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

What is an animal caregiver and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Chase Runyan

As the name implies, an Animal Caregiver deals with animals and takes care of them. You will provide the animals with their daily needs; you will feed, walk, give water, and administer drugs to them. You may also be tasked to evaluate the animals' health and educate pet owners about animal's health and illnesses.

You do not need a college education to become an Animal Caregiver. A high school diploma is enough as long as you meet these necessary skills and requirements for the job. You can earn an average salary of $27,611 per year as an Animal Caregiver, and the job growth rate is 16%. After being an Animal Caregiver, you can also become a Vet Assistant, a technician, a Team Leader, and an Account Manager.

It is good to know about your competitors, too, in order to improve yourself. Most Animal Caregiver applicants today include General Care, Animal Care, Patient Care, Animal Shelter, and Daily Care in their resumes. Therefore, it is beneficial if you brush up your knowledge and skills on these aspects.

What's a day at work look like for an animal caregiver?

Dr. Chase Runyan

Associate Professor, Department Chair, Director of MIR/Research Scientist, Angelo State University

Because agriculture industries are so diverse in their nature, it is nearly impossible to gauge what a work day might look like.

ScoreAnimal CaregiverUS Average

Salary

2.2

Avg. Salary $27,665

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.7

Growth rate 28%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.48%

Asian 2.83%

Black or African American 4.95%

Hispanic or Latino 16.88%

Unknown 6.41%

White 68.45%

Gender

female 76.49%

male 23.51%

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

Key steps to become an animal caregiver

Explore animal caregiver education requirements

Most common animal caregiver degrees

Bachelor's

44.8 %

High School Diploma

23.1 %

Associate

20.8 %

Start to develop specific animal caregiver skills

Skills	Percentages
Pigs	51.09%
PET	19.14%
Animal Handling	5.39%
Animal Shelter	3.39%
General Care	2.55%

Complete relevant animal caregiver training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New animal caregivers 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 caregiver based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real animal caregiver resumes.

Research animal caregiver duties and responsibilities

Assist in managing shelter for animals and arranging for adoption or euthanasia of confiscate animals.
Educate pet owners about illnesses, medications, and general care, and answer their questions and concerns.
Walk all dogs, and occasionally strange animals such as pigs.
Create neighborhood service providing in-home pet care including; leash walks, off leash socials, and cat care.

Prepare your animal caregiver resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your animal caregiver 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 caregiver 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 caregiver resume templates

Build a professional animal caregiver 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 caregiver resume.