Volunteer Opportunities
There are many ways to volunteer for Whiskers - the three most common being caring for cats at our shelters in Albany and Latham, fostering cats and/or kittens in your home, and helping at our PetSmart adoption centers.
Shelter Volunteer
Help care for the cats and keep our shelters clean and comfortable! We need volunteers at both our Albany shelter and our new facility in Latham. Volunteers work a morning or evening shift and commit to once per week or once every other week.
Volunteering is even more rewarding when you share it! Consider volunteering with a friend or making it a parent-and-child activity—a meaningful way to spend time together while helping cats in need. Volunteers under 15 must have a parent or guardian with them throughout their shift.
The videos below offer a look inside our Albany shelter and show the work volunteers do during a shift. While we don’t yet have videos of our Latham shelter, the daily care and volunteer responsibilities are much the same at both locations.
Foster Home
Foster parents give a temporary home to rescued cats until they are adopted. We need fosters for pregnant cats, moms with kittens, orphaned kittens, and adults.
Learn more in our Fostering FAQs .
PetSmart Adoption Centers
We need regular volunteers and substitutes at our PetSmart adoption centers in Clifton Park and East Greenbush.
Cat care volunteers care for the cats and kittens waiting for adoption. Shifts last about an hour, either in the morning or evening, with a commitment of at least once every other week.
Adoption clinic volunteers help during clinic hours and should be comfortable interacting with the public and explaining our adoption procedures to potential adopters.
Adoption clinic hours:
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Clifton Park: Thursday, 6–7:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.
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East Greenbush: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6–7:30 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.; Sunday, 1–3 p.m.