General Summary:
This position offers an exciting opportunity to work at a one-of-a-kind, cat-only sanctuary where you will work alongside a small, caring staff and over 300 volunteers to provide high quality, daily care for our feline residents while they await their forever homes. Our cats range from healthy, vibrant kittens to sweet seniors and cats with advanced needs like diabetes or paralysis. You will help provide these cats with daily medication, food, cleaning and participate in their adoptions.
Providing excellent care to our cats is a top priority, but we also strive to treat our staff, volunteers and supporters with the same level of respect and care. In this position you will receive generous benefits and work with a team that values you and your contributions to the organization.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Sanctuary Associate (Animal Care Technician)
- Administer medications to cats: pills, liquids, insulin injections and other medications
- Feed cats: preparing and feeding meals and monitoring cat appetites
- Handle cats: holding, moving and restraining cats for exams, nail trims, weighing and grooming. Some cats may be fractious.
- Clean: cages, rooms, laundry, dishes, litter boxes, bathrooms.
- Perform other procedures on cats, such as physical therapy, expressing urinary bladders, weighing cats, clipping claws
- Learn and practice basic veterinary skills as required by the Medical Skills Compliance program,
- Interact with and support volunteers in their duties
- Prepare and update cat records
- Observe and socialize the cats
- Interact with the public: greeting visitors, answering questions, giving tours, accepting donations, answering phone calls and emails
- Assist with Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) projects: trapping, transporting, and caring for feral cats; counseling members of the public on community cat issues and TNR
Adoption Matching & Facilitation
- Provide exemplary service to our adopters by effectively communicating and guiding them through the adoption process
- Become familiar with available cats and their history, medical and behavioral needs in order to provide accurate information to adopters and create the best possible adoption matches
- Assist prospective adopters in selecting the potential adoption matches based on the adopter’s application, home environment, lifestyle, and interviews with prospective adopters
- Schedule and facilitate meetings with prospective adopters to view potential matches; get to know adopter through conversation; observe interactions of the prospective adopter with the cat(s)
- Accurately communicate history, medical and behavioral needs of the cat and supply adopters with the necessary information and resources during counseling sessions to set them up for success
- Educate prospective adopters about proper care for the cats they are considering for adoption
Adoption Processing
- Review adoption applications
- Perform reference checks as needed
- Respond to questions from prospective adopters about the adoption process
- Coordinate with the Medical Team to schedule a pre-adoption exam or any final medical checks and procedures prior to adoption; verify completion
- Provide medical records of adopted cats
- Process adoption paperwork and adoption fee payments; this includes closing animal records, updating medical information and processing payments
- Ensure that all adoption paperwork is reviewed, approved, completed, filed and organized according to policy
Adoption Pick-Up Facilitation on Day of Adoption
- Ensure adopter has received all medical records
- Review adoption contract
- Provide food and diet instructions to adopter
- Provide medications, instructions and medication demonstration
- Prepare cats to leave the shelter, ensuring secure crating
Adoption Follow-Ups
- As needed perform multiple adoption follow ups to assess how the integration of the cat into the adopter’s home is going, to answer adopter’s questions, and to support the adopter through common challenges
- Share adoption follow up stories and photos to staff and volunteers
Required Knowledge, Skills & Competencies:
- A deep love of cats and passionate commitment to cats in need
- A willingness to learn to handle cats of varying personalities and medical conditions
- A willingness to learn basic nursing and triage skills
- Excellent customer service skills
- Knowledge of cat behavior and human psychology
- Affection for people, including those who may be quirky or challenging
- Ability to educate others about cat behavior and cat care
- Outstanding oral communications and interpersonal skills
- Keen attention to detail and follow-through/follow-up
- Strong initiative and ability to work with minimal supervision and direction
- Strong teamwork skills to ensure adoptions move forward in a timely manner and handoffs between other team members are smooth
Educational Qualifications/Job Experience Requirements:
- Previous hands-on experience with cats and knowledge of cat behavior is a plus
- Experience with Pet Point shelter software is a plus
Working Conditions/Physical Requirements:
- Must be able and willing to work weekends, holidays, and during inclement weather
- Environment: Work takes place in the sanctuary, which houses 100+ cats at any point in time. Cats will be present in all areas of the sanctuary, including cat suites, the lobby, community rooms, and offices; these areas include accommodation for all normal bodily functions of cats. A cat sanctuary involves care of sick and often terminally ill cats, so the Sanctuary Associate/Adoption Counselor must be willing to deal with emotional situations and attachment to cat residents
- Physical Requirements: The duties of a Sanctuary Associate/Adoption Counselor require physical labor, including the ability to: stoop, twist and stretch arms while handling (potentially fractious) cats, cleaning cages and other duties; pull, push and maneuver cleaning equipment; carry objects up to 40 pounds in weight
Job Type: Full-time (31 hrs/wk)
Benefits may include: health insurance and paid time off
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Work Location:
Work Remotely
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: From $16.00 per hour
Expected hours: No more than 31 per week
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Employee discount
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Schedule:
- 10 hour shift
- 8 hour shift
- Day shift
- Every weekend
- Holidays
Application Question(s):
- Tell me about your experience in animal welfare.
Experience:
- Animal Welfare: 1 year (Preferred)
Ability to Relocate:
- Ringoes, NJ 08551: Relocate before starting work (Required)
Work Location: In person