Animal care jobs
Can you speak 'dog'? Do you own more cats than lamps? Do you want to get paid for your love of animals?
Nature of the work
- Animal care and service workers -- which include animal caretakers and animal trainers -- train, feed, water, groom, bathe and exercise animals, as well as clean, disinfect and repair their cages.
- They also play with the animals, provide companionship, and observe behavioral changes that could indicate illness or injury.
- Boarding kennels, animal shelters, veterinary hospitals and clinics, stables, laboratories, aquariums, and zoological parks all house animals and employ animal care and service workers.
Working conditions
- Some of the work may be unpleasant, physically and emotionally demanding, and sometimes dangerous.
- Most animal care and service workers have to clean animal cages and lift, hold or restrain animals, risking exposure to bites or scratches.
- Their work often involves kneeling, crawling, repeated bending, and lifting heavy supplies such as bales of hay or bags of feed.
- Animal caretakers must take precautions when treating animals with germicides or insecticides.
- The work setting can be noisy.
- Animal care and service workers may work outdoors in all kinds of weather, and hours can be irregular.
- Animals must be fed every day, so caretakers often work weekend and holiday shifts.
- In some animal hospitals, research facilities and animal shelters, an attendant is on duty 24 hours a day, which includes night shifts.
Animal care and service workers who witness abused animals or who assist in the euthanizing of unwanted, aged, or hopelessly injured animals may experience emotional stress. Those working for private humane societies and municipal animal shelters often deal with the public, some of whom might react with hostility to any implication that the owners are neglecting or abusing their pets. These workers must maintain a calm and professional demeanor while they enforce the laws regarding animal care.
Training, other qualifications, and advancement
- Most animal care and service workers are trained on the job.
- Employers generally prefer to hire people with some experience with animals.
- Some training programs are available for specific types of animal caretakers, such as groomers, but formal training is usually not necessary for entry-level positions.
Animal caretakers in animal shelters are not required to have any specialized training, but training programs and workshops are increasingly available through the Humane Society of the United States, the American Humane Association and the National Animal Control Association. With experience and additional training, caretakers in animal shelters may become adoption coordinators, animal control officers, emergency rescue drivers, assistant shelter managers or shelter directors. Most pet groomers learn their trade by completing an informal apprenticeship, usually lasting 6 to 10 week, under the guidance of an experienced groomer.
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