Animal care services
occupations n.e.c
Job holders in this unit group care for animals held in kennels, stables, zoos and similar establishments, provide specialised training, grooming, clipping and trimming services for animals, and searches for and captures stray or nuisance dogs in public areas and perform a variety of animal care tasks not elsewhere classified in minor group 612: Animal care and control services.
- Employees (UK)
- 25k
- Median annual pay
- £23,345
- Exposure score ?
- 1.0/10 Minimal 2.5/10 Low strict reading, with tools is 2.5/10 with-tools reading, strict is 1.0/10
- Wage exposure
- £58m £146m
Higher exposure than 56% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
A few tasks in this role are within reach of AI, mostly paperwork, scheduling and routine writing. The shape of the role stays the same, and some parts get faster.
If you are in this role
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try a model on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT already does with admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the gain.
Where the work usually starts.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
-
Record information relating to animal genealogy, feeding schedules, appearance, behavior, or breeding.
-
Write reports, maintain research information, or perform clerical duties.
-
Perform accounting duties, such as bookkeeping, billing customers for services, or maintaining inventories.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
-
Fill medication prescriptions.
-
Perform routine laboratory tests or diagnostic tests, such as taking or developing x-rays.
-
Perform office reception duties, such as scheduling appointments or helping customers.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers" (31-9096.00).
What AI can already do
3 of 28 tasks, unaided
Record information relating to animal genealogy, feeding schedules, appearance, behavior, or breeding.
Write reports, maintain research information, or perform clerical duties.
Perform accounting duties, such as bookkeeping, billing customers for services, or maintaining inventories.
What still needs a person
25 of 28 tasks
Hold or restrain animals during veterinary procedures.
Monitor animals recovering from surgery and notify veterinarians of any unusual changes or symptoms.
Administer anesthetics during surgery and monitor the effects on animals.
Fill medication prescriptions.
Clean and maintain kennels, animal holding areas, examination or operating rooms, or animal loading or unloading facilities to control the spread of disease.
Examine animals to detect behavioral changes or clinical symptoms that could indicate illness or injury.
Perform routine laboratory tests or diagnostic tests, such as taking or developing x-rays.
Assist veterinarians in examining animals to determine the nature of illnesses or injuries.
Administer medication, immunizations, or blood plasma to animals as prescribed by veterinarians.
Collect laboratory specimens, such as blood, urine, or feces, for testing.
Perform office reception duties, such as scheduling appointments or helping customers.
Clean, maintain, and sterilize instruments or equipment.
Provide emergency first aid to sick or injured animals.
Prepare surgical equipment and pass instruments or materials to veterinarians during surgical procedures.
Educate or advise clients on animal health care, nutrition, or behavior problems.
Prepare examination or treatment rooms by stocking them with appropriate supplies.
Prepare feed for animals according to specific instructions, such as diet lists or schedules.
Provide assistance with euthanasia of animals or disposal of corpses.
Perform hygiene-related duties, such as clipping animals' claws or cleaning and polishing teeth.
Perform enemas, catheterizations, ear flushes, intravenous feedings, or gavages.
Exercise animals or provide them with companionship.
Place orders to restock inventory of hospital or laboratory supplies.
Sell pet food or supplies to customers.
Dust, spray, or bathe animals to control insect pests.
Groom, trim, or clip animals' coats.
Tasks via O*NET "Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers" (31-9096.00).
What AI can already do
9 of 28 tasks, with tools
Fill medication prescriptions.
Perform routine laboratory tests or diagnostic tests, such as taking or developing x-rays.
Perform office reception duties, such as scheduling appointments or helping customers.
Record information relating to animal genealogy, feeding schedules, appearance, behavior, or breeding.
Educate or advise clients on animal health care, nutrition, or behavior problems.
Write reports, maintain research information, or perform clerical duties.
Perform accounting duties, such as bookkeeping, billing customers for services, or maintaining inventories.
Place orders to restock inventory of hospital or laboratory supplies.
Sell pet food or supplies to customers.
What still needs a person
19 of 28 tasks
Hold or restrain animals during veterinary procedures.
Monitor animals recovering from surgery and notify veterinarians of any unusual changes or symptoms.
Administer anesthetics during surgery and monitor the effects on animals.
Clean and maintain kennels, animal holding areas, examination or operating rooms, or animal loading or unloading facilities to control the spread of disease.
Examine animals to detect behavioral changes or clinical symptoms that could indicate illness or injury.
Assist veterinarians in examining animals to determine the nature of illnesses or injuries.
Administer medication, immunizations, or blood plasma to animals as prescribed by veterinarians.
Collect laboratory specimens, such as blood, urine, or feces, for testing.
Clean, maintain, and sterilize instruments or equipment.
Provide emergency first aid to sick or injured animals.
Prepare surgical equipment and pass instruments or materials to veterinarians during surgical procedures.
Prepare examination or treatment rooms by stocking them with appropriate supplies.
Prepare feed for animals according to specific instructions, such as diet lists or schedules.
Provide assistance with euthanasia of animals or disposal of corpses.
Perform hygiene-related duties, such as clipping animals' claws or cleaning and polishing teeth.
Perform enemas, catheterizations, ear flushes, intravenous feedings, or gavages.
Exercise animals or provide them with companionship.
Dust, spray, or bathe animals to control insect pests.
Groom, trim, or clip animals' coats.
Stay on top of this.
An email when there is something worth reading: what is real in AI at work, what is noise, and what operators are doing about it.
Free. Unsubscribe any time.
Related occupations.
Other roles in Caring, leisure and other service occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons