At the recent FFF spay/neuter clinic, the husband of a FFF volunteer asked the following question: "Are all you ladies having fun?" The response was total silence. We looked at each other and asked "fun"? Well, let me think about that. Fun is having mimosas and brunch with your girl friends, a picnic with your family, watching football, playing golf, shopping, you know what fun is on a Sunday afternoon.

What we were doing seemed like hard work, but was it fun? Is it fun to get up at at 5 a.m to load up cats in cars and vans then drive 30+ miles to a clinic? What is fun about lifting traps with cats inside (total weight as much as 20-25 pounds) over your head to try to determine the gender of a cat in a trap who is afraid and has his or her tail curled tightly around it's body? Or what about weighing the cats to determine the amount of anesthesia required and injecting the anesthesia into the cat while it is still in the trap? How about the fun of preparing cats for surgery by shaving and applying antiseptic cleaner? In the Operating Room where vets spay females and neuter males, volunteers serve as surgical nurses. Is that fun? Or how about cleaning out cat ears, washing cat butts while they are sleeping and tipping off the top of cat's left ear so they are identifiable as already neutered? Maybe it's fun to watch each one of 30 cats carefully in recovery to be sure they are breathing, temperatures are normalizing and they are beginning to awaken. Not to mention the fun of filling out and checking the medical records. And of course, you have to have the timing exactly right, so cats are returned to the humane traps so they don't go "feral" on anyone. You have to remember feral cats are scared of all people, so you don't want them to be out of their traps when they wake up.

If you are one of these volunteers, pat yourself on the back. If you love cats and would like to have "FUN" with us, we can always use your help. We have these clinics once a month. Check us out on Volunteer Match at <http://www.volunteermatch.org/search/org80636.jsp>, or email us for information at ffinfo@gmail.com>. We offer on-the-job training and promise it will make you smile.