Four Things I Learned While Working at an Animal Shelter

It wasn’t all just petting puppies and playing with kittens.

Heather Cuellar
ILLUMINATION

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Photo by Cierra Voelki via Upsplash

When I was in college, I worked at an animal shelter for a little over a year as an Adoption Counselor. It was my job to know the animals in the shelter better than I knew myself and introduce them to people throughout the day, hoping they would be a good match. If they were, it was my job to educate the people adopting on how to best care for their newest addition.

I loved my job, and I learned a lot of things. Some of it was what you’d expect — the importance of spaying and neutering, how to properly care for a dog or cat, and how to catch a kitten that made a run for it. But I also learned a few things that surprised me and have stayed with me many years later.

1. You can’t pour from an empty cup.

Photo by Fatty Corgi via Upsplash

When I started, I was warned about compassion fatigue, but it hit me like a truck when I was least expecting it. For those unaware, compassion fatigue often plagues workers who are in a position where you care for others and is when you feel as if you have no more empathy left to give…

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Heather Cuellar
ILLUMINATION

Hoping that one day my writing can pay for my dog’s monthly allergy medicine.