Interview! Michele Tilford, Cat-Assisted Therapy Advocate
May 26, 2018
Interview! Dr. Philip Bushby, Professor of Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare at Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine
June 2, 2018
Over my years in animal sheltering, I started to dread Memorial Day Weekend. What used to be a time of family get-togethers and days at the beach, now begins a season of emergency rescues and calls about emergencies with our fosters. Compared to many areas of the country, we aren’t as overwhelmed and inundated with kittens — and we are definitely less inundated than we have been in the past, but we still see an increase in the pressures and then there are other areas where it is still most certainly “The Silly Season.”
The summers are when we are at our most reactive — responding to emergencies on the streets. This is when targeted focus can serve us best as the phone calls increase and everyone seems to want to pull us one way or another. Below are some of my key tips to help keep you sane this summer.
1. Don’t answer your phone right away. Take voicemails and check emails only two times a day. Don’t let yourself get distracted. Consider adding a message in your voicemail greeting saying that you might not return calls for a while. Tell only key players to text you for emergencies — or use something like Slack to share with your key team members (but tell them to reach out this way only for an emergency). Go with email or voicemail for non-urgent items.
2. Stay focused on your target area. You will save driving time and be more impactful locally.
3. Ask others for help. When someone calls, ask them what they are willing to do to help the situation. Don’t make the mistake of getting into the mindset that you are the only person who can help cats. Make sure the people asking for help have some “skin in the game” too.
4. It is okay to say “no.” This is a marathon and not a sprint. So pace yourself.
5. If you are overwhelmed with cat and kitten care, then you know you won’t have a chance of TNR’ing a lot of cats. You are going to have to stop TNR efforts for right now. But if you can’t get out in the community trapping cats, then maybe help out with some outreach to the owned cat community to at least assist with getting some owned cats sterilized.
6. Give your foster homes and foster home coordinators as much love and care that you can. This is the hardest, yet most rewarding part of the year for coordinators and foster homes. Make sure they have support and they in turn will support you and the work you are doing.
7. Lastly, keep it super simple. This is a very short list, but I’m trying to practice what I preach! You will make the biggest impact by clearly communicating how and when you can help, and by supporting others on your time table. If what is being asked of you isn’t simple, don’t do it in the summer.
Good luck to everyone this kitten season. Let me know how it goes and how things are changing in your community.
Until next week…
