Champaign County Humane Society Volunteer Newsletter
April 2005
Champaign County Humane Society Volunteer Newsletter
Spring is finally here! With the onset of spring, we are starting to prepare for some of our famous events. The next few months are going to be very busy, so we need you now more than ever! The biggest event is the Giant Garage Sale and here are a few words from the coordinator…
It's not too soon to be thinking about the Giant CCHS Garage Sale! Two weeks of fun and hard work, dirt and sweat yield a tidy sum for CCHS. As always, the sale will be Memorial Day weekend, May 27 and 28, at the Floral Hall of the Champaign County Fairgrounds. Our work begins May 15. We'll have five days of drop offs beginning May 19 through May 23. Lots of volunteers are needed; lots of merchandise is needed. So as you clean out your closets, think CCHS Garage Sale. And tell your friends to do the same! More detailed info will be sent soon to returning Garage Sale volunteers. New volunteers are WELCOME. If you're interested, or would like more info, please contact Mare Payne, mlpayne@uiuc.edu, 344-7840. **If you have volunteered at the garage sale in 2003 or 2004, please contact Mare. We had a computer problem and lost the volunteer lists from those years. Thanks.
Great News – Special Animal Adoptions
We all get a little sad to see our favorite animals go home, but there is always that excitement of knowing that they finally found a forever home! Some of our long term kitty residents that found homes in March include Chipmunk, Avonlea, Dallis and Ollie. The communal cat rooms sure are doing their job! Some great dogs went home, too! We said farewell to PhD dog Blaxie, little Turkey and Foxy, the white terrier. Let’s keep working together to get our favorite little guys into great homes!
Announcements
¶ The University of Illinois Wildlife Clinic is hosting their annual Doodle for Wildlife Benefit Auction this Friday, April 8th at the Illinois Terminal Building. All proceeds will go toward the medical costs of treating sick, injured, or orphaned wild animals in east-central Illinois. For more information visit the event website at http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/wmc/doodle_for_wildlife.htm.
¶ Girl Scout Heather Stewart is organizing a small animal adoptathon at the humane society as part of a service award. The event will take place on April 23rd from 1:00pm – 4:00 pm and will include information on small animals along with several adoptable critters. We anticipate a large turnout because it’s on a Saturday, so we will need a few extra adoption counselors and greeters. If you are interested, just send me an e-mail!
¶ Bark in the Park is coming soon. As always we will need lots of volunteers to make this event run smoothly. I will provide more information and a request for shifts as the date approaches.
¶ Just a quick note to let all of you know that I will be out of the office from April 5th through the 12th for HSUS’ Animal Care Expo. If you have any questions or problems while I am gone, please contact the front desk supervisor, Melissia. She can be reached via e-mail at melissia@cuhumane.org or by calling the shelter.
¶ We have set a date for the Annual Kitten Shower! We will be back at Lincoln Square Mall on July 16th with our little kittens. I will send out a request for volunteers sometime in June, but save the date for us! We are going to need about seventy volunteers throughout the day to make the event successful.
¶ We will need two to three volunteers to work with a staff member at the Greenview Nursery in Champaign as they have invited us to hold a small offsite adoption event there. We will be going on April 16th from 10:00am – 2:00pm. Let me know if you are interested in helping out at this event.
¶ VCA Heritage Animal Hospital is holding a weeklong event for National Pet Week and have invited us to join them for their Local Animal Care and Control Day on May 6th. We will be there all day along with representatives from city and county Animal Control with adoptable animals and information for visitors. They are also holding a dog wash on that day and are donating the proceeds to the humane society! We will need volunteers in two – three hour shifts all day with extra volunteers in the afternoon to help wash dogs! Please come out and help us educate our community on animal care.
Reminders
¶ When you are socializing cats or walking dogs, please remember to close the cage or run door when you have the animal out. Our staff will begin to look for a ‘lost’ dog if they see an open cage or run. Closing the doors will save everyone hassle.
