Hello! I'm Stevi and I am one of the cat carers working here at the Cats Protection Bridgend Adoption Centre. Today I am going to talk you through what us cat carers do in our job role on a day-to-day basis.
When we arrive at the centre in the morning we are each given a section in which we will be working that day. Depending on which section we are in, we set up everything we need in order to begin the morning feed and clean.
Next up it's breakfast time! Any kittens are fed first and some cats have different dietary needs so we feed them accordingly. The cats are all fed the same amount of food (30g) to ensure their welfare needs are met. Although it doesn't look a lot in their bowl, the dry food swells in their stomachs and fills them up until dinner time.
Each pen is cleaned making sure the pen floor, walls and door are sparkling. We change the cats litter tray and put down fresh water and give their bedding a good shaking out - we usually change this every other day unless it is dirty or particularly fluffy.
Each day we have new cats coming into the centre, these need to be health checked, treated for fleas and worms and scanned incase of a microchip. If the cat is chipped we then have to check the number against the information we have from the previous owner or if we have a stray cat bought in and it is chipped we will then contact the owner on the cats microchip details to hopefully have a happy ending!
During the health check we check ears for mites, check over the eyes, teeth and gums. We feels down their bodies and check their pads, claws and their tail. We note down any concerns we have and then the cat is put into it's new pen and settled in for it's stay with us before it gets checked over by the vet.
We have members of the public in everyday to find their new companion. A form is filled out and the public is left to browse the information each cat has above its kennel. After choosing their favourite they get to meet them, hopefully a bond is established and then they are able to adopt their new feline friend! I personally love this part of the job, when somebody finds their perfect pet and you get to know the cat is going to be loved and cared for by its new owner!
Once the centre is closed to the public we then have dinner time! We feed through the section we were in during the morning and give out any medication needed, top up the water bowls and change any used trays. Once this is all done we spend the last part of the day getting ready to do it all again tomorrow! We re-line the litter trays, re-stock gloves and aprons and make sure empty pens are cleaned and ready for cats to move into.
The day is non-stop and is totally different every day - which means us cat carers are sure to get a good nights sleep! We do lots of other jobs during the day including moving cats to different pens, deep cleaning pens, going out to our local supermarkets and collecting donated food and taking cats to and from vet appointments.
Hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about what we do daily,
Purrs for now! x
