News Briefs for the Week of May 5, 2002
By Marcella Durand for Cat Facts
- Looking for a Cat Sitter?
The beds are comfy, the sunsets are spectacular and the water is a dream. But somehow, you just can't drink enough beachside piña coladas to erase the guilt. Is kitty home alone?
Going on vacation isn't carefree for cat owners. Kitty doesn't like to travel with you, and she's the worst when it comes to crashing in someone else's pad. But it's hard to find someone you trust enough to stay at home with her. Which is exactly why the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS), a non-profit organization for professional pet sitters, has recently introduced a toll-free number for trustworthy pet sitters.
The 800 number, introduced in March, has already been a huge hit. "We're getting about 700 calls a month," says Sally Liddick, director of NAPPS. When pet owners call the number, they are asked to input their zip code, and are then referred to the closest NAPPS members. In addition to giving kitty loving care while you're away, members can also water plants, check mail and open and close the curtains, "so that the home looks lived in," says Liddick.
All NAPPS members, of whom there are about 1,400 in the United States, are required to adhere to a professional code of conduct, which includes supporting and encouraging responsible pet ownership. The complete code is available on the NAPPS web site at www.petsitters.org. The new toll-free number is (800) 296-PETS. And watch that sunburn!
- Shelter Work: A High-Stress Job
Many of us deal with work-related stress from time to time, but imagine this: you've just spent your entire day deciding which animals at an animal shelter will live, and which will die. And tomorrow, you have to do it again. You literally hold dozens of lives in your hands, every single day.
With work stress like that, it's no wonder that, in a recent study of 213 shelter workers, almost 75 percent reported suffering from at least one euthanasia-related stress symptom, such as nightmares, depression, sleep loss or difficulty concentrating. The study was commissioned by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and conducted at the Institute of Psychological Research and Application at Bowling Green University. "To the best of my knowledge, this is the first quantitative study that looks at this population," says Charlie L. Reeve, PhD, one of the researchers.
According to Natalie DiGiacomo, program coordinator for the HSUS's Great Lakes Regional Office, the goals of the study are to analyze how much stress shelter workers suffer and to help them manage it in healthier ways. "[Shelter workers] enter this field because they care about animal welfare, then they're faced with this very difficult challenge ... There is just so much stress related to euthanasia," says DiGiacomo. "When you're stressed, that affects retention and employee morale. You want to be able to see what's affecting your staff-that will make you all-in-all a healthier organization." She adds, "It's all related. We take care of the animals and we take care of the humans who take care of the animals." The next step for the researchers is a nationwide survey of shelter workers on euthanasia-related stress.
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