Animal Care Attendant

OFO No:

What is an Animal Care Attendant?

An Animal Attendant will make and provide food, give water and take general care of animals.

Some Animal Attendants specialise as:

Pet Shop Attendants

Sells animals to the public, pet food and accessories.  Some Shop Attendants work on weekends and public holidays.  Talking with the public important.

Kennel Hands

A Kennel Hand tags cats and dogs for for identification.  A tag is a small microchip that gets put under the skin of the animal.  This chip has the name, address and telephone number of the owner.  If a pet gets lost, a special scanner will ‘read’ the tag and the owners will be phoned.  Kennel Hands might exercise, feed and groom the animals too.

Pet Groomers

A Pet Groomer washes, dries, brushes, combs, cuts and styles pets’.  They also cut nails, clean ears, eyes and check the pet’s skin. Specialised groomers will prepare purebred dogs and cats for shows.

What does an Animal Care Attendant do?

• makes the food, including special diets, for some animals
• delivers made food and clean water to the animals
• cleans cages make comfortable beds for animals
• cleans animal’s toilet area
• disinfects cages
• checks locks on cages are good
• grooms (brush) animals and washes them
• treats animals with special mixtures to control pests
• treats small injuries
• reports serious health problems to veterinarians
• moves animals between cages
• rescues injured and abused animals
• helps with kind euthanasia of animals (put animals to sleep)
• burns animals that have died
• keeps up to date notes on each animal
• talks to staff members and the public

Are you … ?

• animal lover?
• confident and patient?
• allergy free?
• enjoy physical activities?
• strong?
• observant and organised?

How do I become an Animal Care Attendant?

An Animal Attendant will be trained on the job.  Further study is available if you want to specialise in a particular field.

No set level of school required, but it is recommended that you go as far as you can at school.

Recommended school subjects:  Life Sciences and the Sciences (Biology and/or Physics).

OTHER CAREERS TO CONSIDER: Animal Health Technician … or … Professional Dog Walker

Is becoming an Animal Care Attendant the right career choice for me?