Animal care provider vs pet sitter

The differences between animal care providers and pet sitters 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 a pet sitter. Additionally, a pet sitter has an average salary of $25,823, 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 a pet sitter are PET, walkers, and clients homes.

Animal care provider vs pet sitter overview

	Animal Care Provider	Pet Sitter
Yearly salary	$24,866	$25,823
Hourly rate	$11.95	$12.41
Growth rate	28%	28%
Number of jobs	70,701	21,735
Job satisfaction	-	-
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 a pet sitter do?

A pet sitter is responsible for taking care of household pets while their owners are away. Pet sitters perform services for pet maintenance, including taking them to the veterinarian, monitoring their food, walk them in the park, and administer medications, if any. They also reach out to the pet owners for possible updates and emergencies, taking their instructions immediately. Apart from being highly communicative and organizational, a pet sitter should have an interest and passion in taking care of pets to ensure high-quality services.

Animal care provider vs pet sitter salary

Animal care providers and pet sitters have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Animal Care Provider	Pet Sitter
Average salary	$24,866	$25,823
Salary range	Between $14,000 And $41,000	Between $10,000 And $62,000
Highest paying City	-	Newport, RI
Highest paying state	-	Rhode Island
Best paying company	-	CARE
Best paying industry	-	Non Profits

Differences between animal care provider and pet sitter education

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

	Animal Care Provider	Pet Sitter
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Most common major	Biology	Business
Most common college	Stanford University	University of Massachusetts Amherst

Animal care provider vs pet sitter demographics

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

	Animal Care Provider	Pet Sitter
Average age	32	32
Gender ratio	Male, 25.1% Female, 74.9%	Male, 19.7% Female, 80.3%
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, 6.4% Hispanic or Latino, 18.1% Asian, 2.6% White, 68.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between animal care provider and pet sitter 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.

Pet sitter example responsibilities.

Help managed the company and train new walkers
Cat and dog feeding, medicine, dog walking, cleanup; 5 animals : 3 cats , 2 dogs.
Provide constant supervision and companionship for elopement risk and suicide precaution patients.
Provide care for dogs, fish, cats, bunnies, birds, snakes, hamsters and most other household pets.
Execute cash register POS system.
Specialize in extra TLC for elderly pets.

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Animal care provider vs pet sitter skills

Common animal care provider skills

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

Common pet sitter skills

PET, 90%
Walkers, 2%
Clients Homes, 2%
CPR, 1%
Topical Medications, 1%
Litter Boxes, 1%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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