Needs From: Whitworth Serves

Do you love animals and are addicted to social media?  Why not combine these loves?  Come down and make the goofiest video of some of our pups or take the most amazing photos of our adorable kitties and make them go viral.  Help us reach people that we couldn’t otherwise and make a difference in the lives of homeless animals!

Our adoptable cats reside at all three local PetSmarts, all three local PetCos and the Kitty Cantina plus we often bring dogs or puppies to these adoption centers.  These animals get scooped up by adopters and go off to start their new lives. We found homes for over 4,000 cats and dogs last year! At PetSmart and Petco, store volunteers keep the adoption areas clean and tidy, socialize the kitties, and help with adoptions.

We depend on the kindness, love and homes of our foster parents to help us save hundreds of lives every year.  Members of our foster care program open up their homes for shelter animals.  They care for kittens or puppies until they are old enough for adoption, animals with illnesses and injuries until they are healed, and animals who need socialization or those who are not thriving in the shelter environment.  The time commitment varies upon the needs of the foster pet, but generally is between 2 weeks and 3 months. 

Fostering is a flexible, fun and rewarding volunteer experience, and requires a special person- able to invest themselves into the lives of foster pets, and let them go knowing they’ve helped save a life.  We provide all supplies foster parents need, from food and bedding to medication. While it is best to have some knowledge about animal behavior and health, we always try to match foster parents with animals whose needs are within your ability level, and we provide ongoing help and support throughout your foster experience. 

If you have your own animals, you’ll want to consider how they will adjust to having a foster pet. Some animals do very well with a temporary friend and can help socialize the foster animal. Other pets have a harder time with new animals being added to or leaving the family. You’re the best judge of your pet’s personality.  For the safety of your pets and the foster animal, it’s important to keep your pets up-to-date on vaccinations. In many cases, the foster pet will need to be isolated from your own pets, either temporarily or throughout the foster period.

If you’re looking for a fun way to help shelter dogs and/or get your fitness steps in - look no further! Come volunteer at our shelter to walk dogs! Exercise and time socializing with people is so important for our canine critters that you’d be doing an amazing service for our dogs. Please note, some of our fur babies haven’t been taught leash etiquette and may be more of a workout than others. Our shelter staff and experienced volunteers will show you the ropes and help you select the dogs right for your comfort level.  Your time with the dog outside of the shelter helps us learn more about them so we can help find the best adoption match.

We’re excited to be out and about in our community! BUT, we need more help! If you’re interested in volunteering your time to help staff our booths at community events, help with pets at special adoption events, or help at fundraisers - WE NEED YOU! Please note, RELIABILITY IS A MUST. When you agree to help, we’ll be depending on you to show up and stay for the duration of the event! We have great brochures and resources to help you answer questions and represent SpokAnimal and our pets too! Once you register as a volunteer, we’ll notify you when event help is needed. If it works with your schedule and sounds fun to you, just let us know you’re committed to helping. We’ll send you a reminder that we need your shortly before the event too.