One of our main responsibilities is to attend national pet adoption events at pet stores like Petsmart or Petco. We bring a couple of kitties with us and all of our educational materials and talk to customers about the pets we have brought along, other available pets and the benefits of adoption.
The rescue organization is run completely by volunteers and as such, there is a need to be self-directed and figure things out on your own. For example, when we started, we had to figure out where the pet carriers are, where the crates are, the food, the bowls, etc. But the biggest mystery is which kitties you should bring along to the adoption event. Choosing a cat without direction is tricky. Some of the cats run free in the cat room. If you choose one of those you need to figure out exactly which cat it is by looking at the list of adoptable pets. Others are in their large cages. The names are usually posted so at least you have a name and hopefully a little bit of history on the cat. Sometimes it is just easiest to choose whichever cat wanders into the pet carrier when you set it down on the floor.
We ran into exactly this dilemma one Saturday, early in our volunteering career. We found all the materials and supplies we needed. And then it was just a matter of determining which cats to bring.
We have always believed that the purpose of going to these adoption events is to attract potential adopters to your table. And nothing attracts more people than cute, adorable kittens. Adult cats are fine but your traffic is increased tenfold if you bring little fluffy kittens.
As luck would have it, there were two of the most darling kittens ever, in the cat room in their own big cage, playing together like the wild cats they were. Friendly and curious, they were more than willing to be placed into the pet carriers so off we went to the store with the cutest kittens ever. This was going to be a great day.
We got to the store and set up everything we needed. Then we got out those beautiful kittens and placed them in the cage on the table so people could see them playing in their little hammock, frolicking with toys, etc. And the people came. We talked to them about adoption. We showed them bios on the other cats and dogs that were available for adoption. We told them about our animal rescue. Big smiles all around. It was going great.
I noticed off in the distance, that the Dog Coordinator for the rescue was over in another part of the store processing adoption papers for someone who had adopted one of the dogs currently in the rescue. A slight wave of acknowledgement passed between us. We were feeling good about our day and good about being volunteers.
About two hours into our shift I noticed another woman approach the Dog Coordinator. A conversation ensued and they both looked our way. This new person came walking towards us.
“Hi, I’m Jane and I’m the Cat Coordinator at the rescue.” Jane isn't her real name of course. Honestly, I don't remember what her name was. But I do remember that Jefferson Starship had a hit single with "Jane" in 1980 without Grace Slick on lead vocals. Great lyrics. But I digress.
Back to the story. I was so excited! Obviously she was here to thank us for all the volunteer hours we have been putting in. That is SO nice! And us so early in our volunteer careers, already being recognized. Wow!
I extended my hand and enthusiastically introduced myself and my daughter. Curiously, the cat coordinator did not seem excited to shake my hand. And this is why…
“Yeah, nice to meet you. We think those kittens have ringworm. You’ll need to take them back to the animal rescue right away and put them in the intake room. You can go ahead and bring other cats back here if you like.”
A look of sheer horror crossed our faces and a thousand thoughts were swirling in our brains. We don’t know anything about ringworm except it is contagious. Just how much did we touch these kittens? Did we let any customers touch them? If so, did they use the hand sanitizer afterwards? Yes, we were positive there was good use of the hand sanitizer. What if we get ringworm? What are the symptoms of ringworm? Will our dog get ringworm from us?
All I managed to get out in response was, “Our shift is almost over so I think we’ll just take these kittens back and call it a day instead of bringing different cats back.”
We packed up our supplies, materials and the kittens in record time. The drive back to the shelter was silent. Just the sound of little mews from the pet carrier in the back seat and our panicked, shallow, breathing.
“Do you know anything about ringworm?” my daughter finally asked.
“Not a lot. I know it’s contagious. We’ll need to look it up online when we get home.” I responded in my most cheery voice. I was doing my best to sound calm and nonchalant.
All the way back to the shelter I was thinking to myself. Have I ever seen ringworm? I grew up on a farm. Surely some animal, person, etc. has been infected with ringworm at some point in time. I certainly don’t remember it if it happened. I am totally in the dark on this one.
