Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation (WAIF) is looking for volunteers to staff the cat adoption room at the Coupeville animal shelter.
Volunteer cat room attendants are needed to introduce cats to prospective adopters, provide adoption counseling services, groom cats and supervise out-of-cage socialization time for caged cats.
“With volunteer cat room attendants, we believe we can improve the quality of life for cats at the shelter, increase adoptions and shorten lengths of stay”, said Shari Bibich, WAIF shelter manager. “WAIF is a minimum-kill shelter, which means we don’t euthanize for space. We are committed to taking care of these guys until we can find them permanent homes. For some animals, it can be a long time. Some cats are very stressed in the shelter environment, others become depressed and some are just shy. These cats generally do very well in a home, but just don’t present well at the shelter. As a result, many cats have a hard time getting adopted and spend months living in cages at the shelter before they find a home.”
The ideal situation for the shelter cats waiting for homes is a cage-free environment similar to our Oak Harbor Cat Adoption Center, Bibich said. Given the space limitations at the shelter, a cage-less room for cats is currently not an option. This new volunteer position will enable us to increase the level of daily socialization, play time, exercise, human contact and grooming for the caged cats. It will also give some of the less outgoing cats a better chance to be noticed by the public and get adopted. Our goal is to improve the quality of daily life for cats at the shelter and increase adoptions.
The first priority is to staff the cat adoption room during the hours we are open to the public, noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. We are looking for people who can commit to a regular schedule, one afternoon each week. We also need cat room attendants on Mondays and Tuesdays, when the shelter is closed, as well as volunteers to visit with cats in the isolation room, where cats are recuperating from illness or injury.
People interested in volunteering should call 678 -1399.
