Animal care worker
Animal Care

How to become an animal care worker

You can get into this job through:

• a college course
• an apprenticeship
• volunteering

College

You could take a college course in animal care or management, for example:

• Level 1 Certificate in Introduction to Animal Care
• Level 2 Diploma in Animal Care

College (Entry requirements)

You may need:

• 2 or fewer GCSEs at grades 3 to 1 (D to G), or equivalent, for a level 1 course
• 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9 to 3 (A* to D), or equivalent, for a level 2 course

Apprenticeship

You can do an intermediate apprenticeship as an animal care and welfare assistant, or an advanced apprenticeship in animal care.

Apprenticeship (Entry requirements)

You'll usually need:

• some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
• 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths, for an advanced apprenticeship

Volunteering & Experience

It'll help to have some experience of working with animals before you start looking for a job.

Volunteering can sometimes lead in to paid work. You can find out about volunteering opportunities in your area from:

• Blue Cross
• RSPCA
• PDSA
• Cats Protection

More info

Further information You can find out more about careers in animal care from the National Land Based College UK and the College of Animal Welfare.

What it takes

Skills & Knowledge

You'll need:

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

What you'll do

Day to day

As an animal care worker, you'll:

• monitor animals' health
• clean out kennels or cages
• prepare food and help out at feeding times
• clean and groom animals
• look after animals that become ill or distressed
• answer queries from colleagues and visitors
• exercisie dogs in a yard or take them for walks

Working environment

You could work at an animal welfare centre, at a wildlife park or in kennels. Your working environment may be dirty, outdoors some of the time and physically demanding.

Career path and progression

Career path & progression

With experience, you could become a supervisor or manager, or work self-employed. You could also use your experience to move into other animal care careers, like veterinary nursing, or find work in a zoo or wildlife park.