Another Day at the MSPCA

Today, I had another day of volunteering at the MSPCA. I was put in the same kitty room as I was the first day, and I sort of trained another volunteer in the cat room. But then, another lady who works at the MSPCA came, so we worked on the cat room together instead of the new volunteer. It was kind of neat to be able to show someone else what to do, because it made me feel as though I had learned something, and had the authority to do that. So, I spent four hours working and cleaning the cat room, and I felt very accomplished in the end. there were much more cats today than there were last week, and several new ones. I did a lot more handling with the cats that I had been nervous to touch last week, and I realized that they were actually nice and loving cats. I also cleaned a cage while the cat was still in it, because he didn't want to come out. Last time that the cat didn't want to come out, I had another volunteer clean it for me, but this week I did it on my own. I felt accomplished, and I was glad I could help the cats. Maybe next week, I will improve my skills even more.

The Kitten Adventure; MSPCA

Today, I helped out at the MSPCA again, and I worked cleaning the cat's cages again, except in a different room that wasn't for the public to see. I cleaned the cages of the "holding room." There were about ten little small kittens there, and then many more large adult cats. Today was a bit more challenging than last week however, because I had to work alone. I think that I did a pretty good job though, although a few of the cats were hard to transfer into different cages. One baby black kitten, which was about 3 months old, was very frisky and kept trying to get out several times. One time he did get loose and I had to catch him. But other than that, I had a very good day at the MSPCA, and I was glad to help.

MSPCA... the kitty room

Yesterday was my first day volunteering at the MSPCA, and I really enjoyed it. I worked from 830 until 12, and I was placed in the kitty room. I spent the first half hour or so acquainting myself with the cats, so that they became familiar with me. Then, after a little while, a lady named Mary came in to show me how you clean the cat cages and basically the room. She explained to me the procedures that you have to do, and where to find all the necessary supplies. Then, it was time to get to work. We took ever cat out of the cage, and put them into a holding crate while we cleaned their cage. We had to take the dirty linen out, and then scrub the cages. Then, we would dry them, put clean linen in, and food, water, and a new litter box. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and I definitely got much more dirty than I thought I would have. We also had to clean the kitty room itself, because there are six cats who are free to roam around without being in a cage. There were litter boxes, food dishes, and toys which we had to clean in the room as well. Once all the cages were cleaned, we had to mop the floor of the room, because we had made a mess with water and cat litter and food. This part was pretty easy, and it made everything look resentable to the outsiders who were coming in to look at the cats. Overall, I would say this was a fun experience, and I can't wait until next week to help some more.

More help with Gabe

This morning, I spent about a half hour going over the same LAQ with Gabe. I think he understands it a lot more, because he was able to identify the basics very quickly. We worked mostly on evaluating strengths and weaknesses of the experiment that he chose to do. We also started to outline a different answer to the LAQ, but he decided that he felt more ocmfrtable with the one we had originally been working on. I think that I have seen a lot of improvement with Gabe, because I remember when I first started to help him, he struggled to identify simple basics, and now he is able to go much more in depth, and gain higher marks. I think that he feels a lot more confident in answering questions, because he says what the thinks the asnwer is, rather than hesitating.