Career wise, not doing what I want to do

[Amy27]

I am 1 year away from getting my BA in healthcare management. I have worked in healthcare since I was 17. But it isn't what I want to do. I really want to work to help animals. I don't want to work with animals as a vet or vet tech. I don't think I am cut out for that job. But I want to do something to help animals.

My boss loves animals and was the director of a humane society. I think that would be an awesome job. But she left because of the money. You don't see jobs advertised a lot for humane society's or a place that helps animals. I am lost on how to change careers and to get a job helping animals. To do what I have always wanted to do. It stinks that I am to far along in my schooling to change majors.

I would love to hear from people where their job is helping animals. What do you do? How did you get that job?

Any advice on how I can make this change is appreciated. Is there a certain degree or certificate they look for? What types of jobs are actually available since I can never find any.

Thanks Amy

 

[degrassi]

Most jobs that involve helping animals are usually low pay or volunteer.

There are plenty of jobs in the animal field though(zoos, kennels, animal spas/daycares, groomers,petsitting,etc). Or you can get a job in your field and then just volunteer helping animals on the side. I know around here there are lots of animal volunteering opportunities.

I myself am a petsitter and choose to volunteer at the humane society on the side. I also took a vet assistant course but like you don't really want to work at a vet clinic as I didn't think I'd like it(crappy pay, stupid owners, always seeing sick animals etc.)but I still wanted to have the animal medical knowledge. It definitely helps having it with petsitting.

 

[Amy27]

Thank you for your response. If you don't mind answering, what do you do when you volunteer at the humane society?

I tried volunteering and they had me walk dogs. I ended up sitting on the steps crying after I had walked the dog because they didn't want to go back into the shelter. After several times volunteering and doing this I stopped going. I would take dog number 1 out and then keep her out the whole time because she never wanted to go back. I can't stand that sad face pleading not to go back into that cage. I would usually ask one of the main workers to put the dog back because I just couldn't do it.

If you volunteer at a shelter. How do you get over being so upset about the animals there and wanting to take them home? Maybe I should try to volunteer to do paper work. I just don't know if working directly with animals is for me, but I want to help.

 

[degrassi]

Well right now i'm on a break from volunteering but i'm hoping to go back in the fall.

When I did it I was a "critter cuddler". I basically got to take out the bunnies and guinea pigs and play with them in the "cuddler" room. It was really fun, I basically played with bunnies all the time.

I did find it kind of sad but I figured it was sadder if I wasn't there because then they would get even less time out of their cage. I usually go visit the dogs when i'm there and I find that really hard. They come up to the cage and give you those puppy eyes and look all sad, or are all scared and curled up in the corner. But I don't let it stop me from going. Its hard but if I dont' do it then thats one less time they get taken out. I also want to take them all home with me but I know I can't. I tried to get my bunny fix from playing with them. Its also nice going every week and seeing when they get adopted. Its hard but worth it.

At our spca there was also the option of playing with the cats or walking/grooming dogs or being a foster parent. I chose the bunnies since everyone else only seemed to want to do the dogs or cats and there wasn't too many names on the critters list so I felt bad. Since I also have a bunny i was confident in being able to handle them as most people were scared.

There were also some non animal type jobs like working adoption days, being pet santa, working animal days like "pets in the park".

If you want to talk to the shelter. I"m sure they would be more then willing to find another non dog walking job for you.

edit: Pet Bunny also works at the same shelter. He bring the bunnies food and I believe helps clean cages.

 

[undergunfire]

I am wanting to be a dog groomer because I feel that that is helping dogs to feel better .

It will be a long road for me to get there. I can either attend online dog grooming school ($2k+ for 16wks or so) and find a local mentor...or try to get hired at Petco in the dog salon & hope I can work my way up to them teaching me how to groom. Unfortunately, there are no dog grooming schools in my area of AZ (but there is 2 hrs away)....so I have to make due with what I have.

 

[slavetoabunny]

I also volunteer for our local shelter as well as Gainesville Rabbit Rescue. It's hard to see the bunnies that are in the shelter, but I know that without me they would not get playtime out of their cages. I also take the shelter buns to our twice-monthly adoption events and am responsible for getting a lot of them adopted. It really is satisfying work.

 

[EileenH]

I run a wildlife hospital. I got the job because I volunteered there for many years, and had gone to school to be a vet tech. They needed a clinic supervisor and hired me; a few years later I moved up to director.

