Domestic Animal Attendant

A domestic animal attendant provides daily care and handling of domestic animals in shelter, rescue, breeding, or boarding facilities in Australia. They perform routine husbandry tasks including feeding, cleaning enclosures, and basic health monitoring, while adhering to animal welfare standards and relevant state-based animal care legislation. This role involves direct animal handling and record-keeping to ensure animal wellbeing and facility operations.

Feed animals according to dietary requirements, portion sizes, and feeding schedules recorded in facility management systems. Clean and sanitise animal enclosures, kennels, cages, or yards using appropriate disinfectants and waste disposal procedures. Fill and refresh water bowls and troughs daily, monitoring water quality and animal consumption. Observe animals for signs of illness, injury, or behavioural distress and report findings to supervising veterinarians or animal handlers. Handle and restrain animals safely using appropriate techniques to prevent injury to self and animals during routine procedures. Exercise animals by walking, playing, or facilitating socialisation activities in designated areas or yards. Maintain daily animal care records including feeding, health observations, exercise, and behavioural notes in facility databases or logbooks. Prepare animals for grooming, veterinary examination, or adoption by bathing, brushing, or basic physical assessment.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate II or III (ABS skill level 4). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

The work is physically demanding with low pay ceilings. You'll be on your feet all day cleaning, lifting heavy feed bags, and handling animals in all weather. Most positions are part-time or casual with unpredictable hours, including weekends and public holidays. Animal welfare work can be emotionally draining, especially in rescue settings. Automated feeding and cleaning systems may reduce some entry-level positions over time.

Regional towns have fewer facilities. Work is on-site only: no remote options. Most jobs are with not-for-profit animal rescue organisations, council pound facilities, or private boarding kennels. Vet clinics also employ attendants but prefer those with additional veterinary training.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 3611, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Active Listeningcore
• Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Customer Needs Assessmentcore
• Empathy and Emotional Intelligencecore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Multitaskingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Record Managementcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Advise on animal purchase
• Calculate rates per hours
• Complaint Handling
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Data Entry and Accuracy
• Professional Boundaries Maintenance
• Regulatory and Legislative Awareness
• Risk Identification
• Workload Self-Management
• Written Communication

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

Last updated: 30 October 2026