Animal Care Specialist

REPORTS TO:Medical Operations Manager
FLSA STATUS:FT, Non-Exempt
LOCATION:Cincinnati Animal CARE Clinic
3949 Colerain Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45223
SALARY:Starts at $15.00 per hour

About Cincinnati Animal CARE

Cincinnati Animal Care (CAC) is a progressive, no-kill organization. CAC assumed operations of the Hamilton County Animal Shelter and Dog Warden operations on August 1st, 2020. Our mission is to meet the immediate needs of animals in our community through individualized care, lifesaving solutions, and temporary shelter en route to a safe, compatible home. Nearly 8,000 animals arrive at our shelter every year and we have nearly 500 animals in care at any given time. We believe that lifesaving is a community ethic and are committed to an exceptional level of animal services, implementing a collaborative, holistic approach to animal sheltering. CAC values its talented team of nearly 90 compassionate, open-minded and resilient staff and hundreds of volunteers and fosters who help realize a vision of a community where all animals are valued, protected and have a safe place to call home.

Cincinnati Animal CARE offers a robust array of programming that supports animals and people in the community. In 2022, CAC:

• responded to over 10,000 calls from the public and won multiple cruelty case convictions,
• hospitalized over 1,000 animals in need of emergency or critical medical treatment,
• assisted over 450 families through an array of support including boarding, veterinary care assistance, training assistance, or spay/neuter,
• reunited nearly 1,000 stray animals were reunited with their families,
• placed 5,700 animals into foster care, and
• got more than 5,000 animals adopted into new families.

CAC achieves unprecedented results and delivers a robust offering of new services to its community.

Position Summary

The Animal Care team is responsible for providing the daily care needs of the entire population of hospitalized, resident, and surgical patients at Cincinnati Animal CARE. Animal Care Specialists oversee animal movements (intakes, releases, transfers), feeding, cleaning, enrichment, and medical procedure assistance.

Primary Responsibilities

Animal Care Specialists are responsible for the following:

1. Animal Feeding, Exercise, Enrichment
   • Maintain stock of animal care essential items (food, treats, toys)
   • Deliver feedings, outdoor exercise, and in-kennel enrichment for patients
   • Provide clinic yard, walks, playgroup, and in-kennel enrichment
2. Safe and Sanitary Patient Housing
   • Ensure cleanliness of kennels, bowls, linens, toys, and crates for all patients
   • Follow proper cleaning procedures and use appropriate products and chemicals to mitigate the risk of disease spread
   • Animal care dishes, laundry, and other assignments as requested by shift leads or management
   • Contribute to the overall cleanliness of several clinic spaces and clinic trash removal
3. Patient Care
   • Follow feeding plans, weight monitoring, symptom monitoring, and other medical protocols to monitor and/or report on patient status
   • Restrain and provide other forms of patient management for medical procedures, surgeries, and exams
   • Collaborate with Animal Care Leads to advance animal welfare within the Medical Department

Like all employees at CAC, this individual may be assigned additional duties at the request of their supervisor.

Required Skills and Qualifications

1. A true team builder who makes everyone feel welcome,
2. Comfortable handling dogs, cats, pocket pets, and other animals with a variety of temperaments and socialization levels,
3. Embodies unwavering commitment to CAC’s values, positive workplace culture, and animal care.
4. Strong verbal communication skills,
5. Ability to stay calm under pressure,
6. Willingness to learn medical procedures and protocols to advance ability to assist within the department,
7. Ability to clearly explain surgical discharge instructions and recovery expectations to fosters and adopters,
8. Ability to follow oral instructions.

Physical Requirements

This is a physically demanding role that requires the ability to work with animals of multiple species and a range of sizes. To meet the needs of animals in our care within our work environment, Animal Care Specialists must be able to:

1. Work in kennel environments which may be loud and odorous
2. Lifting 40 pounds often, 50 pounds occasionally, and larger weights with help
3. Walking, bending, kneeling, and stooping regularly
4. Climbing stairs, ramps,
5. Standing and walking for extended periods of time,
6. Ability to physically restrain large dogs.

Schedule

Animal Care Specialists work five shifts per week; shifts are typically 9am-6pm. This role requires working on weekends and holidays.

Salary and Benefits

From $15.00 per hour. Full time employees of CAC are eligible for medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, 403b retirement plan with a 5% match after one year of service, paid leave, and professional development opportunities.