The work of animal care and service worker is to feed, train, groom, bath, water, and clean, disinfect, and exercise animal, and repair their cages. They also provide animal companionship, play with them, and examine behavioral changes, which indicate injury or illness.
Job Description
Pet stores, boarding kennels, veterinary hospitals, animal shelters, and stables, zoological parks, clinics, natural aquatic habitats, and laboratories all employ service workers, animal care, and house animals. Job responsibilities and titles may vary be nature of work and employment settings.
The work of kennel attendants is to care for pets while their owners are traveling or working out of stations. Beginning attendants execute works like filling water and food dishes, dog runs, cleaning cages, and exercising animals. Attendants, who have extensive experience, may basic animal health care like trim nails, bathe animals, and grooming needs. Attendants who serve in kennels may sell supplies and pet food, help in obedience training, prepare animals for shipping, and assist with breeding.
Generally, groomers who are animal caretakers may specialize in maintaining pets' appearance or grooming. Many groomers serve in veterinary clinics, kennels, pet-supply stores, and animal shelters. Some groomers establish their own grooming business, especially, at a salon. They provide mobile services, which are growing increasingly as they offer convenient services for pet owners such as schedule flexibility for groomers.
Groomers sanitize and clean equipment in order to prevent the spread of disease, safe and clean environment for the animals, and maintain grooming equipment. Groomers take care and notice medical problems such as skin or ear infection, which require veterinary care. Grooming pets incorporates various steps such as clipping of hair using electric clippers, grooming shears, combs, etc. The groomer then cuts the nails and bathes, clean the ears, and ends with final styling and clipping.
An animal caretaker who serves in animal shelters executes a number of duties and works with an extensive variety of animals. Apart from attending to the basic needs of the animals, caretakers working with shelters ought to keep records of animals discharged, received, and treatments done. Some animal caretakers vaccinate newly admitted pets under the close supervision of veterinary technicians and euthanize severely injured, seriously ill, and unwanted animals.
Animal caretaker who work in animal shelters communicate with public, screening applications for animal adoption, answering telephone inquiries, and educating visitors on neutering. Caretakers and grooms care for horses in stables. Their work is to saddle and unsaddle horses, walk with them to cool them off after a ride, give them rubdown, etc. they also groom, feed, and exercises the horses, polish saddles, clean out stalls, replenish bedding, organize and clean the tack room, feed and store supplies. Grooms who have ample experience may facilitate train horses.
In zoos, service workers and animal care are called keepers. They work is to prepare diets and clean animal's enclosure. Sometimes, they may help in raising them when they are young. They examine for any sign of injury or illness. They observe any changes in behavior or eating patterns. Keepers are responsible to answer questions and make sure that visitors behave responsibly towards the exhibited animals.
Based upon the zoo, keepers may get assigned to work with a group of animals like birds, mammals, and reptiles. In some zoos, they may be assigned to work with a limited array of animals such as large cats, primates, or small mammals.
The job of animal trainers is to train animals for security, riding, obedience, performance, or helping people with disabilities. Animal trainers perform this task by means of accustoming the animal to human voice. There are three most commonly trained animals are marine mammals (including dolphins), horses, and dogs.
Work Environment
Individuals who love animals get satisfaction helping and working with them. However, some works may be unlikable, emotionally and physically demanding, and at times dangerous. Many service workers and animal caretakers need to clean animal cages, hold, lift, and restrain animals, risking exposure to scratches or bites.
Service workers and animal caretakers have to deal with crawling, repeated bending, kneeling, and lifting heavy objects such as bags of feed and bales of hay. An animal caretaker ought to take precautions while treating animals with insecticides or germicides. They may need to work outdoors in different kinds of weather. They serve in a work setting that can be noisy.
Service workers and animal caretakers who deal with euthanizing unwanted, hopelessly injured, and aged animals may experience emotional distress. Animal caretakers who cope with municipal animal shelters and private humane societies may deal with public. The owner of pets may react with hostility to the proposition that service workers are abusing or neglecting their pets. Therefore, these workers have to remain calm and handle situation properly. Generally, service workers and animal care work irregular hours. Animal are fed everyday. Thus, caretakers need to work holiday shifts and weekends.
Training and Educational Qualification
Candidates who wish to get into this field need to have completed a high school diploma or GED equivalent. However, some animal training jobs require a bachelor's degree. For instance, marine mammal trainers require a bachelor's degree in biology, animal science, psychology, marine biology, or relevant field.