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Monday, June 10
Letitia's Day:
Today I worked in birds and wildlife. I didn't expect to have much fun with birds because I didn't think they were the kind of animals that you can have fun with. I was wrong! I started out my day cutting up greens for the birds to eat. Next I helped clean the minks' cage. I had never even seen a mink before. They are creatures that look like black beautiful weasels and like to swim. Both minks had their own swimming pool in their area. Minks are usually raised on a mink farm for the purpose of killing and skinning them for their fur. Horrible fate for such cool creatures, or any creature for that matter. Anyway, next I helped with some other birds feeding and cleaning, like some geese and dove. When we got back in I got to watch one of the staff feed the baby birds, and I was introduced to some of the other creatures. After lunch, I did dishes, folded laundry and cleaned some more cages. During my down time I played with the two cockatoo, Chantilly and Monroe. Cockatoo's like lots of attention. Unfortunately, these two did not get enough attention and developed some bad behaviors to try to get attention before they came to Best Friends. Monroe screams and screeches so much that you have to yell to talk to someone and Chantilly pulls out her own feathers or throws her seed out of her bowl and onto the floor. Anyway, by the end of the day I had found a new love and respect for birds.
Morgan's Day:
Today I worked in horses. I really didn't know what to expect because I haven't had much experience with horses before. I was surprised to learn that there are actually quite a lot of animals in this department other than horses. There are also pigs, sheep, goats, and burros to be fed and loved. My day actually turned out to be pretty unusual because I didn't do any mucking (that's the normal activity for interns and volunteers in horses). Instead, I went with Freddy to feed the horses. Volunteers joined us throughout the day. The horses get fed several times a day, and Freddy knows exactly which horse gets what. Some horses get one flake of hay while others get two; some horses get buckets of feed; several horses get vitamins. I got to feed vitamins out of my hand to a couple of horses -- the trick is to keep your fingers flat, not curled, so the horse doesn't nip your fingers. Feeding the horses is a great way to spend time getting to know each of the horses, and it also conveniently afforded me some time to get pictures. When I wasn't feeding, I washed some dishes, help set up a fence post in one of the far pastures, and helped Freddy clean out the burros' water trough. I'm really glad I got the chance to spend a day in horses.
Tuesday, June 11
Letitia's Day:
Horse day. It was pretty cool, but lots of hard work. I began the day feeding the pigs. First we chopped up veggies and fruit and put them into two pans. Each pen got its own pan of food. The two pens each had two pigs in them. After this I headed out with the horse staff to muck a field. After we dumped the trailer we began moving hay, boards and pallets to make room for new hay that is coming next week. Finally we headed back to the barn to unload some of the hay we took from the hay cave. After lunch we cleaned up the office amd then I went to help feed. We drove to all the pastures and at each one I helped to fill the feed buckets and give out the hay. We also fed the goats and sheep.
When feeding was done it was time to go home.
Morgan's Day:
Today was my day to work with the birds. To tell the truth, I've been pretty apprehensive up to this point about this. I've never had positive experiences with birds before (think Hitchcock), so every time I think about working with them I get kind of nervous. It turned out that I had nothing to worry about. Birds wasn't my favorite area to work in, but it was an important experience nonetheless. Like I discovered in horses, there are actually a lot more animals than just birds there. They also have a squirrel, a baby wild rabbit, two minks, and some sugar gliders. The staff keeps pretty busy around the clock caring for baby birds, which have to be fed almost constantly. One of the most interesting baby birds I saw was a baby hummingbird, which is so tiny that it practically disappears into its nest (which looks remarkably like the bird itself). I started out the day with a tour of the birds so I could become familiar with the different species that were there. During my tour I saw parrots, cockatoos, ravens, doves, pigeons, ducks, geese, peacocks, owls, a red-tailed hawk, and a rooster, plus many more. After this I helped to feed the doves and change their water. During break time I discovered an interesting phenomenon: because this is the fourth year of a long drought in Utah, the flowers that the bees use for nectar are not around in the usual abundance. As a result, there are swarms of bees crowding around the hummingbird feeders. The staff doesn't want to kill them because they are an important pollinator in the chain of life, but they are becoming quite a nuisance. They came up with a temporary solution with bowls containing sugarwater and gauze to land on, plus orange slices hanging from the tree. I thought this was an good example of how changing environments can cause a shift in the plant and animal world. Anyway, after break I helped to feed, change water, clean cages, and sweep the floor in the pigeon area. After lunch I socialized with the attention-hungry inside birds like Chantilly and Monroe (see Tisha's day above), folded laundry, fed worms apple slices (who knew?), and prepared plates of seasoned dead mice for evening and morning feedings. This finishes my rotation through the different areas of Best Friends; tomorrow I get to go back to the area I liked the best -- the cats!
