My sister works at Tender Loving Care Animal Shelter. Sometimes I go down and visit her, especially on Saturdays, which is a day I’m usually free and their busiest day. Me and my boyfriend, Colby, wake up kind of early and try to get to the shelter by 10, so that we can help with cleaning the kennels and feeding the animals.
They open at 11 and people are usually there right away. We help them meet the animals that they came to see, and if they are looking at dogs and already have a dog, we help with the animals meeting. There are really good days, where we meet a bunch of cool people and there are a lot of adoptions, but there are also some really hard days where there aren’t many adoptions and some of the animals are really sick. All I know is that there is a lot that I have learned from my time there.
Illinois has a law that says that animals need to be fixed within 30 days of adopting from a shelter or a rescue. Kentucky has no such mandates.
Because of this, there are over populations in shelters in Kentucky. The shelter that I volunteer at gets transports of animals every week from Kentucky so that those animals have a better chance at life.
People will give up their animals for any number of reasons.
From being physically unable to take care of the animal or give them the time and attention that they need to just not wanting a pet anymore. People will give up their pets for the strangest reason. Although I don’t always understand it and sometimes it makes me so mad, the manager there always says, “I don’t care why they are giving up their pet. All I care about is that if they can’t take care of it, I can”.
It's really hard work.
Being a volunteer, I don’t do everything there. I can say no, I don’t want to clean that cage, no, I don’t want to do that. But in reality, all of the work is really hard. When there are 30 people and 40 animals that all need and want your attention, it is hard to juggle everything that needs to be done. Some animals come up shy and scared and it takes socialization from us to get them adopted. Plus, there is always a cage that needs to be cleaned or an animal that needs to be bathed.
Not every animal is healthy all the time.
The animals that come from Kentucky typically don’t get the best treatment. They probably were with 60 other animals, eating not the best food, and not getting that much attention. Then they are on the road for more than 14 hours. When they get up by us they could come up with any number of problems. From being emaciated to having fleas and ticks. We have to treat the animals first before we can get them into homes.
No matter what happens, I love going to the animal shelter.
Every time I go to the shelter, I get to see so many cute kitties and puppies. I get to see animals so excited to go home with their new families. Even on the worst day, seeing the animals find their forever home is the best feeling in the world.
