We need a wide variety of volunteers to care for our kitties. Some care directly for the cats, some are ambassadors for the cats and others help run the organization.
Volunteer Requirements
- All volunteers must be at least 18 years of age. Those under 18 and older than 12, must be accompanied by a parent or guardian during their work.
- Volunteers must have a basic knowledge of cat care and ownership.
- All volunteers must complete a volunteer application.
- Time commitments vary with the type and location of an event. We ask you commit to at least six months of service.
Volunteer positions
A number of positions are available in the organization. Some are in the stores and “hands-on,” other are behind the scenes which keep the organization running. All are listed below. Click on the link to see the job description.
For more questions on volunteering, please click here to send us an email.
Volunteering in the adoption centers
Cage cleaners — The duties for this position include, but are not limited to: feeding the cats, scooping litter boxes and cleaning out the cages. As a representative of Cat Tales, you will interact with potential adopters and other visitors and answer questions about the cats, the adoption process, about the animal rescue or general cat questions.
There are two shifts a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, seven days a week at two adoption centers. Hours are flexible, but for the most part, the morning shift starts between 9:00AM and 10:00AM. The evening shift starts between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM. One person can expect to spend between 1-2 hours, depending on the adoption center, the number of people working the shift and the number of cats in the center.
For more information on this position, please click here to send us an email.
Cat ambassadors — Cat Tales tries to get the cats in front of the public at as many locations as possible. Some of these locations are at the adoption centers, and other locations are pet-related retail stores. The Cat Ambassadors take a 2-to-3 hour shift on a weekend to sit at the location and answer questions about the cats, about the adoption and surrender process, about cat health and often just swap cats stories.
If a potential adopter wants to play with the cat and interact with it one-on-one, the Cat Ambassador sets up a "safe area" for the cat to be removed from the cage.
With enough volunteers, the Cat Ambassador would work once a month or twice a month. Shifts can be between the hours of 10:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday or Sunday to suit the particular schedule of the volunteer.
For more information on this position, please click here to send us an email.
Feline Healthcare Provider — Cat Tales expends great effort to insure the health of the cats in our care. This position is not for a veterinarian, but for someone with experience in small animal care who can schedule a visit to the adoption centers weekly to follow up on health observations made by the cage cleaners, administer medication or ointments as directed by the veterinarians.
The Healthcare provider will co-ordinate his or her schedule with other providers to assure that each adoption center is visited at least three times a week.
Certification is not required but small animal healthcare experience is preferred.
For more information on this position, please click here to send us an email.
Other volunteering opportunities
Benefactors — Non-profits live on the donations provided. Cat Tales takes pride in our efforts to stretch every dollar received to maximum effect to the mission of caring for cats in need. We have no paid staff. We aggressively negotiate discounts for services we use and we buy in bulk, using non-profit rates when purchasing adoption center and medical supplies.
Tests, inoculations and de-worming for one kitten costs us $26 (based on 2005 estimates). Distemper inoculations and boosters for eight kittens is $50.00. Food and litter, for eight weeks, for one kitten is $65.00. Feline leukemia and feline aids tests for ten kittens is $100.00. Spay or neuter of a cat can run $40-$65.
You can support our efforts through a simple donation or by sponsoring a specific event, such as a spay/neuter clinic or covering the costs of inoculations for a litter of kittens.
For more information on this position, please click here to send us an email.
Foster parents — Because Cat Tales does not have a shelter, we rely on volunteer foster parents to care for our rescued cats while we await space in the adoption centers. Foster parents have the unique opportunity to personally help our rescued cats and kittens heal both emotionally and physically from whatever trauma they suffered.
Once a cat comes into our organization, the first stop is the veterinary hospital for a complete physical, feline aids and leukemia testing, vaccinations, parasite treatment, spay/neuter, if needed, and attention to any other medical conditions.
Once the cat has a clean bill of health, the next stop is a volunteer foster home. The cat can relax and enjoy your loving care while you observe personality, behavior, likes and dislikes.
When the cat is ready for adoption, the cat will be placed at one of our adoption centers to allow families to meet the cat and to fill out an adoption application. The foster parent can provide good insights into the cat's personality so we can make a good match into a permanent home.
