How to hire an animal attendant

Animal attendant hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring animal attendants in the United States:

There are a total of 26,211 animal attendants in the US, and there are currently 53,000 job openings in this field.
The median cost to hire an animal attendant is $1,633.
Small businesses spend $1,105 per animal attendant on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
It takes approximately 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
HR departments typically allocate 15% of their budget towards recruitment efforts.
Houston, TX, has the highest demand for animal attendants, with 11 job openings.

How to hire an animal attendant, step by step

To hire an animal attendant, consider the skills and experience you are looking for in a candidate, allocate a budget for the position, and post and promote the job opening to reach potential candidates. Follow these steps to hire an animal attendant:

Here's a step-by-step animal attendant hiring guide:

Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
Step 3: Make a budget
Step 4: Write an animal attendant job description
Step 5: Post your job
Step 6: Interview candidates
Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new animal attendant
Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an animal attendant do?

An animal attendant is responsible for administering high-quality care for the animals in a shelter, clinic, or wildlife preserve. Animal attendants monitor the health conditions of the animals, manage their food intake and medications, maintain the adequacy of animal stock inventories, and report any critical findings and unusual observations to the veterinarians. They also ensure the cleanliness and orderliness of all the facilities and cages, as well as the efficiency of tools and equipment to support daily animal operations.

Learn more about the specifics of what an animal attendant does

Post an animal attendant job for free, promote it for a fee

Identify your hiring needs

Before you post your animal attendant job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find an animal attendant for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

Determine employee vs contractor status

Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them an animal attendant to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire an animal attendant that fits the bill.

This list shows salaries for various types of animal attendants.

Type of Animal Attendant	Description	Hourly rate
Animal Attendant	Animal care and service workers provide care for animals. They feed, groom, bathe, and exercise pets and other nonfarm animals... Show more	$9-16
Pet Groomer	A pet groomer typically works with pets and other animals in pet grooming boutiques and pet stores. As a pet groomer, you will perform a few tasks that may include cleaning and taking care of pets such as dogs, maintaining the cleanliness of the work area for the next client, and working with the cash registers... Show more	$10-23
Dog Walker	A dog walker provides dog walking services to pet owners at scheduled times, ensuring their safety. They first meet with pet owners to discuss their preferred schedule and use this opportunity to learn more about the dog and understand its needs... Show more	$10-21

Create an ideal candidate profile
Common skills:
- PET
- Patients
- Animal Handling
- Cleanliness
- Euthanasia
- Autoclaves
- Animal Cages
- Animal Shelter
- Farm Animals
- Customer Service
- General Maintenance
- Animal Waste
- Front Desk
- Pigs
Check all skills
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.
- Care for goats by providing them with feed every week.
- Maintain cleanliness of the shelter and medicate animals direct by supervisor as needed.
More animal attendant duties

Make a budget

Including a salary range in your animal attendant job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. An animal attendant can vary based on:

Location. For example, animal attendants' average salary in tennessee is 43% less than in district of columbia.
Seniority. Entry-level animal attendants 41% less than senior-level animal attendants.
Certifications. An animal attendant with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in an animal attendant's salary.

Average animal attendant salary

$12.69hourly

$26,394 yearly

Entry-level animal attendant salary

$20,000 yearly salary

Updated December 13, 2025

Average animal attendant salary by state

Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	New York	$35,640	$17
2	California	$33,792	$16
3	Colorado	$28,783	$14
4	Illinois	$27,635	$13
5	Montana	$25,384	$12
6	New Jersey	$25,379	$12
7	Michigan	$25,293	$12
8	Kansas	$25,205	$12
9	Georgia	$25,173	$12
10	North Carolina	$24,558	$12
11	Texas	$23,589	$11
12	Florida	$22,479	$11
13	Alabama	$22,452	$11
14	New Mexico	$21,664	$10

