Meet Shannon! RASKC is extraordinarily happy to honor Shannon Weiler. She volunteers in a variety of roles. Shannon currently works weekly shifts in the Vet Clinic, on the Cat Meet & Greet Team, on the Cat Area Stray Team, and as RASKC’s Liaison for New & Prospective Volunteers. Shannon helps to train new volunteers as a mentor and a classroom instructor. Shannon coordinates twice monthly donations from Mud Bay (Kent). She also fosters!   

Shannon has received more written kudos from RASKC staff than any other volunteer. For example, Licensed Vet Tech Colleen Wayne wrote, “I just wanted to give huge kudos to Shannon Weiler. She is always super helpful and pleasant to talk to, but today she was a super star=) I had about seven cats to bring to the cat building after surgery today, and she set up each kennel with food, water, and a towel cover. It was just so nice to bring the kitties over and put them in already prepared kennels. This allowed me to catch on other work, so kudos to her!!”

Shannon has also organized her Bank of America colleagues to make cat toys and blankets for RASKC. She has contributed more than 1,300 hours since she began in 2012. Thank you, Shannon! To read an interview with Shannon, go to our website or blog.

If you are interested in becoming a RASKC volunteer, go here to fill out an application and register for new volunteer orientation.

Meet Olga!  RASKC is very pleased to place Olga Shores in the limelight as an outstanding new volunteer.

The owner of three cats, Olga has been walking RASKC dogs since last summer. She typically contributes two shifts per week. Olga started as a “green” Dog Walker, then advanced to “red” status about four months later.

Olga is famous at RASKC, because she often checks out one or two dogs for foster overnights on her way home from work. Olga then brings the dogs back the next morning on her way back to work as an accountant. She also often takes RASKC dogs on fun weekend daytime WAGS outings too. Olga then informs staff of what the dogs’ temperament and behaviors are like outside of the shelter environment.

Olga made an extraordinary contribution to RASKC by encouraging her friend Kim Blake to volunteer here. Kim is a licensed Small Animal Massage Practitioner. Many RASKC dogs have benefited incredibly by this connection (See also the related article in this issue on RASKC dog massage).

Olga grew up in Russia with her family, including cats, birds, and hamsters. Soon after she arrived in the United States about 16 years ago, she came upon what Olga describes as “the love of my life”- her first dog. Olga was devastated when her dog died many years later. That very sad event brought Olga to the shelter. Olga said that coming to RASKC “was a new experience for me. I did not know what to expect. Now I’m thinking, I was very lucky to find RASKC and to be part of the Dog Team.”

“I’m truly amazed to see the personal approach and dedication by the staff members in their efforts to help dogs to find new homes. I try to contribute as much as I can. My favorite part of volunteering is to see wagging tails when ‘adopted’ families walk the dogs out of the shelter.“

Last month InstaCelebrity Cindy Congdon partnered with the Petco Foundation to help promote their “Be a Foster” campaign. Cindy, one of the pioneers who documented her own foster journey on Instagram in 2013, has garnered almost 500,000 followers.  Cindy joined our Foster Coordinator Lori Mason, longtime volunteer Vyrna Layton, and Animal Services Coordinator Nickie Ford to raise awareness of the importance of fostering. Cindy and RASKC representatives were available at the “Be a Foster” event to answer any and all related questions regarding the foster program.

Interested in fostering with us? Sign up to learn all about it at an upcoming session of New Volunteer Orientation.

RASKC is extremely fortunate that three volunteers- Jenna Keane, Kim Blake, and Cheri Tjoelker- provide special therapeutic touch to our dogs.

A graduate of the Northwest School for Animal Massage, Jenna said, “I don't have an agenda of ‘I will massage this dog using these five strokes for the next 30 minutes.’ Instead, my intention toward the dog is ‘I'm here to serve. How can I help?’  Then the dogs guide me throughout the time I have with them through their posture, energy, body language and reactions to the various massage strokes I offer during our time together. It's all about starting with patience and letting them choose how to engage.”

“There are dozens of strokes, and thousands of ways to combine those strokes into a massage. It is both an art and science to read an animal, choose the right strokes, use the right speed and the right pressure to get the best results for what that particular animal needs on that particular day,” added Jenna.

