Pssst...guess what? (Updated: the account of my first day!)

[moosmom]

Congrats, Zara!! I know you'll be a wonderful volunteer. Just TRY not to bring home anything. It's very hard to do.

[Karen]

Congratulations! The RSPCA is lucky to be having you! Give any bunnies an extra kiss from me, okay? Actually nose rubs are more universally appreciated by bunnies, so give them each one fom me!

[Miss Z]

This is a page on their website of some of the animals they have there, and oh lookie Karen, do I spy a big squishy bunny???

http://www.rspca-preston.org.uk/pets_adopt_preston.php

Thanks so much for all the compliments everyone, and yes, I expect they'll have to drag me out of there kicking and screaming when its closing time

[Blue_Frog]

Yay Zara! The animals and RSPCA are lucky to have you there!!

[chrissycat21]

Congrats and good luck! I can't wait to hear about your first day.

[Chilli]

Aww! I think if I were in your place, I'd be bringing Tookie(ferret) & Arnie(rat) home without hesitation! Then again, I think thats the reason my mum doesn't really allow me to volunteer full time at an actual rescue.

[Miss Z]

...it was GREAT!

My toes and back aches and I can't seem to get the smell of dog biscuits off my hands, but after 5 hours spent with animals who can complain?

OK, so I started off feeding and watering the rats, there are 3 and they are all adorable. Yes Courtney, I met Arnie and he is a sweetheart, he decided that my knuckles were quite tasty and tried to nibble them as I was putting his food bowl back in his cage!

Then it was on to muck out the two goats, it was fun putting the towels on the floor and then 'scooting' around on them to dry the stall up after hosing it down.

For the rest of the day I was mostly occupied with dogs, I popped in to have a look where the cats, rabbits and birds were all kept, but it was the dogs that required most work. I took a few dogs for walks, the first one being a gorgeous saluki named Solo, and then what I think was a curly-coated retriever named Bess, she was a doll! At first she was a bit wary of me, but after 5 minutes or so of playing fetch she soon allowed me to take the ball from her mouth. I also walked a lovely staffie who's name I can't remember .

Of course, I had to do lots of cleaning, which involved cleaning the outdoor pens, the puppy pens and the dog bowls. They have the most adorable litter of rhodesian ridgeback puppies, and a sweet doberman youngster named Bobby who is extremely friendly. One of the things we have to do is put on ear muffs when we enter the kennels to stop our ears being damaged by the barking!

Finally I fed a few of the dogs and also helped give a couple tablets in their food. I had to feed a staffie named Diesel, who is a very excitable and strong dog and had a big 'staff only' sign on his pen, so I was a little nervous that when I opened the door he'd bound out and run riot but thankfully he allowed me to open the door like a true gentleman.

So that was my day! It was so enlightening and really enjoyable, but in other ways it was very sad. The shelter does the best it can for all the animals there, but in your heart you know all the pets there deserve so much better than the pens they are in for most of the day and should have homes of their own. I also found it sad that there are no dogs like labs, poodles etc, the majority are stronger dogs such as german shepherds, mastiffs and american bulldogs, along with an overwhelming number of staffies. Guess people get these dogs and just discard them when they become too much of a handful

But of course, it was wonderful, and I'm counting the hours until next Saturday!