Veterinary Kennel Assistant

SmartRecruiters, Inc.; San Marcos (CA); On-site; USD 34,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee Assistance Program

Paid Vacation and Sick Time

Continuing Education Allowance

Referral Bonus Program

Tuition Reimbursement

Job summary

East & West Animal Hospital is seeking a Veterinary Assistant to join a compassionate, fast-paced team focused on whole-pet care. The role involves kennel care, helping with exams, medications, and client education to empower pet owners.

The ideal candidate thrives in a collaborative environment, maintains meticulous records, and supports both medical staff and clients with empathy and professionalism.

Qualifications

• Basic animal restraint skills and safe handling practices.
• Ability to clean and disinfect areas and equipment.
• Accurate medication and recordkeeping with attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Care for hospitalized patients and boarding dogs.
• Assist with feeding, bathing, walking, and medicating animals.
• Maintain clean, organized hospital and kennels; restock supplies.
• Support doctors and technicians during exams and procedures.
• Keep precise medication, diet and behavior records.

Skills

Animal restraint

Disinfection methods

Recordkeeping

Client education

Physical endurance

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Job description

At East & West Animal Hospital, we combine the best of Eastern and Western veterinary medicine to provide compassionate, whole-pet care in a collaborative and supportive environment. From urgent care to holistic therapies, our team focuses on treating the root cause of illness while also supporting each patient’s physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

Our team is passionate about building meaningful relationships with clients and empowering pet owners through education and collaboration. We’re looking for a Veterinary Assistant who is eager to grow, loves client education, and is passionate about delivering high-quality, personalized care. If you thrive in a fast-paced environment and want to be part of a team that values empathy, teamwork, and innovative medicine, we’d love to meet you!

Job duties include, but are not limited to:

The kennel assistant is responsible for the care, feeding, medicating and cleaning of our patients in hospital, and our clients in the boarding facility. This job involves cleaning, laundry, bathing, feeding, walking dogs, and medicating. You are responsible for restocking hospital supplies, helping with post-operative patients, assisting doctors and assistants with animal restraint and exams. You will be responsible for proper recordkeeping of medications, special foods, appetite, behavior and any issue that may arise while the animal is in our care. You will be trained to clean and sterilize surgical instruments.

Qualifications

We are looking for someone with:

• Knowledge of cleaning and disinfecting methods.
• Proper methods of animal restraint.
• Ability to use cleaning materials and equipment with skill and efficiency.
• Perform moderately heavy physical labor (large dogs, bags of litter, pet foods, etc).
• Abilityto sympathetically and patiently attend to sick, scared and injured animals.
• Ability to learn to administer medications and to recognize abnormal conditions.
• Understand and carry out oral and written directions.
• Maintain cooperative relationships with those contacted in the course of the job.

Additional Information

We offer our staff:

• Employee Assistance Program
• Paid Vacation and Sick Time for ALL Employees
• Paid Bereavement Program
• Paid Parental Leave Program
• Continuing Education Allowance (applies to licensed/registered/certified roles)
• Tuition Reimbursement Program Available to any AVMA Accredited Veterinary Technology Program
• Referral Bonus Program for most positions!
• Additional Benefits May Also Be Available (i.e. Personal Pet Discounts, Holiday Pay, Uniform Allowance, Bonuses etc.)

Hiring eligibility may be contingent to a candidate authorizing and completing a satisfactory pre-employment screening.

*Note – some benefits may only be available to or vary slightly for full time employment status vs part time status.

For additional details including our full equal opportunity statement, texting/outreach communication authorization, physical requirements of the job and more, please visit: https://allianceanimal.com/additionaljobdescriptiondetails/