|
HOME |
|
|
HOME |
|
|
|
You can start getting animal keeper experience right now! How? By being an animal keeper for your family's pets, or a neighbor's pets! This will help you develop the important skills that animal keepers need on their jobs. Here's how: |
This is something keepers do every day. In a notebook, make daily notes of anything you think is important about your pets: their health, weight, behavior, diet, and training. This requires sharp observational skills, paying close attention to what you see, hear, smell, and feel about the animals you care for. Some days you'll only write a little, some days a lot, but your notebook will give you an important record to consult if something seems wrong with your pet in the future.
|
Some things to look for: • How do your pets move (are they stiff? slow? limping? quick? alert? energetic?), • How well are they eating (quickly? carefully? favourite foods?) • How do their fur, feathers, skin, or scales look (dull? scruffy? dirty? clean? shiny? smooth?) • Keep an eye on poop and urine! (This may sound gross, but with animals, you can tell a lot about their health by what their poop and urine look like, and how often they produce them.) |
|
|
|
Environment Create the right environment for your pets. Keepers want their animals to be comfortable and relaxed and able to show their natural behaviors. You can provide things for your pets that will make them feel that way, too, like a high shelf for your cat to sit on, a cozy cardboard house for a guinea pig, or interesting branches as a perch for a bird. |
|
Know what they need Again, watch the things they do and how they act. Look for things that they seem to like, and find ways to make that a part of their environment. And of course you should do some research. Read books about your type of animal from libraries and pet stores to find out more about how they live and what best suits their behaviour. |
|
|
|
Diet Make sure they eat the right foods. It's a keeper's job to feed the animals in their care a fresh, nutritious meal, called a diet, every day. Find out which foods your pets should be eating, and which ones could harm them or make them sick. Always keep food and water bowls clean, and save treats for special occasions. It's part of a keeper's responsibilities to make sure their animals aren't eating too much or too little, so they don't get too fat or too skinny. |
|
Clean up! Don't forget that it's part of a keeper's job to keep an animal's area clean, too, so you'll need to learn how to clean up that poop and urine regularly. |
|
