Kirklees College students from the Land Based Animal Management Level 3 course recently took part in a 2-week project with the organisation ‘Everything is Possible’, gaining work experience with rescued cats at a cat sanctuary in Qormi, Malta.
Four Animal Management Level 3 students attended the Malta project along with two staff members.
Students worked 5 days a week for 2 weeks at the cat sanctuary that relies mainly on volunteers. The sanctuary has regular local volunteers which are mainly limited to certain tasks due to age and sometimes cannot always attend due to personal commitments.
The students were able to fill in the gaps of non-attending staff and provide extra help with jobs the regular volunteers don’t have the time to complete for example scrubbing hard to reach areas, cleaning hundreds of cat kennels and replacing them with fresh bedding.
The students also helped with handling cats for medicating purposes and had the responsibility of finding certain cats amongst 351 cats for flea treatment then marking the cats with animal-friendly colouring to prevent overtreatment. When sick cats came back from the vets, the students helped prepare quarantine areas and made them as comfortable as possible.
Students had spare time on the evenings and weekends which was mostly spent sightseeing and visiting other animal establishments which allowed students to see how different countries, have different legislations and requirements for keeping animals to which some animals were kept more favourably than others but a learning curve for students for any future work they may have with animals.
Chantelle Mcdade, course lecturer said:
“The experience the students gained from this trip has helped them all in individual ways, one student has applied for a vet nursing course next year, having the opportunity to mention this experience gave her a massive advantage in the application process. All students have grown confident approaching and handling cats by experiencing the behaviour patterns.”
For more information about our Animal and Land Based courses, please visit: Animal Care, Equine & Land Based – Kirklees College
