Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between pet sitters and animal care technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-3 months to become both a pet sitter and an animal care technician. Additionally, an animal care technician has an average salary of $29,617, which is higher than the $25,823 average annual salary of a pet sitter.
The top three skills for a pet sitter include PET, walkers and clients homes. The most important skills for an animal care technician are patients, animal husbandry, and pigs.
| Pet Sitter | Animal Care Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $25,823 | $29,617 |
| Hourly rate | $12.41 | $14.24 |
| Growth rate | 28% | 28% |
| Number of jobs | 21,735 | 96,973 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 45% | Bachelor's Degree, 45% |
| Average age | 32 | 32 |
| Years of experience | 3 | 3 |
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.
An animal care technician is an animal medical professional who is responsible for providing care to animals in the clinical or research setting. Animal care technicians take blood or stool samples from animals and run laboratory tests to determine the cause of an ailment. They often take charge of bathing and grooming animals as well as administer anesthesia before procedures. Animal care technicians are also required to speak to the pet's owners to help them understand the diagnosis and administer medication.
Pet sitters and animal care technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Pet Sitter | Animal Care Technician | |
| Average salary | $25,823 | $29,617 |
| Salary range | Between $10,000 And $62,000 | Between $21,000 And $40,000 |
| Highest paying City | Newport, RI | South San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | Oregon |
| Best paying company | CARE | Emory University |
| Best paying industry | Non Profits | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a pet sitter and an animal care technician in terms of educational background:
| Pet Sitter | Animal Care Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 45% | Bachelor's Degree, 45% |
| Most common major | Business | Biology |
| Most common college | University of Massachusetts Amherst | New York University |
Here are the differences between pet sitters' and animal care technicians' demographics:
| Pet Sitter | Animal Care Technician | |
| Average age | 32 | 32 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 19.7% Female, 80.3% | Male, 31.1% Female, 68.9% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 6.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.5% Asian, 2.7% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |