Page 38 - AreaNewsletters "Oct'18" issue

P E T L OV E R S
evaluating animals throughout the day as new pets arrive. (Fun fact: the Dumb Friends League receives more than 20,000 homeless pets each year, and every single pet goes through this process to ensure they are healthy and safe for the community before they can become available for adoption. Whew! That’s a lot of evaluations!)
In addition to all of these duties, the pet admissions team works with patrons who are surrendering pets, making end-of-life decisions about their beloved pets, bringing in stray pets, being reunited with lost pets and many other situations that happen to pop up. And these are just a few of the services the Buddy Center provides to the pets and people of Douglas County.
“Interacting with the animals always makes any day better.” Kasea, Buddy Center Adoptions Associate
Much like the pet admissions team at the Buddy Center, the adoptions teamwears many hats. In addition to matching pets with people, adoptions associates are responsible for things like cleaning kennels, doing laundry, washing dishes and restocking rooms, so essentially, she pulls double-duty as an animal care staff member.
Kasea has been working at the Buddy Center for ve years and has held several roles in that time. In her current position, she works asanadoptionsassociateand trains new employees hired to work in her current and previous roles.
Today she’s cleaning cat kennels before the shelter opens. Even though she has dozens of kennels to clean, Kasea takes time to give each cat gentle chin scratches or pets, that is, if they want the attention. (Pro tip from Kasea: if you ever need to clean or do something around the house and your cat has tendency of “helping,” try doing it around the time she is normally fed. Give her canned food to distract her for a few minutes, so you can complete your work. This tip even worked with a kennel full of curious kittens!)
The Buddy Center opens to the public soon, and Kasea still has more kennels to clean. When she nishes up, she’ll head up to adoptions lobby and begin to help patrons look for new pets.
“I like recommending a pet to people. It’s fun trying to nd the right animal to t in with a family.” Sam, Buddy Center Adoptions Associate
It’s 11 a.m. and the doors are open to the public. Already, the Buddy Center’s lobby is lling up. Some people are simply browsing adoptable pets, while others knowexactly which pets they want to meet. (Fun fact: you can get in line to meet pets at the Buddy Center before you even get there! When you visit the adoption page, click on a pet you are interested in and click where it says “Skip the line at the shelter! Sign in now!” It’s easy and tells you how long the wait time is, so you can save time.)
Samhas only been working at the Buddy Center for about a year, but she’s not new to the shelter. She volunteered for six years before deciding she loved it so much she wanted to work there full time. Samenjoys getting to know the animals so she can help people nd the perfect pet.
Throughout the day she works with everyone from experienced pet-owners to rst-time adopters looking to open their homes to kittens, puppies, cats, dogs or small pets like bunnies, rats and guinea pigs. Whether she’s working with a young, active family with a resident pet or a couple getting ready to move into an assisted living facility, she asks questions to understand each situation and make thoughtful recommendations.
While the actual adoption process is relatively simple, selecting the right pet takes time. After gathering information about what kind of pet the adopters are looking
Seeking Sock Donations
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or used, for dogs and cats who will be undergoing surgery. Apparently this new discovery of keeping paws warm while under anesthesia helps both anesthesia and medicines work more e ectively!
Drop o in plastic bin in front of Marcia Morey’s home at
2026 Fox eld Dr. in The Woodlands
October 2018 • Castle Rock “AreaNewsletters”
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