Between 2009-2016, I held many jobs w/ them. They’re all volunteers, no paid staff, work full-time reg jobs, & have only 1 phone line with v-mail & 1 email. In order to avoid chaos and duplicity in responding to the 60-100 calls & 200-300 emails PER DAY (yes, you heard right), these are manned by only 3-4 dedicated volunteers, who split up the inquiries, delegate as many as possible to other knowledgeable volunteers, all of whom treat it like a job, year after year, & know how to handle almost every situation. But because lower level volunteer turnover is high, you have to keep a core of a few folks who know everything, & thus, they end up with the vast majority of the work, done in their spare time, around “real” jobs, kids, life, illness, holidays, & vacations-just like all orgs. Yet, 4 Paws has the most dedicated volunteers, highest standards for pets & adopters, most organized systems, best social media. With only 150 vol’s, they adopt out 450 cats a year & find barn homes 4 ferals

I have contacted 4Paws about the posting for a Petco Caretaker volunteer twice and not received a response. I will not contact them a third time. In my opinion, if an organization is asking for volunteers, they should either be responding to those who are offering to help, or not posting the advertisement at all.

cause i love animals