Animal care provider vs animal care technician

The differences between animal care providers and animal care technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-3 months to become both an animal care provider and an animal care technician. Additionally, an animal care technician has an average salary of $29,617, which is higher than the $24,866 average annual salary of an animal care provider.

The top three skills for an animal care provider include PET, administer medications and husbandry. The most important skills for an animal care technician are patients, animal husbandry, and pigs.

Animal care provider vs animal care technician overview

	Animal Care Provider	Animal Care Technician
Yearly salary	$24,866	$29,617
Hourly rate	$11.95	$14.24
Growth rate	28%	28%
Number of jobs	70,701	96,973
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Average age	32	32
Years of experience	3	3

What does an animal care provider do?

An animal care provider is someone who provides care and attention to pets. Usually, this person is part of a veterinary clinic and offers all kinds of care pets ranging from grooming, medical attention, and hygienic care. The animal care provider is an essential contact person for animal lovers, which makes the position important. Part of an animal care provider's responsibilities is exercising animals, monitoring their health and nutrition, treating wounds, sicknesses, and other ailments, and giving owners advice on how to take care of their pets better.

What does an animal care technician do?

An animal care technician is an animal medical professional who is responsible for providing care to animals in the clinical or research setting. Animal care technicians take blood or stool samples from animals and run laboratory tests to determine the cause of an ailment. They often take charge of bathing and grooming animals as well as administer anesthesia before procedures. Animal care technicians are also required to speak to the pet's owners to help them understand the diagnosis and administer medication.

Animal care provider vs animal care technician salary

Animal care providers and animal care technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Animal Care Provider	Animal Care Technician
Average salary	$24,866	$29,617
Salary range	Between $14,000 And $41,000	Between $21,000 And $40,000
Highest paying City	-	South San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	Oregon
Best paying company	-	Emory University
Best paying industry	-	Health Care

Differences between animal care provider and animal care technician education

There are a few differences between an animal care provider and an animal care technician in terms of educational background:

	Animal Care Provider	Animal Care Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Most common major	Biology	Biology
Most common college	Stanford University	New York University

Animal care provider vs animal care technician demographics

Here are the differences between animal care providers' and animal care technicians' demographics:

	Animal Care Provider	Animal Care Technician
Average age	32	32
Gender ratio	Male, 25.1% Female, 74.9%	Male, 31.1% Female, 68.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 6.4% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 2.6% White, 68.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 6.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.5% Asian, 2.7% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between animal care provider and animal care technician duties and responsibilities

Animal care provider example responsibilities.

Maintain care on the horses, pigs, goats and sheep.
Work with turtles, snakes, frogs, skunk and owl.
Fed and water horses, chickens, goats, pigs, cows and dogs.
Locate pet product merchants willing to donate food/ toys/ litter to families struggling to financially provide for their pets.
Complete physical checks and monitor patients to detect unusual or harmful behavior and report observations to professional staff.
Milk animals such as cows and goats, by hand or using milking machines.

Animal care technician example responsibilities.

Assist in managing shelter for animals and arranging for adoption or euthanasia of confiscate animals.
Train in safety procedures for blood borne pathogens, GLP and GMP certification, and ISO standards.
Familiarize with the strains of various animal species to include rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs.
Interview prospective adopting families while counseling on animal welfare and responsibilities of pet owners.
Maintain knowledge of CPR procedures and evacuation procedures.
Assist with minor emergency procedures, perform CPR.

Animal care provider vs animal care technician skills

Common animal care provider skills

PET, 35%
Administer Medications, 17%
Husbandry, 9%
Animal Housing, 7%
Customer Service, 7%
Laboratory Animals, 6%

Common animal care technician skills

Patients, 10%
Animal Husbandry, 9%
Pigs, 5%
Patient Care, 5%
Animal Handling, 5%
GLP, 4%

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Animal Care Provider
Animal Care Provider vs Animal Care Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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