I still don’t really feel like updating, but I think I should. Yesterday I went to a volunteer orientation at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society. I’d been meaning to do this ever since a year ago, when my friend Aaron told me about the humane society. Aaron is from Ohio and has three cats there, and since he missed them he thought he would volunteer to work with cats here. It really is a great place to volunteer for people who like animals… if all you want to do is work with cats, that’s all you have to do. I spent an hour just playing with some kitties… it was so fun!

The humane society seems like a really well-structured organization. They are a no-kill shelter, which means they don’t put animals to sleep just because there isn’t enough room to keep them. This also means that they only accept the animals they feel are ‘adoptable.’ I thought this was very reassuring because that means there shouldn’t be any scary vicious animals there! I would urge anyone who has the chance and the inclination to go visit the humane society, because they’re very nice and the facilities are pretty nice, not as crowded as other places I’ve seen. (Berkeley people: take the #65 bus to Dwight and 9th St, then walk south two blocks to 9th and Carleton. The building is on the corner. It’s about a ten to fifteen minute bus ride from Berkeley BART.) Their mission is to find permanent loving homes for all the animals they take care of, and part of how they do this is keeping the animals sociable. That’s why I can go there and just play with the cats–it helps them adjust to their new environment, which means they’ll be happier and more comfortable, which means people are more likely to want to take them home! I’m really excited about spending more time here because it’s very laid back and relaxed (volunteering takes minimal training and they don’t have shifts or anything… on the form that asks how often you want to volunteer, they say: ‘circle one: daily/weekly/every other week/monthly/whenever I can.’) and animals are always fun to be around. And there are coffee candies and homemade cookies in the volunteer room. 🙂

Thanks to their virtual pet adoption website you can actually see some of the kitties I played with! Rosie didn’t like me very much, even though she meowed at me in a quite friendly way when I entered the room. Joey was friendly in a quiet way, and when he started playing and going crazy he really reminded me of Tybalt (our cat in San Jose).

[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]