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

What is an animal sitter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an animal sitter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $12.22 an hour? That's $25,415 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 28% and produce 101,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreAnimal SitterUS Average

Salary

2.0

Avg. Salary $25,415

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.7

Growth rate 28%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.52%

Asian 2.89%

Black or African American 5.16%

Hispanic or Latino 15.75%

Unknown 7.10%

White 68.59%

Gender

female 77.33%

male 22.67%

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 sitter

Explore animal sitter education requirements

Most common animal sitter degrees

Bachelor's

42.1 %

High School Diploma

29.8 %

Associate

17.5 %

Start to develop specific animal sitter skills

Skills	Percentages
Dog	28.88%
Cat	28.88%
Water Plants	15.66%
Coats	14.53%
Mental Health	12.05%

Complete relevant animal sitter training and internships

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

Research animal sitter duties and responsibilities

Assist in managing shelter for animals and arranging for adoption or euthanasia of confiscate animals.
Feed and care for dogs, horses, pigs, and cats.
Perform animal grooming duties such as washing, brushing, chipping, trimming coats, cutting nails, and cleaning ears.
Assist veterinarians, veterinary technicians and veterinary assistants in providing the best care possible for patients.

Prepare your animal sitter resume

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

Build a professional animal sitter 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 sitter resume.