One of A Kind Education

From the moment one steps through the doors of One of A Kind Pet Rescue or Spay & Neuter Clinic, the hustle & bustle can be felt. The staff and volunteers are buzzing about walking dogs, feeding cats, helping customers, and filling water bowls for all. With all this happening, it’s difficult to believe that most of the activity is occurring behind the scenes that is not seen or accessed by the public. Let’s talk about that for a moment.

Our transport vans are not the only vehicles bringing animals to the rescue. We partner with several non-profit organizations that pick up from high-intake shelters and deliver them safely to rescues where they are vetted and placed for adoption. We also have Good Samaritans dropping off animals on a regular basis. Between 87 and 96 animals each week enter our rescue. Most every day is scheduled with intake that occurs behind the scenes. This process is weighing and assessing each animal, microchipping, providing the necessary vaccines and preventions, and beginning medical notes to treat conditions that are present such as ear/eye infections, respiratory infections, skin issues, and behavioral concerns, just to name a few. The pets are then scheduled for their spay/neuter surgeries two to three weeks out.

After intake is complete, the cat or dog will then go into a foster home to receive love and attention from a family, or to a location in our facilities where they will begin to receive love and attention from our staff and volunteers. We have 58 employees and roughly the same number of volunteers providing loving care seven days a week. The rescued animals are often scared, shocked, and confused during this time, and our team is amazing at handling them with the utmost care and providing them with the enrichment they so desperately need. The majority of our staff has been with One of A Kind for several years and possess a deep passion for the mission. We have been providing love for almost twenty years and last month reached 50,000 animals rescued.

As you can imagine, this is not a perfect science. If 50,000 people are gathered together, there will be 50,000 different personalities, illnesses, conditions, diseases, phobias, and preferences. Rescue animals are no different and bring the same challenges each and every day. Our staff is not perfect, but they are amazing animal lovers who purposefully choose to spend their time with these animals in need and do their absolute best to serve not just the rescued pets but also the families who are fostering and adopting. As we spend this month celebrating our achievements of 50,000 rescued pets, we will also be celebrating our staff at our employee appreciation picnic. We will be closed to the public on Tuesday, August 26th to spend the day together. As we treat our staff and rescued pets with love and kindness, we ask that you treat them with love and kindness as well.