¶ As you all know, we need to take extra sanitation measures in a shelter environment and I would like to thank you all for taking the time to sanitize your hands between animals. Another precaution that we would like you to take is making sure that you do not move around animals and supplies.
o Water jugs are to remain in the room they are found. The isolation ward has its own jug that is clearly labeled and should never be brought into another room in order to prevent cross-contamination.
o Animals from the hallway or isolation ward should NEVER be taken into another room. These cats should not be taken into get acquainted rooms or into adoptable rooms. We need to try to contain any illness to protect the rest of the animals.
¶ With the weather getting warmer we need to make sure we take extra time to ensure that all animals have clean, fresh water at all times. If you are walking dogs or socializing cats and notice that someone has an empty or dirty bowl, please take the time to replenish their water. You can do this in the laundry room or the kitchen.
¶ The cats in the hallway or isolation are not to be handled unless you have been approved and trained. If you are interested in being trained, just contact me.
¶ For iso volunteers: don’t forget to ALWAYS wear gloves while handling cats in the isolation ward and change your gloves in between cats.
¶ In order to ensure that our animals are cared for properly, we have all of you attend an orientation session. Please do not bring friends with you during your volunteer time as they have not been properly trained. If you have friends that are interested in volunteering with us in the future and want to check out the shelter, they are welcome to come out but are not to wear volunteer nametags, sign in as volunteers or handle animals without staff consent.
¶ When using the health communication log, the grooming list, or the animal information updates, please be sure to provide the animal’s name and animal ID number so our staff can locate the animals you are referring to.
¶ If you are in a get acquainted room and notice hairballs or there is a litter spill in kitty city, please help our front desk staff by pitching in and cleaning up. The summer months are very busy with visitors and adopters and the staff will be quite busy. Helping out with the little things can make a huge difference!
¶ As always, don’t forget to sign in and out, total your volunteer hours each day to the quarter hour and wear a nametag while you are at the shelter.
¶ If you are socializing with an animal, please be sure to stay with that animal. If animals are left unattended there is potential for harm to the animal and confusion amongst the staff.
¶ While you are volunteering, please keep your eyes out for small children. From time to time a family will come in to visit with animals and a small child will break away from the group and try to handle animals on their own. This is dangerous for both the child and the animal and it would be helpful if you could pitch in and keep your eyes open!
¶ Dog walkers – always remember to bring a bag with you on walks to clean up after the dogs. (No one wants to step in that.) Also, make sure the bags make it into one of the two dumpsters in the back. Do not put garbage in the recycling dumpster or in the bucket at the back door. We would also like to remind you to use the side door before 11:00am. The front door should not be used before we open to the public.
Notable Notes
¶ The kennel staff is still looking for clean, empty Tidy Cat litter containers to use for giving water to our animals. If you use this type of litter, please bring us your empty jugs!
¶ We recently spent March 26th at the Illini Cat Club All Breed Cat Show. We raised a little money for the shelter, gave out some valuable information AND we entered two of our very own cats into the Household Cat portion of the show. We are happy to report that Goliath (the Maine Coon mix in the nursery) placed 9th and Ed (the black and white cat in the communal room) placed 4th! Check out their great ribbons on their cage cards!
¶ The Vet Med Open house was this weekend on April 2nd. Humane society and vet student volunteers were there with a few adoptable animals and we are happy to say that two animals were adopted!
¶ As I mentioned above, we need to make sure that all of the animals have fresh, clean water during the warmer months. It is also very important that we all keep an eye out for signs of heat exhaustion. You should look for the following indicators: animals tire quickly, act sluggish, excessive open mouthed panting (ANY open mouthed panting in cats should be reported) and loss of appetite. Please indicate these symptoms on the health communication log. If you feel that an animal is in immediate danger, notify a staff member.
Quotable Quotes
Don’t forget to send me your quotes for a chance to have your quote entered into the newsletter. At the end of the year we will choose the best quote of the year and provide a small prize! Your quotable quote for the month comes from a very devoted dog walker, Judy Henderson.
“My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am.” ~Anonymous