Wednesday, June 12
Letitia's Day:
Today I worked in dogs in the morning and in horses in the afternoon.
I worked in this place called the Garden. The two octagons in the Garden are run by a girl named Stephanie.
She is really cool. The first thing we did was introduce a new dog into a run.
Stephanie and I stayed in the run for a while making sure no dog fights would happen.
After we were sure Sport was settled we started feeding. Each run has a feeding card that tells which dogs
need to be tied up to eat. In all the runs in the garden one dog eats inside while the rest eat outside.
Some of these dogs have to be chained up because they are food aggressive. If they were not chained up to eat
dog fights would break out. Anyway, after feeding all the dogs in both runs I walked two runs before lunch.
After lunch I headed down to horses to help dig these moisturizing places for the horses' feet.
First we dug a hole in the pasture. Then we laid some plastic down and put railroad ties on
top of it. Next we replaced the sand on the plastic and wet the sand. This made a place that helps the moisture stay
in one place. The reasoning behind this is that the horses' feet are very dry right now and
this make it hard to trim their hooves. The horse people think that if the
horses can get some moisture on their feet their hooves will be better. It is just an experiment. If it works
in the first four pastures, they will dig ones in the other pastures. It was hard dirty work, but we all went
out to eat at a Mexican restaurant. It was a tiring but fun day.
Morgan's Day:
I started off the day with cats
in Benton's House. I had never worked in this area before, so it was pretty exciting to meet some new kitties. I cleaned in two rooms labelled as Benton's and Bruiser's. Bruiser's Room contains cats that have kidney problems, which is a condition that can never be reversed. Just like humans, when a cat's kidneys go, that's that. I met a cat named Harriet who spent most of the morning on my shoulders while I tried to clean (very difficult, let me tell you!). In just about every cat run you go into, the cleaning routine is the same: you brush the beds; sanitize the cubbyholes, walks, and tables; scoop out the litter boxes; sweep; mop; refill water bowls; gather up the dishes; and of course, play with the cats. At first thought this stuff might not seem to be a whole lot of fun, but cleaning in a room with a fifteen or twenty cats is a total blast. You are socializing with the cats and taking care of them at the same time. There is nothing else I'd rather do.
In the afternoon I worked with Michelle and the other interns in horses, digging areas for moisturizing the horses' hooves, which are really dry right now (especially considering the drought I mentioned). These areas are really an experiment or trial run until it can be determined whether or not they are actually helping. If they are, then areas will be dug in all of the pastures. As it is, there will be only four for the trial. With the second area we dug out, the ground was rock hard so we kept having to wet it down with the water hose. However, with much determination and hard work, we finally got it all dug out. Michelle took us all out to Escobar's, a really wonderful Mexican restaurant, as a reward. It was an exhausting day.
Thursday, June 13
Letitia's Day:
Today I worked in cats. My day started off in Benton's House. Most of the cats in this house
are older and many have kidney problems. I cleaned two rooms in Benton's with the help of a volunteer.
Unfortunately, I also let out some cats. In one room the door does not catch very good. When I was done
with that room, I went to get some new cat beds to put in there. I walked through the inside
to put some of the beds in the outdoor part of the cat room. When I came back through the door had
swung open and I could see two cats going down the hall. Luckily we got those two back in and found the sneaky one who tried to hide. After cleaning, I had a few minutes to socialize with the cats before it was time for lunch. After lunch I got to go wherever I wanted to socialize with the cats. I spent most of my time in the shy kitty room again. I helped clean it because it had not gotten cleaned in the morning. After that I went to another building to see some kitties I had not seen before. I finished up the day back in the shy kitty room playing with cats and taking pictures of Morgan with some of them because she had some extra time at the end of the day. She was shadowing the vet tech today.
