Sunday, September 28, 2008

Sunday Afternoons

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this already but every Sunday afternoon from 2-5pm I volunteer as a cat attendent at P.A.W.S. (Progressive Animal Welfare Society) in Lynwood. While I am there I help answer questions about the cats, clean the litter boxes and help socialize the kitties among other things. The other woman I work with is just as excited and upbeat about being there as I am. Even though we currently have one cat that is deaf, and two cats that lost an eye (one of these cats is a 4 week old kitten) we stay positive because they are no longer living on the streets and at risk of all the many dangers that are out there such as cars and coyotes.

The first week I started volunteering, we helped find 6 cats new homes! The following week it was just 2 and this week it was only 1 cat. The worst part about today was realizing a beautiful siamese got returned after only 12 days because the owner had "unrealistic expectations." Its a cat for heaven's sake! What did you expect from it? We know its been a good day when at least 1 cat gets a new home and thus a new lease on life. However, when I tell most animal lovers where I volunteer they immediately say "I could never do that, I love animals too much." Well, if you truly love animals too much then why aren't you out there helping them? If you can't bare to see them sit in shelters there are plenty of other ways to help them like fundraising or educating the public on spay/neutor programs. I don't know. It just brakes my heart when people take the phrase "ignorance is bliss" to heart.

Next weekend Luna and I are participating in the Seattle Humane Society's Walk for the Animals at UVillage. While I didn't fundraise this time like I did for the Furry 5K in May, I still feel like I am helping out by getting out there and walking. Plus, Luna will have fun visiting with all her Corgi friends from the Meetup group!

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