Job Overview
Join our dynamic animal shelter team as an Animal Caretaker, where your passion for animal care will make a meaningful difference. In this energetic role, you will provide compassionate care for animals of the highest standards. This position offers a rewarding opportunity to grow your veterinary experience while working in a supportive and lively environment dedicated to animal health and well-being.
Department Overview: The Flathead County Animal Shelter is a division of the Flathead City-County Health Department. The shelter is an open-admission municipal shelter and provides care for stray and abandoned dogs and cats in Flathead County. The shelter provides adoption services for dogs and cats, reunites lost pets with their owners, and serves as a public education center. The shelter provides dog licensing services and interfaces with public health and law enforcement as necessary to protect the community. Job Summary: Under the supervision of the division director, performs a variety of manual tasks related to the feeding, grooming, and exercising of cats and dogs and the cleaning and general sanitary requirements of the Animal Shelter and the animal cages/pens.
Essential Functions (Major Duties or Responsibilities): These duties are the essential functions and are not all-inclusive of all duties that the incumbent performs. Clean, feed, exercise, provide enrichment, basic health care, and shelter hygiene for all incoming animals. Communicate animal health and welfare concerns to appropriate supervisor and/or shelter veterinarian. Administer appropriate pharmaceuticals prescribed by veterinarian and/or in accordance with standard operating procedures. Cross reference lost/found reports against incoming animals. Enter all records of intake and ongoing care procedures into the shelter’s database. Assist with preparing and posting informational kennel cards for each animal. Always maintain a high degree of customer service skills. Offer compassionate counseling for individuals surrendering a pet or pets, while accurately documenting pertinent information in accordance with written protocols. Assist administration staff members with greeting customers, answering the telephone, processing dog licenses, processing receipts and adoption paperwork for outgoing animals, and issue paperwork that accompanies animals being released following impoundment. Provide direction, training, and guidance to community service workers and volunteers in the care and maintenance of cats, dogs, and the facility. Perform daily janitorial duties and light building maintenance when requested. Participates in regular and special training programs to gain new ideas and information leading to greater efficiency and effectiveness, performance and delivery of services.
Non-Essential Functions: Perform other duties assigned including but not limited to attending staff or safety meetings, providing backup for other staff, participating in training, etc. Physical Demands and Working Conditions: The employee works inside and outside in all aspects of weather and temperature. Lift and carry up to 50 pounds. The employee is constantly required to use hands to handle or feel objects. Frequently required to sit, stand, walk, talk, write, listen and read. The employee may infrequently be required to climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl and reach with hands and arms. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision and depth perception. The noise level of the building is usually moderate; however, employees are occasionally subjected to loud equipment/animal noise.
Supervision Exercised: The primary function of this job is not in a supervisory capacity.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
The job requires knowledge of: Basic methods of caring for and feeding domestic cats and dogs. Basic clerical tasks and computer use. Animal Control ordinances and shelter policies. The job requires skills and abilities to: Learn and accurately apply shelter policies. Learn to identify different breeds of animals. Follow directions provided orally and in writing. Work in and around sights and odors normally found in an animal shelter on a sustained basis. Regularly inspect animal areas. Regularly feed, water, groom, exercise and otherwise care for cats and dogs. Clean and sanitize animal cages/pens effectively. Understanding domestic animal behavior. Work with the public in a friendly, pleasant, and courteous manner. Establish and maintain effective working relationships with co-workers. Perform basic clerical tasks including computer use and data entry. Print or write legibly to accurately record information.
Education and Experience: Candidates for this position typically have a high school diploma or GED and work experience in an animal-related field. This job requires general concern for the care and welfare of domestic cats and dogs. Must be willing and able to take pre-exposure rabies vaccinations.
Pay: From $19.81 per hour
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Tuition reimbursement
- Uniform allowance
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