We got back to the rescue and put the kittens carefully in the intake room. In silence we scrubbed down the cage, the carrier and everything else we used and put it back.
Then we got back in the car for the long drive home. All the while, I’m imagining germs and bacteria and fungus overtaking my car.
The drive home was very quiet. Except for me stating I was hungry. But now was not a time to go through the drive thru to get Chicken McNuggets. Now was a time for action and decontamination.
As we got closer to home, I felt the need to start a conversation regarding Truman, our beloved chocolate lab. Could he get ringworm from us? Is it on our clothes? How will we make sure we protect him from this dastardly disease we surely now possessed? A plan was formed.
We pulled into the garage, immediately cut the engine and closed the garage door behind us. Then we completely disrobed down to our unmentionables. We went on faith that this horrible thing they call ringworm would not be able to get through our outer layers of clothes so our underwear should be safe. A quick search of the garage produced towels that we use to dry off Truman after we go for a walk in the rain. Not exactly clean but adequate for wrapping up in. Drastic times call for drastic measures.
Next, we threw all of our contaminated laundry in a recycling bin. Why? Truman always sniffs us a LOT when we come home from working with the cats. We were afraid he would inhale the ringworm fungus from the clothes we were carrying and immediately become infected. We weren't going to take that chance! Wrapped in somewhat questionable towels, with our contaminated laundry tucked securely in a recycling bin, we were ready to execute the rest of the plan.
The next part of our plan would require us to make a run for it. The object was to get through the house without Truman sniffing us… just in case any nasty ringworm virus/fungus/bacteria, whatever, was lingering on us.
Knowing he couldn’t follow both of us at once we decided to split up. My daughter took off to the left, flying through the kitchen, living room and up the stairs to her bathroom. Truman followed while she hooted and hollered for him to stay back.
I headed to the right to the laundry room, shut the door behind me and threw all of our potentially infected clothing from the recycling bin, into the washer and turned it on hot.
Then it was back out into the garage to quickly vacuum out the car with the shop vac, wipe all the surfaces with 409 and spray it with Lysol. Okay. Done. And still warm enough in the garage I didn’t freeze to death taking this extra step in fungus elimination.
Now it was my turn to burst back through the door, hightail it through the kitchen, living room and into my bedroom and bathroom before Truman had a chance to run back downstairs and head me off.
We both showered for a very long time in our respective bathrooms, soaping and scrubbing and rinsing until all the hot water was gone.
Once we emerged, fully dressed and glowing from the excitement and adrenaline and scrubbing, I went directly to the laptop to Google ringworm. I read everything I could find, looked at all the symptoms, read all the articles and looked into all the cures. Just reading the information made me feel itchy. I even went out and bought some Lotrimin, just in case the telltale ring showed up on our skin in the middle of the night and needed to immediately be treated.
As it turns out, neither one of us got ringworm. And neither did Truman. And as I told this story to some of my friends, they laughed hysterically because apparently ringworm isn’t as big of a deal as we were making it out to be. I mean it’s still a fungus and it is contagious. But one of my friends assured me that she got it while she was a counselor at a summer camp and you use the appropriate lotion and it goes away just like that.
Even so, it took us a long time to volunteer again for another adoption event. Partly from embarrassment but partly from the sheer terror of potential fungus among us! Fortunately, we did get over it and have had a great time volunteering many hours, many weekends together, over the past few years.
I learned some valuable lessons from the experience.
1. I learned a lot about ringworm and will totally be better prepared should it ever rear its ugly, fungus-like head in the future. That Lotrimin tube is still in my bathroom, at the ready.
2. I learned that we all need to be cautious and not be blindly lured by the cute and cuddly of the world. Sometimes the cute ones are the most dangerous. Sometimes the cute ones pretend they are allergic to cats.
3. I learned that volunteering is not for sissies or the faint of heart.
4. I wash the towels in the garage a little more often now.
5. And I learned I am very lucky to have a daughter to share these adventures with. We have had some really good laughs looking back at this one. I'm sure there are more to come! I hope so! And I look forward to her someday sharing stories with me about the adventures she and her own daughter or son are out there pursuing. Full circle.
Keep on smiling!
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