What does an animal care specialist do?
Animal Care Specialists are responsible for caring for an animal's health and safety. Their duties include grooming and feeding animals, cleaning and disinfecting living quarters, perform a physical examination, administer medication and vaccinations, and deliver post-operative assistance. They also arrange for adoptions as well as participate in animal rescues. An animal care specialist working in laboratories may collect blood samples, conduct lab tests, and record results. They help answer phone calls and administer individual queries.
Animal care specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real animal care specialist resumes:
- Enter demographics and medical history into EMR.
- Perform hearing, vision, vital signs, and EKG tests as part of physical examinations of air crews.
- Motivate and instruct children ages PreK-2nd grade in different sports programs offer such as soccer, basketball, and t-ball.
- Develop adaptive sports programs for a variety of disabilities.
- Check in patients, maintain accurate personal information using computer system and software.
- Assist in performance of humane euthanasia.
- Go over surgery appointments, verify appointments.
- Transcribe patient office notes until going to EMR.
- Prepare animals, instruments and equipment for surgery.
- Advise athletes with treatments, evaluations, and rehabilitation.
- Develop and implement rehabilitation programs for professional, college, and high school athletes.
- Mentore high functioning campers in their goals of learning to lead groups and teach adaptive sports.
- Job responsibilities are to help customers with all pet diets and the right over the counter medicines for cats or dogs.
- Work with the public through adoption counseling and educate possible adopters on animal characteristics and the responsibilities of pet ownership.
- Care for cats, rabbits reptiles, birds, pigs, goats and horses.
Animal care specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 27% of Animal Care Specialists are proficient in PET, Animal Handling, and Quality Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Decision-making skills, Problem-solving skills, and Compassion.
We break down the percentage of Animal Care Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- PET, 27%
Worked with the public through adoption counseling and educated possible adopters on animal characteristics and the responsibilities of pet ownership.
- Animal Handling, 10%
Assisted the Veterinarians and the Veterinary technicians with drug administration, disease and parasite testing, and animal handling.
- Quality Customer Service, 8%
Ensured quality customer service to all potential adopters, patrons and donors who visit or call the shelter.
- Animal Husbandry, 8%
Completed animal husbandry and support services according to standard procedures.
- Animal Shelter, 3%
Restructured adoption coordination efforts with local animal shelters.
- Physical Examinations, 2%
Performed physical examinations to detect obvious abnormalities and reports findings to veterinarian, Positions and restrains animals for examination and treatment.
"pet," "animal handling," and "quality customer service" are among the most common skills that animal care specialists use at work. You can find even more animal care specialist responsibilities below, including:
Decision-making skills. One of the key soft skills for an animal care specialist to have is decision-making skills. You can see how this relates to what animal care specialists do because "veterinarians must decide the correct method for treating the injuries and illnesses of animals." Additionally, an animal care specialist resume shows how animal care specialists use decision-making skills: "consult with and refer patients to ophthalmologist or other health care practitioner if additional medical treatment is determined necessary. "
Problem-solving skills. Many animal care specialist duties rely on problem-solving skills. "veterinarians need strong problem-solving skills because they must figure out what is ailing animals," so an animal care specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways animal care specialist responsibilities rely on problem-solving skills: "worked closely with older children in areas of mentorship, peer mediation, and conflict resolution. "
Compassion. animal care specialists are also known for compassion, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to animal care specialist responsibilities, because "veterinarians must be compassionate when working with animals and their owners." An animal care specialist resume example shows how compassion is used in the workplace: "stocked food skills used strong compassion for animal welfare. "
Communication skills. animal care specialist responsibilities often require "communication skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "strong communication skills are essential for veterinarians, who must be able to discuss their recommendations and explain treatment options to animal owners and give instructions to their staff." This resume example shows what animal care specialists do with communication skills on a typical day: "maintained open communication with handlers and pet owners throughout the duration of health care needs. "
The three companies that hire the most animal care specialists are:
- Petco Holdings, Inc.34 animal care specialists jobs
- Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.c. Or Aza9 animal care specialists jobs
- Six Flags6 animal care specialists jobs
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Compare different animal care specialists
Animal care specialist vs. Laboratory veterinarian
An associate veterinarian specializes in providing medical care and treatment to animals. One may work part-time or full-time at a veterinary clinic, together with practice owners, assistants, and veterinary technicians. An associate veterinarian's responsibilities primarily revolve around examining animals to diagnose any injuries or diseases, performing surgeries, and administering or prescribing medication. Other responsibilities include discussing the pets' condition to owners, ensuring to relay the necessary care and welfare advice needed during treatment, or after surgery. Moreover, an associate veterinarian may also euthanize, spay, neuter, and even perform dental procedures to animals.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an animal care specialist are more likely to require skills like "pet," "animal handling," "quality customer service," and "animal husbandry." On the other hand, a job as a laboratory veterinarian requires skills like "board certification," "animal species," "federal regulations," and "glp." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, laboratory veterinarians reach higher levels of education than animal care specialists. Laboratory veterinarians are 5.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 49.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Animal care specialist vs. Associate veterinarian
A Veterinary Medicine Doctor is responsible for studying animal nature, diagnosing animal illnesses, and developing treatment plans and medications. They analyze an extensive scope of animal conditions to identify care programs that would keep them healthy. They also supervise laboratory procedures and conduct tests by acquiring specimens for investigation. A veterinary medicine doctor must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in coordinating with animal owners, responding to their inquiries and concerns, and resolving their issues.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, animal care specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "animal handling," "quality customer service," "animal husbandry," and "animal shelter." Meanwhile, an associate veterinarian has duties that require skills in areas such as "patients," "private practice," "compassion," and "dvm." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Associate veterinarians earn similar levels of education than animal care specialists in general. They're 2.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 49.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Animal care specialist vs. Doctor of veterinary medicine
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from animal care specialist resumes include skills like "animal handling," "quality customer service," "animal husbandry," and "animal shelter," whereas a doctor of veterinary medicine is more likely to list skills in "patient care," "veterinary medicine," "patients," and "internal medicine. "
Most doctors of veterinary medicine achieve a higher degree level compared to animal care specialists. For example, they're 8.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 58.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Animal care specialist vs. Staff veterinarian
Types of animal care specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
