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Animal Caretakers

Feed, water, groom, bathe, exercise, or otherwise provide care to promote and maintain the well-being of pets and other animals that are not raised for consumption, such as dogs, cats, race horses, ornamental fish or birds, zoo animals, and mice. Work in settings such as kennels, animal shelters, zoos, circuses, and aquariums. May keep records of feedings, treatments, and animals received or discharged. May clean, disinfect, and repair cages, pens, or fish tanks.

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    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Do facility laundry and clean, organize, maintain, and disinfect animal quarters, such as pens and stables, and equipment, such as saddles and bridles.
    • Do facility laundry and clean, organize, maintain, and disinfect animal quarters, such as pens and stables, and equipment, such as saddles and bridles.
    • Sell pet food and supplies.
    • Advise pet owners on how to care for their pets' health.
    • Respond to questions from patrons, and provide information about animals, such as behavior, habitat, breeding habits, or facility activities.
    • Order, unload, and store feed and supplies.
    • Train animals to perform certain tasks.
    • Exercise animals to maintain their physical and mental health.
    • Adjust controls to regulate specified temperature and humidity of animal quarters, nurseries, or exhibit areas.
    • Provide treatment to sick or injured animals, or contact veterinarians to secure treatment.
    • Observe and caution children petting and feeding animals in designated areas to ensure the safety of humans and animals.
    • Advise pet owners on how to care for their pets' health.
    • Examine and observe animals to detect signs of illness, disease, or injury.
    • Observe and caution children petting and feeding animals in designated areas to ensure the safety of humans and animals.
    • Clean and disinfect surgical equipment.
    • Collect and record animal information, such as weight, size, physical condition, treatments received, medications given, and food intake.
    • Perform animal grooming duties, such as washing, brushing, clipping, and trimming coats, cutting nails, and cleaning ears.
    • Answer telephones and schedule appointments.
    • Do facility laundry and clean, organize, maintain, and disinfect animal quarters, such as pens and stables, and equipment, such as saddles and bridles.
    • Order, unload, and store feed and supplies.
    • Mix food, liquid formulas, medications, or food supplements according to instructions, prescriptions, and knowledge of animal species.
    • Find homes for stray or unwanted animals.
    • Transfer animals between enclosures to facilitate breeding, birthing, shipping, or rearrangement of exhibits.
    • Advise pet owners on how to care for their pets' health.
    • Feed and water animals according to schedules and feeding instructions.
    • Discuss with clients their pets' grooming needs.
    • Answer telephones and schedule appointments.
    • Anesthetize and inoculate animals, according to instructions.
    • Install, maintain, and repair animal care facility equipment, such as infrared lights, feeding devices, and cages.

    Skills

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    3
    Workplace Documents
    4
    Graphic Literacy
    3

    Abilities

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    Knowledge

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    Career Video

    Additional videos and more information available on CareerOneStop

    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 28770/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 13.83/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 12,970
    • Yearly Projected Openings 2350

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Integrity
    • Dependability
    • Self Control
    • Attention to Detail
    • Cooperation
    • Stress Tolerance

    Tools

    • Aquariums
    • Articulating boom lift
    • Binocular light compound microscopes
    • Cages or its accessories
    • Cleaning scrapers
    • Compressed air gun
    • Dissolved oxygen meters
    • Diving instruments or accessories
    • Domestic hair dryers
    • Dosing droppers
    • Electric hair clipper
    • Electronic toploading balances
    • Forklifts
    • Handheld refractometers or polarimeters
    • Harnesses or its accessories
    • Immersion heaters
    • Inflatable rubber boat
    • Kennels
    • Laboratory ultraviolet UV sterilizers
    • Ladders
    • Muzzles
    • Oxidation reduction tester
    • Personal computers
    • Pet grooming products
    • Pressure or steam cleaners
    • Protective gloves
    • Respirators
    • Safety sleeves
    • Scaffolding
    • Scissor lift or lift table
    • Shears
    • Slings
    • Special hoses
    • Tongs
    • Underwater cameras
    • Underwater lighting
    • Veterinary nail trimmers or cutters
    • Water filters
    • Water pumps
    • Water purification equipment
    • Water testing and sampling kits
    • pH meters

    Technology

    • Calendar and scheduling software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Electronic mail software
    • Office suite software
    • Presentation software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Word processing software

    Tags

    • Apprenticeships are available for this occupation. These programs can help you get hands-on experience and build your skills.

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