Their work often involves kneeling, crawling, repeated bending, and lifting heavy supplies like bales of hay or bags of feed. Animal caretakers must take precautions when treating animals with germicides or insecticides. The work setting can be noisy. Animal caretakers who witness abused animals or assist in the euthanizing of unwanted, aged, or hopelessly injured animals may experience emotional stress. Caretakers may work outdoors in all kinds of weather.
Hours are irregular.
Animals have to be fed every day, so caretakers must work weekend and holiday shifts. Caretakers of show and sports animals travel to competitions. Employment Animal caretakers held about 163,000 jobs in 1996. About 33,000 of the total worked as veterinary assistants in veterinary services. The remainder worked primarily in boarding kennels, but also in animal shelters, stables, grooming shops, zoos, and local, State, and Federal agencies.