Morgan's Day:
Today I got to shadow Rachel, the cat vet tech. This was a really amazing day becuase I had the opportunity to see how all of the cats in the sanctuary have their medication needs taken care of. I think this would be an awesome job because you have the chance to work in all of the cat buildings and you get to know most of the cats. While I was there I also had the chance to check on Sidda, who is being held in the ISO building (also known as Happy Landings). The first thing I did today was watch Rachel express the cats, which means to relieve their bladders when they can't do it themselves. There are quite a few cats here with that problem. Then I helped her get the morning meds together for all of the cats. Some cats get shots; others have their meds mixed in food; still others are pilled (sticking the pill straight down their throats) or the pill is hidden in a cat treat. Rachel has gotten to know the best medication technique for each cat. What works for some doesn't work for others. I found out that there is one kind of medicine that most cats can't wait to get -- hairball treatment. It is squeezed out of a tube and is brownish, sticky, and flavored. I put some on my finger and the cats promptly lick it off! I had no clue that a cat could like any medical treatment so much.
Later I observed Rachel testing a new cat's blood for feline leukemia and FIV. This is done with just one test, which looks strangely like a human pregnancy test. There are three dots located on a strip. They form an upside down triangle. When the blood is placed in the tester, the strip soaks it up. After about seven minutes you get the results. One dot, the bottom one, will always show up. If neither of the other two show up, then the cat has tested as a double negative for both diseases. If one of the other dots shows up, then the cat has either FIV or feline leukemia, depending on if it was the left or right dot. In a few rare cases, both top dots could show up and the cat would be positive for both diseases. There is a cat in ISO right now who has both FIV and leukemia. The last thing I did was hold some of the bags while Rachel pumped some fluids into cats who needed it (kitties who were sick, dehydrated, or not eating). After the few afternoon meds, I had some time of my own, which I spent in Morgaine's Place with my favorite kitties, Cupcake and Prospero.
Friday, June 14
Letitia's Day:
Today I was back in dogs. I got to go back to the Garden and work with Stephanie again. Also two other volunteers, Steven and Dorothy, were working there today. One of the dogs, Kong, was sick today so a lot of our time was spent taking care of him. We cleaned out an area in a closet and made him a bed so he could rest without having to deal with the other dogs in the run. Dorothy stayed with Kong for a while to keep him company. The rest of us got on with feeding. By the time all that was done we had only a little bit of time left, but between Steven, Dorothy, and I we got two runs walked. It is now too hot here to walk dogs in the afternoon. The sand burns their feet and they become fatigued easily. After lunch we did reflections which focused on the culture differences between the culture at Best Friends and the culture in town. We also compared the cultures between the different areas of the Sanctuary. After reflections, I headed back to the Garden to help with cleaning. I cleaned all the runs in one octagon and then had a little bit of time left for socializing and taking pictures. It was hard to get good pictures though because all the dogs want to be right next to you if you are in the run or close to a fence. Eventually some of them will back away from you long enough to get a picture, but some I had to take through the doors into the run. This marks the half way point of our time here. Only two weeks left. We have Monday off so maybe we'll get caught up on some stuff this weekend.
Morgan's Day:
Kitten day! Today I had the opportunity to work in Cat Headquarters, where several of the kittens are housed. Working with kittens mainly entails keeping the cages and the kittens clean, which can sometimes be quite a task. There are four cages holding different litters; in one cage only one kitten, Keller, is left from his original litter. The rest were adopted out on one of the cat adoption weekends. Another litter of kittens has been dubbed the Enchilada Gang; they were found unconscious in a field, and when they were brought in they were lying side by side in a box, evidently looking like enchiladas. Their individual names are Cheeto, Frito, Dorito, and Rosie Toes. They love to play (most of them gang up on Rosie Toes, but she gives back as good as she gets!) and sleep. I washed food off of these guys later in the afternoon, and it is very difficult keeping them still enough to accomplish this feat. Luckily I had Kitten Mittens gloves with long fingers and fluffy balls tied to the end) to keep them distracted. Frito, who insists on being the first out every time, cried for more attention all day long.
