Volunteering for kids

[Christa]

Hi all. I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me with some ideas. My older dd (will be 6 in August) wants to volunteer at our local humane society, but they don't take volunteers younger than 10. Of course, I would go with her to any volunteer "job," but I have been unable to find any animal related volunteer work that she can do given her age.

Does anyone have any ideas of what a 5 or 6 year old could do to volunteer with animals? She would really like to do something regularly (which would require that it be pretty local for my sanity). She also wants to see real animals. She was wanting to brush the cats, feed the animals, or something like that at the humane society. I don't think that she'd be happy writing letters, etc.

[mabelkitty]

Hi Christa!

Would you be able to foster a cat or dog (or a mom & litter) at your home? Usually SPCAs and Humane Societies need foster parents, as do local cat and dog rescue groups. This way, your daughter would be able to help out the animals, and since it would be in your home, her age wouldn't be a problem.

There is a nearby golden retriever rescue sanctuary, and they asked for "visitors" to the sanctuary to help socialize the dogs more and to give them some attention while awaiting adoption. I haven't done this yet, but I sure would love to! I'm not sure if you have anything like this in your area, or if there would be an age limit -- although, if the dogs would eventually be placed in homes with kids, I think it would only benefit the dog (and a potential adopter) for it to be in close contact with young children.

These are just a couple of ideas that I had. I think it's wonderful that your daughter wants to help out with animals at such a young age!

[Christa]

I thought about fostering & we may be able to eventually, but not yet. We have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 guinea pigs & 2 fish tanks of our own at the moment. One of our dogs is 15 & really not good with other dogs. She has a tendency to attack almost any other dog except Rudy (our golden retriever). She wasn't too fond of him, either, when we first got him, but has learned that due to his very large size & very large teeth that he was not a good candidate for bullying! They don't play b/c Spinner is so old & not much for playing, but they get along okay now.

Rudy, on the other hand, loves other dogs & would love to have foster dog brothers or sisters to play with. Once Spinner passes on, we could possibly do the foster thing with a dog. Given our 2 cats (one of whom weighs 18 lbs & is territorial), a foster kitty would be out of the question. Spinner is not in good health, so she may not be with us too much longer.

So, that may be a possibility at some point! Thanks for the suggestion.

[alexis]

Well, you could get her to design posters for the rescue shelter. I'm sure they'd be happy let her do that.