Today at the ARL (Animal Rescue League), we got to work at the adoption area. We cleaned the kennels and litter boxes, and fed the cats. Sometimes the kids are so focused on getting the work done, they would forget to play with the cats. Cats are such social animals, like humans. We put so much effort in fulfilling their basic needs that we sometimes forgot to address their social and emotional needs. We see that in our cats at home. They can go through feelings of anxiety and depression when their “friend” is away.

The kids have been doing this for a couple of years, and are very well-versed in the operations at ARL. They are able to see through the tasks independently. For instance, after taking care of the cats, they would clean and mop the area. They would know where to get the equipment and how to safely dispense the chemicals for sanitizing the floor. The task they are unable to do independently is operating the trash compactor, as it is a safety requirement that an adult has to be present to operate that machinery.

We worked at the Clowder House at the Animal Rescue League (ARL) this morning. We have been working at the Clowder House since we started volunteering. It is a 2-story cat housing unit built in 2017 to provide additional space for long term housing for cats who are not ready for adoption. Volunteers have to receive special training to work here as they may be dealing with cats with behavioral issues. While there may be more challenges working with cats at the Clowder House than the adoption area (taking precautions not to get bitten or scratched), we also learned that much of what affected the cats’ behavior come from their unpleasant past experiences (being abused or neglected, living in feces-filled homes etc). Thanks to the caring staff and volunteers, some of the cats do develop trust and become calmer over time, and they are moved to the adoption area.

These week we were cleaning a section of Prairie Ridge park and an area around Centennial High School. It is probably a good sign that Prairie Ridge was actually pretty clean and didn’t have a lot of trash to pick up. The area around Centennial had a significant amount of trash and broken glass near the parking lot, so we were able to make a bigger impact there.

This week’s clean-up was around Promenade Park. This area was recently used for the town’s fireworks display and Summerfest. Some of the taller grass and tree areas were definitely in need of cleaning. If we were competing by weight, Devon probably would have won due to the complete brick that he found.