In addition to completing 300 hours through the Northwest School of Animal Massage, Kim completed the National Certification Examination for Canine Massage and the Washington State Jurisprudence Examination for animal massage.

Kim offers these tips:

• Animals are extremely sensitive to touch. Our idea of petting can be very irritating or over-stimulating to animals. For successful massage you should keep one hand in contact with the animal’s body at all time.  Pressure should be very light, the equivalent of moving a piece of paper across a desk with your finger.
• Animals are very sensitive to the direction in which you move their hair. Moving the hair opposite to the direction the hair grows can be very over-stimulating.

Kim has offered to teach a class on basic animal massage for RASKC volunteers and staff, so we’re looking forward to that.

See the January 2019 edition of the RASKAL Reporter for an article on Cheri’s Reiki work with dogs at the shelter.

For most of August, everyone is strongly encouraged to vote online for Becky Rubeck, RASKC’s nominee for Mud Bay’s 2019 Volunteer of Excellence Award. Online voting begins on August 5 at www.mudbay.com. If Becky wins the most votes, then she will receive $1,000 and RASKC will receive $1,000 too. Click here to learn more about Becky.

Becky specializes in providing round-the-clock care for “bottle baby” kittens. Every three to four hours Becky prepares bottles and feeds the precious fur babies during kitten season with very few breaks between litters. This year Becky has been fostering kittens non-stop, even in the early months of January, February, and March. Becky tirelessly promotes her foster kittens to be adopted by engaging with customers at RASKC and at special adoption events.

Becky played a huge role in organizing four of the major RASKC Volunteer Appreciation Banquets in Kent.  A few years ago Becky worked hard on the RASKC rummage-sale fundraisers that provided the money for RASKC to build an outside “catio” on the south side of one of our buildings.

Starting on Tuesday, August 5, please vote online at www.mudbay.com for RASKC’s Becky Rubeck to be Mud Bay’s 2019 Volunteer of Excellence!

RASKC is very happy to welcome four new temporary Animal Care Technicians- Adaelaide Anderson, Katie Brockamp, Diane Danao, and Jacey Zitterich.

Adaelaide is from the Los Angeles area, where she worked as an attorney at Public Counsel. After very positive experiences fostering dogs, Adaelaide decided to switch her vocational focus to “front line” animal-welfare work.

Katie recently volunteered as a Dog Walker at Auburn Valley Humane Society. She aspires to be a veterinarian.

Diane (pictured) grew up in Renton. She also works at a veterinary hospital in Redmond. Diane recently graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of Washington. She plans to apply for veterinary school next year.

Jacey served for many years as the Lead Technician at Sumner Veterinary Hospital. She grew up in the Puget Sound area with cats, dogs, chickens, pet turkeys and pet pheasants! Jacey adopted a dog from RASKC a few years ago that came to us with three broken legs. Jacey reports that her dog is in great shape now.

Welcome, Adaelaide, Diane, Jacey, and Katie!

Customer Service Specialist III Aaron Siegrist has been working for King County for over 20 years. He is super helpful in many ways. Aaron also serves on RASKC’s Health and Safety Committee.

Tell us about yourself.  Let me tell you about my pets. All of the animals we have at home have been adopted from RASKC. I have a 10 year-old cat named Booger, that was a foster fail. I adopted him after more than two months of fostering. He rules the two dogs in our house and keeps the large neighborhood dogs in line by chasing them off if they come too close to our yard. We adopted an interesting dog from RASKC last September, Zoey - a 1.5 year-old Taiwanese Mountain dog. She has the most unique traits and expressions I have ever seen in a dog that I’ve owned. To round out the house, we also adopted a Boston Terrier/French Bulldog mix Gizmo and a one year-old Calico/Tortie mix, named Little One. All of them combined create quite the comedy act and entertainment. Some nights we don’t know who is chasing who.

What does your work for RASKC involve?  I work in the Call Center for Animal Control, taking calls from residents for all types of animal problems that our officers respond to.