To anyone who wants to get a paid job in animal rescue, I say you need to volunteer. I just went through a hiring process and the applicants I chose were ones that had volunteer experience. I had a lot of people with no relevant experience, but they wanted me to hire them to get the experience; they didn't make it past the first step. Don't do it just for that reason; but true volunteering will open up doors for you.

It is important to note that animal rescue is hard; it is sad. All the happy animals are in homes (not to say that all animals that have homesare treated great, but very few animals are happy in shelters). Anything you can do to help them is commendable, but it's a very hard thing to deal with. You have to develop a tough skin to let things go and remember you cannot save them all. That doesn't mean you don't help who you can; they need you too. Opting out because it's "too hard" means none of them benefit from your caring.

That's my .02cents!

 

[slavetoabunny]

EileenH wrote:

You have to develop a tough skin to let things go and remember you cannot save them all. That doesn't mean you don't help who you can; they need you too.

We keep telling ourselves that we can't save them all, but in our local chapter we have been able to save all of them so far. Since we got involved in May, 2008 there has not been a single bunny euthanized at our shelter. We know that the day is going to come that we have to say no, but it hasn't happened yet. We always have been able to pull off an 11th hour miracle. We have saved close to 100 rabbits that would have otherwise been euthed at just our local shelter alone.

 

[Amy27]

degrassi, Thanks for posting how you deal with it. Maybe I need to try harder to have that attitude. And maybe walking dogs isn't for me. The shelter I was at didn't have critters so maybe I will look at different shelters. They also didn't have a lot of volunteer options besides walking dogs. Once you had walked dogs for awhile you could move up to cleaning cages and working with people for adoptions but I never got that far. I think I will search out other rescues and see what jobs they have for volunteers. I wouldn't mind doing paperwork. I also think I could play with bunny's, clean cages and feed them.

Amy, that is awesome you are going to be a dog groomer. I hope some things open up to make the schooling easier and more affordable for you.

Patti, Thanks for sharing your story. If you don't mind asnwering, what types of things do you do when you volunteer there. Do you clean cages and feed them? I know you said you take them out for play time and help with the adoption events. But I am curious what other things a rabbit rescue might be looking for a volunteer to do. Maybe if I can figure out what types of things I can handle, I can try to find a shelter that would allow me to do those things.


EileenH, I thought that that would be the most common way to get a paying job was to volunteer. I know I could volunteer a few hours a week but I don't want to take a lot of time away from my animals and I also work and go to school full time. Do you think a few hours a volunteering a week is enough for them to consider you for a paying job? or is it usually people that are there volunteering everyday that they would offer those positions to? I really appreciate your comment that opting out because it is to hard means I am not helping any of them. That is true.

That is awesome Patti that you guys have been able to help so many rabbits and that none have been euthanized.

I really appreciate all of the advice. I think I am going to take the comments here that make me realize that it is hard but I am helping and write those down on a piece of paper and take with me when I volunteer. Then when I get down I can read and realize that though it maybe hard, these are the reasons I am doing it. If that doesn't work, I will hope for a shelter that will allow me to do paperwork.

 

[EileenH]

"Do you think a few hours a volunteering a week is enough for them to consider you for a paying job?"
Absolutely! Our shifts at our center are 4 hours, once a week (either 8-12 or 12-4). We know people have jobs, and families, pets, and lives; volunteering even a few hours a week shows thatthey are nota person that it isall about the paycheck.
My strong contender for part-time clinic assistant volunteered for one summer, did 50 hours. With a strong reference, that's enough for me.

"Or is it usually people that are there volunteering everyday that they would offer those positions to?"
I can't think of any organization that would only consider someone that volunteered everyday. I also can't think of anyone that volunteers full-time, so we'd all have very few pickings!

Find a place that is a good fit volunteer-wise for you. Make sure you honor your commitment with whatever you choose. I'd rather have somebody do their 4 hours every week, than people who sign up for 4 hours3 days a week and are constantly out. Consistency is what counts.

This is one site that could help:http://www.volunteermatch.org/
If you choose to go this route, make sure you remember you did it! I stopped taking volunteers from here because they'd just go through the checklist, and when I'd call them the people would be like "huh? Who are you?" Or, (true story), "Oh I decided to work with foster kids instead". Wildlife->foster kids? I found that many of them weren't serious, it was an easy internet whim.

Good luck; every little bit we all do, matters greatly to these animals.

