Kitten Nursery Medical Intern

Kitten Nursery Medical Intern

Gain hands-on kitten care experience while supporting animals in need.

The Animal Rescue League of Iowa is seeking a Kitten Nursery Medical Intern to support the Veterinary team by providing hands-on care for neonatal kittens in the ARL Kitten Nursery. This unpaid internship opportunity helps ensure kittens receive consistent feeding, cleaning, monitoring, documentation, and compassionate care in a safe and sanitary environment.

This role is intended to provide hands-on learning, animal care experience, and the opportunity to support the ARL’s mission.

Schedule

• Scheduling may vary based on Kitten Nursery needs, intern availability, and Medical team coverage

About the Animal Rescue League of Iowa

The Animal Rescue League of Iowa is Iowa’s largest nonprofit animal welfare organization, helping animals and the people who love them through sheltering, adoption, veterinary care, animal services, community programs, and pet support resources.

Across multiple locations and programs in the Des Moines metro, the ARL works every day to provide compassionate care, practical support, and trusted resources for animals and families in our community.

Internship Experience

As a Kitten Nursery Medical Intern, you will gain hands-on experience supporting the daily care of kittens in a shelter medical environment. Interns may assist with feeding, cleaning, sanitation, monitoring, documentation, and basic support tasks under the direction of ARL Medical team members.

This unpaid internship is a great opportunity for someone interested in animal welfare, shelter medicine, veterinary care, neonatal kitten care, or hands-on animal care experience.

What You’ll Do

• Provide hands-on care for kittens in the Kitten Nursery, including feeding, cleaning, and monitoring as trained.

• Help ensure kittens are properly cared for during assigned shifts.

• Clean and sanitize Kitten Nursery areas to prepare for the next intern, volunteer, or staff shift.

• Enter accurate information related to kittens in ShelterBuddy and other trained databases.

• Communicate proactively and professionally with Medical team members as needed.

• Support stress and disease reduction efforts through purposeful and compassionate animal handling.

• Assist with training or working alongside volunteers in the Kitten Nursery as appropriate.

• Follow ARL policies, sanitation procedures, safety guidelines, and animal handling expectations.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

What We’re Looking For

• Commitment to the mission of the Animal Rescue League of Iowa.

• Interest in kitten care, animal welfare, shelter medicine, veterinary care, or hands-on animal care.

• Ability to function in a fast-paced and sometimes stressful environment.

• Strong communication, customer service, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills.

• Ability to follow instructions carefully and ask questions when clarification is needed.

• Strong attention to detail and ability to enter accurate information.

• Basic math skills required.

• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite preferred.

• Dependable, compassionate, and willing to learn.

Physical and Work Environment Requirements

This role takes place in an active animal shelter and medical environment and may require standing, sitting, walking, bending, cleaning, handling kittens, and performing repetitive care tasks for long periods of time.

The role may involve exposure to animal odors, animal waste, moderate noise, contagious or zoonotic diseases, cleaning products, and the possibility of bites or scratches while following established safety procedures.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to participate in the unpaid internship role.

Why Intern with the ARL?

As a Kitten Nursery Medical Intern, your time and care help support some of the most vulnerable animals at the ARL. From feeding and cleaning to monitoring and documentation, your work helps create a safe, consistent, and supportive environment for kittens who need specialized care.

If you are compassionate, dependable, and interested in gaining hands-on kitten care experience while supporting a mission-driven organization, we would love to have you join us as an unpaid volunteer intern.

This is an unpaid volunteer internship. Participation in this role does not create an employment relationship, guarantee future employment, or provide wages, compensation, or employee benefits. Either the intern or the ARL may end the volunteer internship at any time, with or without cause or notice.

The Animal Rescue League of Iowa is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law. Prospective and current interns are encouraged to discuss potential accommodations as needed.