Well, word on the street has it that a nearby (probably overwhelmed) cat rescuer was put out of cat adoption by NYS, and of course several TNR groups in NYS have stopped doing adoption on their own. So I guess I'd better getting moving faster than I have been to try to finish up meeting the new standards. Then I'll ask the 501c3 who has agreed to take this on, to send in the application and $150 fee.
The Ag and Markets rep at the Shelter Medicine conference said inspectors were more concerned about paperwork than facilities (sigh). But I don't want to risk a first inspection and end up with a whole laundry list of things to correct, if I can get it close to right the first time. For example, the regs say "no permeable surfaces." One webinar I've listened to said this means a shoe tray under food dishes and litter pans is enough in carpeted area (???) but then another person who has already been inspected apparently said they were told their tiled bathroom wouldn't work as an isolation area because there were cracks between the tiles. This sounds like a BIG difference in interpretation to me, so I'm just going to go with the strictest (possible) interpretation I can reach here in my home.
I completed the ASPCA Learn module a few months ago and went back in to summarize for a shorter course for my own vistors/volunteers, and get this -- once you take it, it appears the only way to review the content is to take the 3-4 module all over again - including all the short exam questions.
I sent off an email to the ASPCA Learn staff hoping I missed something (a pdf of what you've completed, maybe, that's buried in a link somewhere?) because I'd really like to touch base on what they felt was important without having to take the whole thing over.
I have to create something I think people visiting here will be able to finish and retain, and I'm also trying to make it relate to their pet-loving life outside of here, too. But I do want to be sure I'm touching on the things the ASPCA found most important, too. For example, which particular zoonotic diseases they highlighted. I know there were some they DIDN'T include that I find important, but I absolutely want to include the ones they DID.
Right now my own shorter training is still in its "write all the boring shit down" stage and then after slimming it down and spiffing it up, I'll test it on a few long-time adopters and visitors. I want to know if it hurts their brain so much that, if they were new, they wouldn't bother visiting to socialize cats and kittens.
There are also printable written resources by the ASPCA and the NYS Animal Protection Federation but they are long, comprehensive (for actual animal shelters), with teeny tiny fonts in their pdfs. The digital marketer in me cringes, and I'm sure the people who wrote the content are cringing too, because it's super hard to get that much info in a pdf, especially utilizing tables. And nonetheless, there's a ton of stuff my visitors don't need because it's cats-only here, and visitors aren't restraining cats and cleaning cages, either.
I'll also be doing a video on cat and kitten handling here, with a facility video walk-through, because I do things a bit differently than others. For example, no "offering a finger to sniff" here because it gives the shy cats static shocks right on their sensitive noses, and makes them distrust hands. We ask people to offer the knuckles of their relaxed fist, or just start right in petting behind the cat's head, since that's what the cats here are used to. Also, no "pisst-pisst" noises here, just "kitty kitty" since the noise sounds like hissing.
Also, there are concerns like holding onto the damned stair rail that people often don't do that I want to include that the other courses don't.
Of course, there's the health care protocol, the pest control protocol, the forms to log temp and ammonia levels, etc. Even though my "flying insect control" is a fly swatter it has to be written down, and a dedicated fly swatter needs to be at hand. I can't even recall the last time I saw a fly upstairs. Probably the cats catch that random fly before I even see it!
Once it's all written down and approved...it's done. So it's really only quite painful this first time around -- although the daily grind checking and logging all the info will add a lot to my day.
The other pain is that my lap tops won't talk to my printer using my Pixel 3 phone hotspot. So now I need to add another $59.00 to my monthly budget for internet service to use a router again. I've got a new Pixel 10 (free!) so I'll fire that up first to see if perhaps it has the internet guts to connect devices to one another.
So there we are. Once it's all done it will ALL be posted online for anyone to look at. I probably should wait until after the inspection. I'd had to publish something online that another cat person grabs to use and then discover something in it is insufficient.
The birds are singing and it's a nice cool late afternoon, so it's time for a break to play with the cats and kittens. Part of the 20-minute per room (per cat, technically) play time I'm required to provide them with. Technically, the kittens aren't mine. I'm fostering them for a veterinarian, but they are good practice!
Update: Reply from ASPCA Learn
Hi Susan,
Unfortunately, there is not a summary sheet of the courses and no way to view them again without taking the exams.
Thank you,
Sigh.
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