Groomer and Kennel Assistant
Fairview Heights Animal Clinic
$16 - $17 / hour
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Description
Fairview Heights Animal Clinic is hiring a full time Grooming and Kennel Assistant to work alongside our team of experienced veterinarians, skilled technicians, and devoted support staff to ensure each animal receives the best possible care during their stay with us. If you are enthusiastic, reliable, and excited about helping us maintain our high standards of animal care and customer service, we would love to hear from you!
What to Expect
As you join our mission to create a better world for animals and the people who love them, expect to be supported in your work and home life with:
- A comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision insurance
- Paid time off and a 401(k) plan for full-time employees
- Professional development opportunities
Salary: $16 - $17 per hour, determined by the candidate's skills, experience, and qualifications.
Schedule: This is a full-time position, approximately 38–40 hours per week. The hospital operates Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM; Wednesday and Friday from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM; and Saturday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Kennel Assistant Duties:
- Monitor the health and comfort of animals, recognize and respond to emergency situations, and report health concerns.
- Document treatments, activities, and observations.
- Walk dogs in all weather conditions.
- Feed and provide scheduled fresh water to dogs and cats.
- Maintain cleanliness by washing dishes, bowls, litter boxes, kennels, and cages.
- Change and replace soiled bedding and manage laundry tasks.
- Bathe animals as necessary before discharge.
- Perform general housekeeping duties in animal housing, food preparation, and laundry areas.
- Administer oral and topical medications, including flea and tick treatments.
- Assist with checking in and out boarding patients, ensuring proper labeling and ID collars.
- Identify and alleviate stress in boarding animals through interactive play and mental stimulation.
Grooming Assistant Duties:
- Bathe dogs of all breeds, coat types, temperaments, and sizes according to hospital grooming standards.
- Properly shampoo, condition, rinse, towel dry, and blow dry pets while ensuring their comfort and safety.
- Brush and de-shed coats to prepare pets for grooming services.
- Safely restrain and handle pets using low-stress handling techniques.
- Assist the groomer with preparing pets before and after grooming appointments.
- Recognize and communicate any skin abnormalities, parasites, lumps, wounds, or other health concerns to the groomer or veterinary team.
- Support grooming appointments for patients with medical conditions, mobility limitations, or behavioral concerns.
- Clean ears, trim nails, and perform other bathing-related services.
- Maintain cleanliness and sanitation of the grooming salon, tubs, kennels, equipment, dryers, and work areas.
- Assist with safely moving patients throughout the hospital as needed.
- Maintain accurate communication with the grooming and medical teams regarding patient care.
Qualifications:
- Passion for animals and their well-being
- Ability to multi-task efficiently in a fast-paced environment
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
About Fairview Heights Animal Clinic
Fairview Heights Animal Clinic and the Animal Hospital of O’Fallon are integral parts of the community in St. Clair County, Illinois. Whether your pet needs routine medical care, emergency services, or treatment due to illness, you can rest assured that our entire staff will treat your pet as one of our own.
All of our staff is highly trained and has completed all of the necessary courses and continuing education courses to work here. However, we also believe that staff training is a key part of the success of our clinic, so we provide four hours of staff training every two weeks. This ensures that all of our patients get top notch care. Not only are our staff trained on animal care, handling, and nutrition, but also on communication skills and computers. Our groomers also receive grooming specific training.
Benefits
- health insurance
- vision insurance
- 401(k)
- paid time off
- professional development
About this role
Fairview Heights Animal Clinic is looking for someone to support both its kennel and grooming operations, working across a range of hands-on animal care tasks. You'd spend your days bathing and grooming dogs of various breeds and temperaments, monitoring boarding animals for health concerns, maintaining kennels and grooming facilities, assisting with medications and treatments, and helping animals stay calm and comfortable during their stays. The role requires physical stamina—walking dogs in all weather, handling animals of different sizes and dispositions, and managing cleaning and laundry duties alongside direct patient care.
This position suits someone with genuine care for animals who thrives in a busy clinic environment and can juggle multiple responsibilities without losing attention to detail. You'll need to recognize when an animal is stressed or showing signs of health problems and communicate those observations to the veterinary team. The clinic emphasizes low-stress animal handling and provides two hours of staff training every two weeks, so there's structured support for developing your skills. The full-time schedule runs 38–40 hours weekly across six days, with varying hours depending on the day.
The salary is $16–17 per hour based on your background and qualifications. Full-time benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance, paid time off, and a 401(k) plan, plus access to professional development opportunities.
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Pay for this role
$16 to $17 per hour
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