, I saw its hind legs- the fur was shaven for stitches from surgery. I immediately started crying and I couldn’t stop for a long time.* The thought of the cat being hurt somewhere on the street because its owner wasn’t responsible enough to take care of it properly really, really upset me. I told the cat that it was not his fault at all and that he will get adopted soon by someone much better, and hoped that I was able to deliver that message with the tone of my voice and the warmth of my palm.
You know those photoshoots with supermodels wearing very plain stuff? This is the cat version.
The funny thing is that as much as the shelter cats need the volunteers, the reverse is also true. I learned through chatting that some volunteers come because they are mourning their own pets who recent passed away, or they were recently laid off and having a hard time. For me, it was quite therapeutic sometimes.