Average animal attendant salary by company

Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
1	Baylor College of Medicine	$32,916	$15.82
2	Ethos Veterinary Health	$32,062	$15.41	1
3	Napa County, California	$31,220	$15.01
4	University of Pennsylvania	$31,153	$14.98	6
5	Cornell University	$30,411	$14.62
6	UT Health San Antonio	$29,541	$14.20
7	Tufts University	$29,069	$13.98	2
8	PSEA	$28,595	$13.75	3
9	The Reserves Network	$28,572	$13.74	7
10	City and County of Denver Government	$28,350	$13.63
11	City of San Jos	$27,888	$13.41
12	University of Michigan	$27,829	$13.38	6
13	System One	$27,775	$13.35	2
14	Harnett County	$27,692	$13.31
15	Lollypop Farm	$27,245	$13.10
16	University of Texas System	$27,223	$13.09	3
17	Chenega	$27,084	$13.02
18	VCA Animal Hospitals	$27,034	$13.00	67
19	Univ. Of Texas Cancer Ctr.	$26,817	$12.89	19
20	City of Huntsville	$26,560	$12.77

Writing an animal attendant job description
An animal attendant job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of an animal attendant job description:
Animal attendant job description example
Happy people. Healthy pets.

At CityVet, we believe healthy pets start with happy people. It is important that our vet-led clinics are filled with smiling faces and compassionate pet people, and each of our employees play a vital role in creating the positive vibe felt at our offices. Starting a career at CityVet means growing in a fun, people-first environment where the future of our employees is just as important as the future of our business.

All pet lovers welcome

At CityVet, we know our team of happy people is as unique and diverse as the pets we care for. We recruit and promote CityVet team members based on their abilities and accomplishments and create a welcoming environment for all.

Make pet care your purpose

The Animal Care Attendant (ACA) acts as the primary care provider for all animals under our supervision. The Animal Care Attendant works to ensure the professional, conscientious, compassionate care of all animals under our care at the facility are met by meeting both the physical and behavioral needs of all patients. The Animal Care Attendant provides a high standard of cleanliness to our people and their pets by frequently servicing the cages, runs and exam rooms to ensure optimal levels of sanitation.

Essential qualifications:

+ Lift 50 lbs to waist height

+ High school diploma or GED

+ At least 18 years of age at the time of hire

+ Frequent standing, bending, walking, lifting, carrying, and reaching

A day in the life:

+ Provide all animals with appropriate housing, bathing, walking, food, water, bedding, toys and other mental stimulation and enrichment, social interaction with humans and, where appropriate, members of own species.

+ Monitor health, physically and behaviorally, and rapidly identify any issues or changes that may require special action and report the information to supervisor immediately.

+ Accurately record and maintain patient records while the animal is under care at the facility, including vital sign measurements.

Purr-worthy people care

At CityVet, we put an added focus on the well-being of our staff members because caring for people and their pets is no easy task. CityVet prioritizes meeting the full range of physical and mental well-being needs of our people.

In addition to health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, paid time off, a competitive 401k program, vision and dental insurance and HSA options, our full-time employees receive:

+ Pet-care Discounts

+ Flexible Schedules
Post your job
There are a few common ways to find animal attendants for your business:
- Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
- Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
- Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
- Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.
Post your job online:
- Post your animal attendant job on Zippia to find and recruit animal attendant candidates who meet your exact specifications.
- Use field-specific websites.
- Post a job on free websites.
Interview candidates
Recruiting animal attendants requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.
It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.
The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.
Send a job offer and onboard your new animal attendant
Once you've selected the best animal attendant candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.
It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.
After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new animal attendant. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.
Go through the hiring process checklist
- Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
- Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
- Define job responsibilities and requirements
- Establish budget and timeline
- Determine hiring decision makers for the role
- Write job description
- Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
- Promote the job internally
- Process applications through applicant tracking system
- Review resumes and cover letters
- Shortlist candidates for screening
- Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
- Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
- Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
- Conduct background checks on top candidates
- Check references of top candidates
- Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
- Extend offer to top candidate(s)
- Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
- Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
- Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
- Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire an animal attendant?

Recruiting animal attendants involves both the one-time costs of hiring and the ongoing costs of adding a new employee to your team. Your spending during the hiring process will mostly be on things like promoting the job on job boards, reviewing and interviewing candidates, and onboarding the new hire. Ongoing costs will obviously involve the employee's salary, but also may include things like benefits.

You can expect to pay around $26,394 per year for an animal attendant, as this is the median yearly salary nationally. This can vary depending on what state or city you're hiring in. If you're hiring for contract work or on a per-project basis, hourly rates for animal attendants in the US typically range between $9 and $16 an hour.

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Updated December 13, 2025

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How to hire an animal attendant