If you would like to volunteer to be a foster parent, here are the essentials:
- Your own cats must be in-door only and be up-to-date on all vaccines and medical care (dogs must also be up to date on medical care).
- You must have a designated place to foster the cat where it can be isolated from your own resident pets (i.e. spare bedroom, office, etc.). If needed, Cat Tales has large pens to lend. If appropriate, the foster cat can be introduced into your household during the foster period.
- Food and litter supplies will be provided by Cat Tales or if you purchase the supplies, Cat Tales will reimburse you if you provide a store receipt.
- You will need to take care of the cat's physical needs- clean litter box, food/fresh water and grooming. If the cat requires further medical attention, you may have to transport to our veterinarian, Main Street Animal Hospital in Doylestown which provides all the medical care for our cats. (Cat Tales pays all medical expenses; you are not expected to pay anything at the time of the vet visit).
- Your foster cat needs your time for play, cuddling and lots of social interaction. Kittens especially need lots of "hands on" so they grow up to be the "best cat ever.
What's in it for you? An experience that is rewarding, educational, challenging, and fun. If you have children in your household, it is a wonderful way for them to learn responsibility and to feel that they can contribute in helping to save a life. While it is true that foster families do get very attached to their foster cat, they also find a special joy in sending a pet to a wonderful new family.
If you would like to learn more about becoming a foster parent for Cat Tales, please click here to send us an email.
Kitty taxi drivers — Cats have a poor record of driving themselves to the veterinarian’s office or moving from store-to-store. This position asks a volunteer to go to an adoption center, place the cat in a carrier and take them to the Cat Tales veterinarian, to another adoption center or to a specialist for medical tests.
This is an "on-demand" position. Cat Tales will make every effort to provide advance notice of the transportation needs. Many times, 1-2 days notice can be given. Transportation would be during the day time, 8:00am to 6:00pm and appointments can be made to accommodate your schedule.
Several volunteers are needed for this position for flexibility of scheduling and the convenience of the volunteers.
For more information on this position, please click here to send us an email.
Laundry wrangler — The cats generate lots of soiled towels and bedding. Cat Tales has an agreement with a local laundry service to wash, dry and fold the towels and bedding from the adoption centers.
The Laundry Wrangler sets up a personal schedule to pick up the bags of laundry from the two stores and delivers them to the laundry service. Three days later, the bags are picked up and returned to the respective stores, the towels are taken from the bag and placed on the shelves in the Cat Tales storage area.
For this position, you must be able to lift up to a 50-pound laundry bag and be able to drive the bags to the laundry service, which is approximately 2 miles from the adoption centers. This task takes approximately 1-2 hours a week.
For more information on this position, please click here to send us an email.
Clerical support — If you have computer skills and small chunks of time, we need people for simple data entry. For example, we ask if people who are applying to adopt a cat or kitten wish to be included on the e-mailing list of the Scratching Post. This is a task that starts with electronic files received from the fax service and needs to be done intermittently, say once a month.
Writers — Writers and editors are needed to help write monthly articles for the Scratching Post.
The Scratching Post is a substantial undertaking. It is a monthly newsletter delivered to adopters and other friends of Cat Tales. The primary purpose of the newsletter is promotion of Cat Tales events. Articles for the Scratching Post should be informative, yet entertaining, and original.
Cat Tales is also in need of someone with experience in writing grants. We are not sure of what grants are available, or what to ask for in the grants. Hopefully the volunteer can assist with us with that.
For more information on this position, please click here to send us an email.
Seasonal Volunteers
If you have some extra time at Christmas, the cats and kittens of Cat Tales can use your help. We'll pair you with a seasoned Cat Tales volunteer to show you the ropes.
We have Pet Pictures with Santa at the PETSMART-Warminster for three weekends in December. We need Santas, photographers and photo elves. We set it up as two, 3-hour shifts a day, on Saturday and Sunday.
We also wrap gifts for donations at Barnes & Noble, Montgomery Square, between the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.
Contact us at santa@cattalesinc.org or 215-933-9600.
