How To Become An Animal Attendant: What It Is and Career Path

What is an animal attendant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Animal attendants work directly with animals, providing basic care, exercise, and enrichment activities. If you love spending time with animals, then this is the job for you! Animal attendants perform daily tasks that keep animals in care happy and healthy.

Key animal attendant duties and responsibilities include general care, husbandry, and handling of domestic animals. But they also monitor and report animal health, as well as assist with animal admissions and reclaims. From time to time, they'll assist veterinarians, help clean the facility, work in a team environment, and support volunteers. Essential skills include being comfortable with caring for animals, communication, teamwork, etc. A high school diploma or a GED may suffice, as you can gain training on the job. However, there are certifications in animal care available, which may give you an advantage.

There's more to the position than just spending time with animals. The average hourly salary of an animal attendant is $13.82, which equates to $28,737 annually. Moreover, the career is projected to experience growth of 16% in the near future and produce various job opportunities across the United States.

ScoreAnimal AttendantUS Average

Salary

2.1

Avg. Salary $26,394

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.7

Growth Rate 28%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.44%

Asian 2.62%

Black or African American 4.25%

Hispanic or Latino 17.86%

Unknown 6.26%

White 68.56%

Gender

female 70.83%

male 29.17%

Age - 29

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 29

Stress Level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.0

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

8.1

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Newest jobs for Animal Attendant in Columbus, OH

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Key steps to become an animal attendant

Explore animal attendant education requirements

Most common animal attendant degrees

Bachelor's

39.8 %

High School Diploma

27.9 %

Associate

21.0 %

Start to develop specific animal attendant skills

Skills	Percentages
PET	58.85%
Patients	5.73%
Animal Handling	5.57%
Cleanliness	3.16%
Euthanasia	3.10%

Complete relevant animal attendant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New animal attendants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an animal attendant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real animal attendant resumes.

Research animal attendant duties and responsibilities

Assist in managing shelter for animals and arranging for adoption or euthanasia of confiscate animals.
Skil at handling, restraining, husbandry and veterinary procedures with reptiles, mammals, raptors, amphibians, and songbirds.
Clean goat and pig yards, train goats and pigs, keep records.
Serve as midwife for birthing dogs, cats and goats.

Prepare your animal attendant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your animal attendant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an animal attendant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Animal Attendant Resume templates

Build a professional Animal Attendant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Animal Attendant resume.

Apply for animal attendant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an animal attendant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do animal attendants rate their job?

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Animal Attendant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2019

Pros

What i really love about animal care is i will learn much more about them and will get to know much more.

Cons

N/a

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019