Animal care worker

As an animal care worker, you could:

• check animals daily and monitor their health and behaviour
•  clean out kennels, enclosures, cages or stables
•  prepare food and help out at feeding times
•  clean and groom animals
•  exercise animals regularly
•  look after sick or distressed animals
•  update records and deal with questions from colleagues or the public

In a pet shop, you would also:

• give advice to customers on products and pet care
•  manage product displays
•  maintain stock levels and deal with deliveries
•  check water temperatures and chemical balance in fish tanks
•  handle payments

• customer service skills
• to be thorough and pay attention to detail
• the ability to use your initiative
• to be flexible and open to change
• excellent verbal communication skills
• patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
• the ability to work well with others
• active listening skills
• to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device

You can get into this job through:

• a college course
• an apprenticeship
• volunteering
• applying directly

With experience, you could become a supervisor or manager at an animal centre or in a pet store.

You could be self-employed and run your own business, like dog walking, animal day care or pet sitting services. You may be able to open your own kennels or cattery, or set up an animal rescue charity.

You could also use your experience to move into related careers, like veterinary nursing, or find work in a conservation or wildlife park. There may also be opportunities to go into animal training as an assistance dog instructor.