What does a kennel technician do?
Kennel technicians are employees who work in animal boarding houses, veterinary clinics, and shelters. Primarily, they take care of and maintain animals living in a kennel. They are responsible for the upkeep of animals under their supervision and ensure they are healthy, happy, and clean. Often, they work with cats and dogs, although they may also care for other domestic animals. They should have skills in handling animals, sanitation, cleaning, friendly office help, and primary animal care.
Kennel technician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real kennel technician resumes:
- Manage, and safely operate the MWD explosive program.
- Place iv catheters in dogs and cats.
- Maintain and update website and FaceBook page.
- Restrain animals for various procedures such as blood draws and catheter placement.
- Operate autoclaves for the sterilization of clean supplies as well as potentially infectious waste for disposal.
- Perform animal grooming duties such as washing, and brushing coats, trimming nails, and cleaning ears.
- Perform a few animal grooming duties such as bathing, brushing, clipping nails, and cleaning ears.
- Perform hygiene-relate duties, such as bathing, clipping animals' claws, or cleaning and polishing teeth.
- Recognize and record any unusual condition or abnormal behavior of any hospitalize pet.
- Schedule appointments and contact clients to provide medical updates, medication administration instructions and discharge summaries for pet care3.
- Perform all animal technician functions for surgical and radiology procedures in compliance with pertinent regulations and guidelines as required by protocol.
- Administrate SQ/IM/IV fluids and catheters as directed.
- Kennel also include caring for cats and other small animals such as guinea pigs, birds, and reptiles.
- Perform or supervise induction, intubation, and anesthesia for all neurology procedures requiring general anesthesia.
Kennel technician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 27% of Kennel Technicians are proficient in PET, Facility Laundry, and Administer Medications. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Manual dexterity, and Physical strength.
We break down the percentage of Kennel Technicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- PET, 27%
Scheduled appointments and contacted clients to provide medical updates, medication administration instructions and discharge summaries for pet care3.
- Facility Laundry, 10%
Clean and maintain kennels, do facility laundry, and clean animal holding areas to control the spread of disease.
- Administer Medications, 10%
Administer medications according to owners/veterinarians.
- Scheduling Appointments, 5%
Feed and water boarding animals, scheduling appointments, answering phones, filing, assisting doctor with appointments and surgeries.
- Animal Handling, 4%
Performed basic animal behavioral evaluations and animal handling as necessary for everyday duties.
- Front Desk, 4%
Front desk administration tasks of boarding check in/out, updating files with boarding stay information and changes, and filing.
"pet," "facility laundry," and "administer medications" are among the most common skills that kennel technicians use at work. You can find even more kennel technician responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a kennel technician to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what kennel technicians do because "veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers communicate with pet owners, veterinarians, veterinary technologists and technicians, and other assistants." Additionally, a kennel technician resume shows how kennel technicians use communication skills: "front desk work, computer skills, communication with pet owners and customer service. "
Manual dexterity. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling kennel technician duties is manual dexterity. The role rewards competence in this skill because "veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers must be adept in both handling animals and using medical instruments and laboratory equipment." According to a kennel technician resume, here's how kennel technicians can utilize manual dexterity in their job responsibilities: "administered iv fluids via pump and manual drip and subcutaneous fluids. "
Physical strength. This is an important skill for kennel technicians to perform their duties. For an example of how kennel technician responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers must be strong enough to handle, move, and restrain animals." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a kennel technician: "recorded information about animals, such as weight, size, physical condition, diet, medications, and food intake. ".
Compassion. A big part of what kennel technicians do relies on "compassion." You can see how essential it is to kennel technician responsibilities because "veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers must treat animals with kindness and show compassion to both the animals and their owners." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical kennel technician tasks: "maintained a structured setting for patients by performing compassionate animal husbandry. "
Detail oriented. A commonly-found skill in kennel technician job descriptions, "detail oriented" is essential to what kennel technicians do. Kennel technician responsibilities rely on this skill because "veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers must follow instructions exactly as directed." You can also see how kennel technician duties rely on detail oriented in this resume example: "maintained accurate and detailed records on behavior, food intake, medications and inventories of all animals. "
The three companies that hire the most kennel technicians are:
- VCA Animal Hospitals6 kennel technicians jobs
- VetCor3 kennel technicians jobs
- Denali2 kennel technicians jobs
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Compare different kennel technicians
Kennel technician vs. Research animal attendant
A laboratory animal caretaker is in charge of monitoring and taking care of animals in a research facility or similar setting, ensuring to handle them properly and humanely. Their responsibilities include feeding the animals, examining them for any diseases or injuries, gathering and preparing samples, and maintaining the cleanliness of work areas. Furthermore, as a laboratory animal caretaker, it is essential to provide research and clerical assistance to staff, all while upholding the laboratory's safety policies and regulations.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a kennel technician are more likely to require skills like "pet," "facility laundry," "administer medications," and "scheduling appointments." On the other hand, a job as a research animal attendant requires skills like "sops," "lab animals," "behavioral data," and "laboratory animals." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Research animal attendants tend to reach similar levels of education than kennel technicians. In fact, research animal attendants are 3.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.8% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Kennel technician vs. Laboratory animal caretaker
VET Assistants are in-charge of taking care of the well-being of animals in Veterinary clinics and hospitals. Most of the tasks involved are feeding, bathing, weighing, and providing overall nursing care of animals on a routine and sometimes daily basis. VET is short for Veterinary, and as the job title implies, one must also provide assistance to Veterinarians, Veterinary Technologists, or Animal Scientists during Procedures and even Surgeries. A VET Assistant is expected to be equipped with good communication skills and compassion towards animals, but above all, one must also have emotional strength as there are cases which might involve abuse and even euthanasia.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real kennel technician resumes. While kennel technician responsibilities can utilize skills like "pet," "scheduling appointments," "animal hospital," and "exam rooms," laboratory animal caretakers use skills like "ventilation," "safety procedures," "pigs," and "dependability."
Laboratory animal caretakers may earn a lower salary than kennel technicians, but laboratory animal caretakers earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $28,695. On the other hand, kennel technicians receive higher pay in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $29,269.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Laboratory animal caretakers tend to reach similar levels of education than kennel technicians. In fact, they're 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Kennel technician vs. Veterinarian assistant
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a kennel technician is likely to be skilled in "facility laundry," "healthy environment," "medical care," and "clean environment," while a typical veterinarian assistant is skilled in "patients," "surgery room," "routine laboratory tests," and "clinical symptoms."
When it comes to education, veterinarian assistants tend to earn similar degree levels compared to kennel technicians. In fact, they're 1.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Kennel technician vs. Vet assistant
Even though a few skill sets overlap between kennel technicians and vet assistants, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a kennel technician might have more use for skills like "facility laundry," "animal hospital," "healthy environment," and "clean environment." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of vet assistants require skills like "patients," "patient care," "compassion," and "customer service. "
Vet assistants enjoy the best pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $33,495. For comparison, kennel technicians earn the highest salary in the government industry.In general, vet assistants hold similar degree levels compared to kennel technicians. Vet assistants are 1.1% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of kennel technician
Updated January 8, 2025
