Animal Care Worker as a Career
For many animal lovers, working with animals is an ideal career.
The rewards, however, are set off by hard work.
A partial list of duties include; training, feeding, watering,
grooming, bathing, and exercising animals. It may also involved
cleaning, disinfecting and repairing the enclosures where the
particular animal or animals are kept. It may be necessary to
play with the animals, provide companionship and observe changes
in their habits and diet.
Working with animals usually consists of two areas, caretakers
and trainers.
Some employers in this field include veterinarian clinics,
stables, aquariums and zoos.
Here is a closer look at some careers and their requirements.
Kennel attendants care for pets while owners are out of town.
This job requires basic care of the pet or pets such as feeding,
watering and exercising the animals.
In a Shelter, the basic tasks need to be performed along with
keeping records, vaccinations, cleaning cages and dealing with
the public.
Stable hands will saddle and bridle horses, groom them, walk a
horse after a workout to cool them off, feed and water, exercise
and maintain stalls and bedding. They will also clean tack and
keep the tack room neat and organized and store supplies and
feed. An experienced hand may help to train horses.
Zookeepers prepare food and clean enclosures. They may assist in
raising very young animals. Zookeepers watch behavior patterns
for signs of illness and keep records of these patterns.
Answering questions for the public is also a job requirement.
Most of these professions are trained on the job, however some
employers may require some experience with animals. The work is
sometimes unpleasant and can be physically and emotionally
demanding, sometimes even dangerous. The hours can be irregular
and you may work in all kids of weather conditions.
However difficult the work may be, the rewards of working with
animals will far outweigh the demands.