Skip to main content

Animal care worker

Animal care workers look after animals in places like kennels, rescue centres and sanctuaries.

Potential salary
£13,500 to £22,000
Working hours
38 to 40 a week
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • the ability to use your initiative
  • to be flexible and open to change
  • patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
  • the ability to work well with others
  • the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
  • customer service skills
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • thinking and reasoning skills
  • to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device

As an animal care worker, you'll:

  • monitor animals' health
  • clean out kennels or cages
  • prepare food and help out at feeding times
  • clean and groom animals
  • look after animals that become ill or distressed
  • answer queries from colleagues and visitors
  • exercisie dogs in a yard or take them for walks

You could work at an animal welfare centre, at a wildlife park or in kennels.

Your working environment may be dirty, outdoors some of the time and physically demanding.

With experience, you could become a supervisor or manager, or work self-employed.

You could also use your experience to move into other animal care careers, like veterinary nursing, or find work in a zoo or wildlife park.

You can find out more about careers in animal care from the National Land Based College UK and the College of Animal Welfare.

Powered by Pathways.
@MoultonCollege

Come join us at Woof Fest 2023! We'll be discussing career opportunities in the Animal Welfare industry and our a… https://t.co/mIuNEwg4wV

3rd June 2023