 

[slavetoabunny]

Amy27 wrote:

Patti, Thanks for sharing your story. If you don't mind asnwering, what types of things do you do when you volunteer there. Do you clean cages and feed them? I know you said you take them out for play time and help with the adoption events. But I am curious what other things a rabbit rescue might be looking for a volunteer to do. Maybe if I can figure out what types of things I can handle, I can try to find a shelter that would allow me to do those things.

I don't clean cages. Our shelter does a really awesome job at that, thank goodness. I do make sure that their water is fresh and that they have pellets and hay. More than once, I have had to fill water bowls. I have had to tell the kennel supervisor a few times that the buns hay is not being replenished often enough. I personally supply all the pellets and hay for the buns. Otherwise, they feed them crud food. Over the last year that we have established a relationship with our shelter, they have really come to respect us. It was a battle at first, but we have a fantastic mutually beneficial relationship now.

 

[pla725]

I started volunteering at a shelter specifically with the rabbits. I do check on the GPs as well. I groom, clip nails, take them out of the cage for run time, check water and give greens. Idonatedsome hay and greens.A friend of mine donated some pellets.

I'm doing this I enjoy spending time with the rabbits. Not that I don't enjoy mine. The shelter rabbits need attention as well. Some of the rabbits really needed to be groomed and their nails clipped. One of the rabbits had a bot fly infestation that the shelter staff missed and I caught. Plus right now I'm not working much so I felt the need to do something at least a couple of times of week other than staring at TV or the computer.

 

[BethM]

I do a little volunteer work with my local chapter of the House Rabbit Society. We adopted our bunnies through them, and just sort of started going to all the meetings. Jason liked to see and pet all the different bunnies! After going for several months in a row, we started to do a little more than just show up and pet the bunnies. Now we try to get there a little early, to help set up pens, and stay a little late to take down pens. (We have a regular meeting space, but our foster bunnies are all in different peoples' homes. One wonderful volunteer brings pens, small rugs, litter boxes, hay, etc. to every meeting.)

Late last year, the woman who had been maintaining the website passed away, after a long battle with cancer. Jason works in IT, and was wanting to learn more about website maintenance, so he took over that. (He also donated the money for the website fees. He paid for the whole thing, and only asked for 3 boxes of hay in return.) He's sort of slow on getting updates done sometimes, but no one else in our group has the time to do it. I take the pictures of the bunnies that we put up.

For awhile, I tried answering emails that come in to the group, since I'm online a lot anyway, but there were so many questions I didn't have the expertise to answer, I turned that back over to someone else.

We also try to talk to potential adopters when they come to the meetings. Jason still likes to pet all the bunnies!

I guess we're not "official" volunteers, and we are a failed foster home, as we have kept both bunnies we volunteered to foster. Everyone in our group is extremely busy in their "regular" lives, so we tend to be a little un-organized compared to some other rescue groups.

I know the shelter my group meets at has an extensive volunteer program. I believe they like to have a lot of volunteers, so that no one person has to be there for more than a few hours a week, if that's all they can do. From what I understand, the volunteers get good training, as the shelter has very high standards for animal care and adoption.

 

[missyscove]

I've been volunteering with LA Animal Services for 3 years now. I clean cages, walk dogs, play with cats, pet bunnies, etc. I spend a lot of my time walking around asking people if they need any help and showing animals to people. I also answer a lot of questions about the adoption process and how to tell if an animal is available or not.
This summer I got a job working as a caretaker at an animal hospital. In the morning I walk, feed and clean boarding animals. During the day I help with grooming and restraining animals for different procedures (exams, x rays, cleaning ears, placing catheters, injections, etc.)
I really love it and it's helping to show me that animal science was the right major for me.
Speaking of, I'm going into my second year as an animal science major at cornell. We learn a lot of general bio type stuff, but the majority of our animal science courses are based on production animal management. A lot of people are surprised to learn that I'm not a vegetarian when they know I'm an animal science major. That's when I go on to explain that a lot of what I'm learning is how to raise healthy animals for human consumption.

I guess from the shelter aspect, I went into it realizing that there aren't enough homes for all the animals out there. My philosophy is that if I can make an animal's stay in a shelter even just a bit better, I've done some good. I also really enjoy helping people find the right pet for them. Sometimes they think they've picked the perfect animal but after interacting with it outside the cage, they discover it's not the one for them. At that point I usually recommend a few of the animals I'm familiar with to try and find a perfect match between a family and a pet. The LA Animal Services motto is "We create happiness by bringing pets and people together" and I really think we live that message as volunteers.