Wokring at pet shelters teaches 'kindness'

A tabby cat named Rhino gets a second chance at life because a shelter didn’t give up on him.

“Anytime I would go fill his food bowl, he would back up and run as fast as he could to run his head into my leg as a form of gratitude”, said Chleo Levin.

Levin is a Purdue vet student. She interned at Almost Home Humane Society in the summer of 2023.

Levin said the shelter helped Rhino lose weight and he was then adopted by an elderly lady.

“Everyone had a new kind of motivation to keep doing what we were doing,” Levin said, “because there would be kind people out there who would care for these animals as much as we do which gave us hope.”

Working at a local pet shelter like Almost Home, even as a volunteer, can be a rewarding job, Levin said. It can benefit not only the animals but also the workers.

There are multiple shelters in the Lafayette area that Purdue students can be involved in. Students can work at Almost Home Humane Society like Levin did, or work at other shelters such as Loving Heart.

Loving Heart Animal Shelter is a nonprofit and no-kill shelter in the Lafayette area that has helped over 6,000 pets find a family. According to Loving Heart and Almost Home’s websites, they are always looking for extra help.

Levin said workers can learn many skills from volunteering at a pet shelter, like how to remain calm in situations, have patience with animals and people and simple tasks that make a difference.

She said volunteers help ease the stress and workload of the staff. They never knew what would come through their doors, so having an extra set of hands made them more equipped to handle situations.

“It felt like anytime we didn’t have volunteers is when the worst of the worst would happen due to the lack of hands willing to help”, Levin said.

In one instance, Levin said Almost Home received a call about a pack of 14 dogs living on the streets. They were underweight, had scars and were terrified of humans, so they were aggressive, she said.

The shelter did not have enough kennels for them at the time, so they were given foldable kennels from a donation. In cases such as this, the more people that can help, the better care they can provide, Levin said.

Dogwood Kennel is a local family-owned kennel. Owners Pat Brettnacher and Ann Shallenberger said that to fulfill the needs of animals, a worker needs to be able to understand their unique personalities.

When you look at a shelter’s site to adopt you see a description underneath the pictures, which Brettnacher and Shallenberger said usually draws someone to adopt that animal.

To write this description and share this pet’s personality, someone took the time to get to know that animal and what makes it unique, they said.

“I think volunteering at a shelter teaches students gentleness, patience, kindness and self-control towards both people and animals”, Levin said.