Aiden Richmond | Broadcast Reporter

Pet Circle Animal Center in Waco celebrated its first year of serving the community alongside its plan to expand their current facilities to better care for animals.

“They’re feeding, cleaning, caring for the animals, veterinary care, vaccines, spay-neuter, so we are caring for the animals around the clock, year-round,” Pet Circle Animal Center Director Melissa Sheldon said. “Staff spends a lot of time with the animals, learning their personalities, getting them adopted or placed in rescues or foster homes. There’s a lot of different components that go into what we do and we’re always needing more support, whether it’s volunteers, fosters or adopters.”

While staff members are paid, volunteers are key to helping animals adjust to new lives.

“I know this girl who fostered a dog and she gave the dog an Instagram, and I’ve literally cried over her post before,” Julianne Parker, a volunteer for Pet Circle Animal Center, said. “The dog here was so scared. She wouldn’t do anything, she just wanted to sit. And now, she plays with toys, she’s potty trained, she goes everywhere with this girl. It’s just the best.”

In partnership with the City of Waco, Pet Circle recently received a $5 million grant to expand its clinic and add isolation kennels.

“Our current clinic is pretty small, so we have seven staff and a veterinarian that works out of there on high-volume spay-neuter days,” Sheldon said.”It’s really hard when everybody is in there and we’re moving a lot of animals in and out through surgery. Having that added space to accomplish more will definitely be beneficial.”

Pet Circle currently houses more than 250 dogs of all ages, each waiting for the right home.