Volunteering with Lort Smith Animal Hospital

Volunteering with Lort Smith Animal Hospital The support and services contributed to the hospital by our volunteers is invaluable and we offer an increasing range of great volunteer opportunities. If you have a love of animals and a desire to help your community we would really like to hear from you.

All volunteers need to be at least 18 years old, and we are unable to accept work experience placements.

Register for a Volunteer Information Session now

Kitten fostering

From October through to April each year, we have many unwanted or stray kittens that are too young to be adopted and need care.

Socialisation is as important for a kitten as being regularly fed and kept in a clean environment. A kitten’s learning curve is steepest during its first 9 weeks of life and proper socialisation ensures the kitten grows up well-balanced and happy.

Volunteer foster carers take on the responsibility for general care and socialisation of the animal until the kitten is ready to be adopted. This includes bringing the animals to the hospital for weekly health checks. We provide all food, bedding, litter trays, bowls and toys for the fostered animal, plus unlimited advice, support and veterinary care.

Foster care for kittens can be for varying lengths of time, from 1 week to 6 weeks, depending on the age and size of the kitten.

Cat and dog fostering

We frequently have mature cats and dogs that need to be fostered – they may be emergency boarders or have injuries that require recuperation. This may be from a couple of weeks to a month or more. You will need to bring them back in for weekly health checks. We provide all the food, bedding, litter trays, bowls and toys for the animal.

Injured Animal Requirements

These requirements will vary depending on the injury the animal has sustained. For example a dog recovering from a fractured leg will have different needs to a cat recovering from a tail amputation. If you are interested fostering injured animals we will discuss each animal and their needs with you individually

PALS Program

The Lort Smith Animal Hospital Pets Are Loving Support (PALS) Program has been running for 21 years and is a community service provided by the Lort Smith Animal Hospital.

The program coordinates visits to hospitals, rehabilitation centres, hostels and nursing homes by volunteers accompanied by their own assessed and approved dogs. The program’s aim is to help improve the wellbeing of patients/residents through positive contact with visiting volunteers and their dogs.

You will be required to attend an assessment with your dog. Police checks are required for volunteers. PALS information sessions are held regularly.

Administrative/Office Support

We often require office support in various departments. This can be either a regular administrative role or a short term position supporting our permanent office staff during peak times. Volunteers need to have some administrative or computer skills.

Assistance in the Cattery/Kennels

Volunteers are required seven days per week in the cattery/kennels.  We have a variety of duties that we need extra assistance with, ranging from cleaning cages and feeding animals to simply providing the animals with some TLC. These volunteering roles require a commitment on a regular weekly basis. This is a very popular area for volunteers and the demand is high. Should we be unable to place you in a shift initially, you will be placed on our emergency call list.

Retail Shop

The Hospital has a pet supplies shop within the hospital building. The shop is open between the hours of 9am and 7pm and is staffed entirely by volunteers. Proceeds from the shop go directly towards supporting our work and funding our animal welfare and community programs. We require volunteers to be available on a weekly basis.

Events

We have a variety of events requiring the services of volunteers. They may be events organised by the hospital, or groups who may stage events on our behalf. The events vary from community fairs to garden parties.