What did you do prior to coming to RASKC?  I have worked for King County for a little over 20 years. I started at the Sheriff’s Office 911 Center for over 10 years. Then I transferred to the Animal Control Call Center in 2008 for about a year and half and then moved downtown in the Vehicle/Taxi Licensing office. I returned to the Animal Control Call Center in 2017, and here I am. I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.

What do you like to do when you’re not at work?  In my off time I can usually be found working in the yard and garden practicing my green-thumb skills. We also like to go camping year round, usually in the Central Cascades near a river during the spring/summer/fall and anyplace with snow on the ground during the winter

Wrigley is a 12 year-old male cat, brown Tabby, domestic short hair (ID #A585782).  Wrigley is one cool cat who exudes the best cat vibes.  This handsome boy is very relaxed and chill.  Wrigley enjoys love and affection from humans. He does well with other cats (and has previously lived with other cats), but would still do best with a slow introduction.  He's not a big fan of young children due to their high energy (they dampen his kill his chill vibe).  Wrigley may, however, do well with older children.

Wrigley has a GREEN personality.  He is adaptable and goes with the flow. Wrigley is outgoing and carefree, and just can't wait to find his forever home!

Wrigley is neutered, litter box trained, current on his vaccinations, and micro chipped.  His $30 adoption fee also includes a free visit to the veterinarian of your choice, and 30 days of opt-in pet insurance through Trupanion.

You can find out more about Wrigley on RASKC's website at at www.kingcounty.gov/adoptapet.  Click on "cat" and type in his name. 

You can also meet Wrigley and other animals available for adoption, 7 days a week at RASKC's King County Pet Adoption Center in Kent, located at 21615 64th Ave S; Monday - Friday: 12 noon - 6 p.m., Saturday - Sunday: 12 noon - 5 p.m. Phone: 206-296-7387 (PETS), email pets@kingcounty.gov.

RASKC features Pets of the Week on our website. Several suburban newspapers also highlight RASKC’s Pet of the Week, thanks usually to the work of volunteer Dawn Gerken. RASKC’s previous Pets of the Week can be viewed on our blog.

Gigantic THANKS to RASKC volunteers at Seattle International Beer Festival. Earlier this month about 27 people affiliated with RASKC poured beverages at the Seattle International Beer Festival as a fundraiser for our Angel Fund. About $1,350 was raised! Special thanks to event organizer/ foster volunteer Melissa Blake, who has organized this fundraiser for RASKC for the past three years.

Register now to attend FUTY on Sun., Sept 15, from 4pm- 7pm (no cost but advance registration is required). Mud Bay throws an enormous party at Magnuson Park in Seattle every summer to celebrate volunteers and staff from local animal-welfare organizations. Complimentary food, libations, raffles, and lots of pet-product samples are given away. If you are a RASKC volunteer or staffer and would like to attend with a guest, go here and type in promo code FUTY19S (do not “cut and paste” the promo code, which is case sensitive).

Seeking volunteers for RASKC’s booth at community events. If you might be interested in representing RASKC at our booth at any of the following events, contact Sarah L: 

• July 27 (Saturday afternoon or early evening): Enumclaw Rotary Street Fair
• August 10 (Saturday, 11:30am- 2:30pm): Covington KidFest
• August 31- September 2 (Saturday- Monday): Black Diamond Labor Days

Trainings will be offered over the phone or at a mutually agreeable location.    

Cat Volunteers @ RASKC/ Kent: Pls secure the condos! It’s super important for Early Morning Cat Crew and for Cat Meet & Greet volunteers to please: (a) Double check that all buttons on the condo doors are pushed in, and (b) Clip the condos. Too many cat and kitten have engaged in “hide and seek” throughout the building. Taking these actions will help keep the prevent escapes.

Dog Walkers: Please empty treats from your apron at the end of your shift. These efforts are needed to ensure a smooth laundry process. When dog treats are left in the apron and tumble in the washing machine, this creates icky messiness. Thanks.

Rabbit trash talk: RASKC asks for your help in monitoring the trash bin in the rabbit room. When it gets to be half full, please tie up the bag and take it to the big trash bin outside. Otherwise the bag gets almost too heavy to carry.