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I have questions
Do any of you guys have any experience working or volunteering at a pet rescue place? (Specifically, a cat rescue.) The book I'm currently writing has a main character who works at a place like that, and I have some questions about what the daily routine would be like and that kind of thing - with the caveat that it's a tropey romance novel so there's going to be a lot of plausibility handwaving going on for plot purposes. :P
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Figured that's not an angle that gets talked about much, might help to know.
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There's nothing I don't love about this sentence.
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The biggest thing I'd like to know right now, if this is something you know, is what the typical routine is like for the people who take care of the animals. Is there just one person who comes in and feeds them in the morning? Are cats allowed to socialize with each other (that is, do they have a play/exercise area) or do they keep them locked up in separate cages? I'm sure this would be different depending on the individual animals' needs, but in the scene I'm writing right now, my protagonist is the person who comes in early to unlock things in the morning and take care of the animals, so I'm wondering what kinds of things I should describe her doing.
The place where she works is meant to be a small privately run cat rescue instead of a big shelter operated by the city or county, if that makes any difference.
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First question, unless the shelter is very small, there's definitely going to be a team doing the morning feeding and care. Both places I've been at have been rather large, but the feeding and cleaning takes a lot of time, so there will probably be multiple people unless there are just a couple cats. (In a larger shelter, this will likely be a mix of staff and volunteers.)
The socialization set up varies widely from shelter to shelter. The shelter I'm in now makes a big deal out of being cageless. There are about a dozen rooms (called condos), and each room contains around three to five cats. Some cats with special needs are kept in separate, smaller rooms, but that's the exception. That's considered a fancy, very forward thinking set up. My last shelter, there were a few condos, but most of the cats were in individual cages. If your shelter is private, as you mentioned, and well funded, they could have just condos, just cages, or a mix.
ETA: My first shelter also had a separate play/socialization room where people could interact with the cats in cages more thoroughly. This was mainly so potential adopters could get to know the cat, but volunteers (and presumably staff) used it too to help the cats socialize and get out the cramped cages for a while.
She'll be doing a lot of laundry and a lot of dishes. If there are cages, she'll be wiping them down with disinfectant. She'll sweep condos.
I don't necessarily know how things might be run at a much smaller shelter, I should note.
Hit me with anything else, if you'd like.
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I'll let you know if I run into anything else! I probably will need some more details a bit later on, but I'm not sure exactly what yet.
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Staff comes in, does wet food for the cats (dry food is generally available 24/7, unless there are medical reasons to not), then goes back on a second pass to clean up dishes and clean the cages. Litterpans were changed daily - think metal pizza pans with a large lip, not the plastic ones sold in pet stores. We also had a smallish room (think bathroom sized) where the cats would go hang out/stretch their legs while their cages were being cleaned. There were a few larger cages for litters/bonded cats, but mostly everyone was in a single cage.
The adoptable animals were done first, so their room would be ready when the shelter opened. The strays/otherwise not ready for adoption were kept in a second room, with medical quarantine in a third (they're done last, for obvious reasons). Spot cleaning (e.g., litter) was done as necessary throughout the day. The adult cats were fed 2x daily, but the kittens 3x.
The laundry and litter pan/food dishes were cleaned during the day after cage cleaning was done. Lots of laundry. Lots and lots. 4-5 loads a day at least. We had 2 washers and 2 dryers but it was not uncommon for one or more to be down. Commercial appliances were wisted after, but not affordable.
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Oh, I have another question. At the shelter where you worked (and I realize that my fictional one will be different because it's smaller, but this'll give me a baseline) roughly how many people worked there, doing what kinds of things? I'm just trying to get an idea of what the balance of, say, animal-care people to admin was like, and whether there are any important job positions for the shelter that I'm not thinking of.
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We also had a group of special-needs volunteers with their lead, and on the days they came in they did a lot of the 'grunt' work - laundry! (oh god, the laundry), cleaning, housekeeping. Your shelter may also have relationships with other shelters in the area; breed-specific rescue, or no-kill shelters who bring in animals from crowded shelters, or sanctuaries for certain populations (old animals, special needs, feral). That may be handled by the animal care lead, or by volunteers.
(Jeez, the more I type the more I remember!) We had a foster coordinator (both paid and volunteer at various times) who kept track of our foster families, who had which animals, their medical care and when they were old enough for adoption, and OKed various veterinary charges. We ran an animal food bank (handled by the front desk, but collections were by volunteers). There may be a dedicated group of drivers, either bringing animals to or taking them from the shelter (hooking into the shelter network I mentioned above). A couple of photographers would come in and take decent pictures of the animals.
For a while we also had a volunteer who claimed to be an animal communicator. I don't think any of the staff believed she actually talked to animals, but sometimes we had a good story to tell the public. "Oh yes, Miss Fluffernutter says she wants to have a job, so we're looking for a home in a shop for her," or "Jigsaw says he wants to live in a house with lots of windows and birds."
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... also, I love the idea of including some colorful types among the volunteers. Especially since I'm writing paranormal romance, so at least one of my protagonists might actually BE that weirdo who claims to be able to talk to animals.
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Every once in a while, if the adopts room is totally visitor-less, but there's only one person on duty, we'll bring a well-behaved or predictably cuddly cat out of their kennels, and either sit with them on a bench, or let them run along the very broad windowsill. The cat gets exercise/socialization, and the volunteer/staffer is still immediately available if a visitor comes in.
Treats and toys are almost always involved, trying to make every human interaction as pleasant as possible. I always give treats after I put anyone back in the kennel, or before I close the door, to make sure we're ending on a positive note. We also actually do clicker training, for some of the more aggressively energetic cats, which has been surprisingly successful.
Wow, that was a lot, wasn't it? Never get me started on this stuff, I can go on forever. :)
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We have "Be My Valentine," "Father's Day," Natalie's birthday ("Only the Lonely")... assorted small references to other people's birthdays, New Year...
Halloween-like:
We have 2 episodes with flashbacks reminiscent of Frankenstein: "The Fix" and "Let No Man Tear Asunder." 2 or 3 with ghosts: "Last Act" and "Dead of Night" (also "Francesca," depending how you interpret it). 1 demon: "Sons of Belial."
May I ask what inspired your question?
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Thank you! :)
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One thing I didn't particularly see in the comments above is politics. Consider how functional-or-not you want the place to be. Animal rescue draws people with very firm opinions, not always based in fact, and the clashes can be epic. (If you're interested, I can share stories from my place, or track down links to the ~~drama~~ over what was supposed to be a cat cafe in Boston.)
One other factor (that you likely won't want to use, because it's quite depressing) is that there is a small but nonzero overlap between animal rescuers and hoarders. I've personally known two separate people who were very active in rescue but whose homes were eventually condemned by their cities' health departments. It's not all just happy fuzzy kitties.
Which isn't to say it's never happy fuzzy kitties, of course!
Another consideration is what kind of cat population your fictional shelter would deal with. Some are only socialized, surrendered cats; some include TNR programs; some include surrenders and trapped strays and trapped ferals that a long-ago volunteer was simply convinced could be won over (by someone, eventually, who never magically materialized to put in the work) and half-socialized "shy cats" (because they grew up in the shelter instead of being fostered) and endless rounds of kittens coming in and ... *cough*. ;)