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Anyone volunteer while pregnant? I'm looking for advice.
I've been volunteering at my local humane society for almost 3 years- I love it! I am typically on the stray side, handling dogs who just got turned over, strays or dogs who are sick. Most of my work involves walking, feeding and cleaning.
I am now 8 weeks pregnant. Is this something I should be concerned about? (I don't deal with cats at all, so the litterbox is a non-issue). The only reason why this was brought to my attention was b/c my supervisor there just texted me and asked me if I would be ok on my own this Sunday, and I said sure. She then told me that there will be 2 dogs there w/ mange, but we know the proper precautions to take w/ the mange dogs. No one at the shelter knows I'm pregnant.
Does being pregnant put me at a higher risk for anything at the shelter? There is the possibility I could move over to the adoptable side (healthy dogs ready to go home) but it would still involve walking, feeding, cleaning- it just also involves showing dogs. There is no possibility of any sort of front desk (not handling dogs/poop) position- they have some older women who are retired and it's their only job, they don't need extra help.
Just wondering if there was anyone else out there who had any experience with volunteering while pregnant.
Re: Anyone volunteer while pregnant? I'm looking for advice.
I would talk with your doctor and see, because I know that at 8 weeks you may not want to tell people yet. I don't have a ton of experience with dogs, though.
We fostered kittens up until recently, and my DH just took care of their box. Our 5 residents also had tapeworms, and I handled them less (and made sure to wash my hands thoroughly) and couldn't administer their flea medication, but that's been about it.
5 cats. 1 baby.
I did. Up until 41 weeks and then I went into labor about 4 hours after I left for the day
)
My doc was pretty OK with it as long as I was careful. I was never there alone though so it was easy for me to have other people handle situations that I wasn't 100% comfortable with (like a weird doc that had a bite history).
Even big as a whale I was able to get down on the floor to play with dogs and never encountered any issues.
Good luck!
I volunteered through my first trimester, but I had some bleeding, and my doc wanted me to take it easy. And since our shelter took in strays and owner surrenders (usually untrained), he preferred I not take the chance of having dogs jumping up on my stomach (I was already a high-risk pregnancy due to my medical history).
However, I see maine already posted that she did throughout her pregnancy, and another girl at my shelter also volunteered throughout hers -- she was at a Petco adoption event with me at 38 weeks pregnant.
Pregnant women can clean litter boxes, as long as they don't make a habit of snacking on the cat poop. And obviously thoroughly clean their hands afterwards.