Today's adventure had me in the midst of the LA ghetto. On my bike.
I got to sleep in this morning, which felt awesome, even though I was still pretty tired when I got up. I didn't have much time between my late breakfast and the time I was supposed to be at Kitty Bungalow (explanation in a moment!), so I had to grab some directions and head out the door.
The Bungalow is about 2 miles away from my dorm tower, so naturally, I planned to bike. Especially because stupid Campus Cruiser doesn't work when your destination is outside a one-mile radius from campus (come on guys).
It's crazy how quickly the scenery around you changes once you're out of reach from the university. The stores on the sides of the street look so run-down all of a sudden. I biked down a residential side-street and the entire road smelled like trash. It was trash pick-up day, I suppose. The streets were hard to navigate, and I was worried every two minutes that some car was going to slide up behind me and run me to the ground.
I finally got to the area where the Bungalow was supposed to be, but the address of the place looked like.... an abandoned house. There were people in the back working, but no sign or anything... I expected there to be a sign, at least. I pulled out my iPhone to see if I was actually in the right place, but soon another USC student pulled up to the same house and confirmed that I was in the right place. We went inside, and it immediately smelled like cats. It was a really pretty house, even though it was old and there was renovation happening, but I was taken aback by the location and the journey there, so it was hard to appreciate right away.
I warmed up to it eventually though.
Ok, explanation time: Kitty Bungalow is a home/school for feral kittens. It was really started by accident: the owner of this house discovered a colony of cats living around her house, and there were kittens involved. She adopted them out, but there were more and more kittens. After doing some research and realizing just how many kittens are born every year and never given a chance at homes, she created Kitty Bungalow to take them in, socialize them, and then adopt them out to loving homes. Normally they only take in kittens, because kittens are more easy to train and socialize, and because people want to adopt kittens more than they do adult cats. However, they also practice TNR around the neighborhood: humane trap, neuter, and release. Cats are trapped, brought back, spayed or neutered, given all necessary vaccines and treatments they may need in the rest of their lifetime, and then released back into their colony. This helps eliminate the problem of multiple kittens being born that won't get good treatment or homes, and also helps the remaining adult cats to live longer, healthier lives.
Anyways, the kittens brought back to the Bungalow are worked with, taken care of, and eventually adopted out.
I first heard about Kitty Bungalow at the USC Work-Study job faire. There was a booth out, and even though I'm not Work-Study, the idea of getting to play and volunteer with cats was such a fun idea! I took a brochure, looked up some more information about the organization, and decided to attend the volunteer Orientation today.
We were first introduced to the "headmistress" of the Bungalow. She told us the story of how the organization got started, and then proceeded to tell us the types of things we would need to know as volunteers. We were taught how to handle the cats and how to properly keep an eye on them and take care of them, given a tour of the house and of the new facility being built in the backyard, and finally told the next steps we needed to take and were signed up for a weekly time. We also got to hold a few of the cats: even the ones that were still "hissy," or not fully-trained yet. They're all so cute!!
But yeah, it's basically official: I will be volunteering at Kitty Bungalow Fridays from 3 to 5:30.
What takes me aback though, and makes me kind of nervous, is that we're going to have to be taught very basic medical skills. So... at the end of that training session, I'll be a very basic form of a Vet Tech. The most intense things I'll have to do are take the kittens' temperature (under the tail, you know), and should there be anything unusual in the litter boxes, take a sample of it to send to the lab.
Oh, there's also cleaning litter boxes, doing laundry, making sure the kittens eat ok and take note of when they don't....
I'm basically becoming a kitten nurse, as well as a teacher and friend to them.
I'm excited! But also terribly nervous that I'll screw up and some kitten will die because of me. Or that they'll give me some kind of disease while I'm working with them... they are cats, after all. Most of what the humans could catch from them is topical stuff, ringworm for example, but still. That would suck.
Anyways, I biked back from the Bungalow and grabbed some lunch at EVK, then went to the library to study and study and study. I sat in there for three and a half hours before going to dinner. Ugh. And the line for food was ridiculously long!!! I waited almost a half hour just to get food!!!
But I had a ton of fun talking with my friends while and after we ate! I'm so glad to have met such great people while I'm here. I spent a lot of time after dinner in Sneha and Kieryn's room just talking and laughing with them for a long time.
And now I'm here and worried once again that I'm signing myself for too much. I mean, the Bungalow is only once a week, but what will happen next semester when I'll try to be in a show and maybe even get a job? Am I going to be able to handle all of that?
I hope so. One thing's for sure: I made a commitment to the Bungalow that I want to keep. I've always wanted to volunteer with animals, and in doing this, I'll be saving some kitten lives. How amazing and fun and... once-in-a-lifetime is that? If I do ever have to back out of it, I don't want to say that I didn't do enough before I left. I want to help and be able to create a pet that will likely be loved and cherished for a long time (God-willing).
Part of me feels guilty... what about the people who need lives saved and things changed? At the same time... I've got more time than just this year. One step at a time, that's all.
I'll figure out a balance, some way...
Fight on, friends.
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