10 Surprising Ways to Make Money With Animals

Blog | November 20th, 2018

The main economy of the animals in our lives is the economy of love, which we buy and sell on very often with our beloved pets. There is another economy, though. The one that involves real money. For that, we put together a list of 10 ways that working with animals can put cash in your pocket.

Walk Pooches

Dream job alert! You can get paid to basically indulge that urge to pet and talk to every dog you see. Who doesn’t want to spend time and play with all kinds of dogs? Platforms like Rover and Wag will hook you up with the opportunities. Rover claims you can make up to $1000 per month walking dogs, and that’s enough to get our tails waggin’.

Build a Pet Brand

For those of us lucky to have an adorable pet of our own, there’s an opportunity to collab with them to make that social media money. By collab, we mean take gorgeously cute pics of them that you share with the world on Instagram. Create a unique, heart-melting account for your pet and start posting consistently. You never know what can happen! Lots of pet accounts that gain traction at least have opportunities to get free swag, if not commissions for sales when they partner with pet brands. Check these tips to get started.

Look Over Lonely Pets

Having roommates can be difficult unless of course, they’re fuzzy, sweet, and highly snuggle-able. Can you imagine getting paid to snuggle with cute fuzzy dogs and cats? Ok, that’s not actually what the owners are paying you for but it is a perk of the job. Rover is probably the best for finding pet sitting jobs, as they just merged with DogVacay, but you can also check PetSitter for listings.

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Teach Those Dogs a Lesson

If you’ve had a family pet and had to train them, chances are you’re probably much better at it than first-time pet owners. There are opportunities to apprentice as a dog trainer (while getting paid, of course) at national pet stores like Petco and PetSmart. You may also find opportunities to do the same at your local, busy pet shop, so definitely ask around!

Get Your Pet An Agent

Is your pet the next Lassie? You don’t actually have to get a pet agent (yet) to unlock opportunities to get your pup or cat into commercials, TV, movies, or other paid entertainment gigs. This route is not easy, and isn’t a great option for a quick buck. If you think your pet has the look, charisma, and training to be on screen, then you can start considering ways to break them into showbiz.

Share Your Animal Expertise

There are constantly new pet mommies and daddies who only truly realize what they’ve gotten into when they’re new puppy wakes them at four in the morning just to poop on the floor. Sharing your experiences and expertise on a blog will not only help those people, but it’s also a fantastic creative outlet for you and can make you some extra money if you run ads on the site.

Create Custom Pet Supplies

It’s always said that human parents need to be crafty to survive, but what about pet parents? If you’ve developed a homemade treat recipe or have a great idea for accessories and toys for pets, then you have the opportunity to turn that into extra cash. Create one great thing that you would use with your own pet. Put it up on Etsy, Amazon, and tell all the pet parents you know!

Take Care Of The Dirty Work

This is the least appealing opportunity, so sorry for being a party pooper. Until we can teach dogs to use toilets (invent that solution and you’ll make real money), there will forever be dog poop to be picked up. Find neighbors with dogs and backyards. Chances are that they are not the kind of backyards you want to lay down on. That is, until you come in. Pick up a scooping tool and start making money.

Help Pets Look Silky Smooth

Grooming is another great way to make money. Major national stores pretty much all have grooming services available, so see if there are any openings for that type of work. Also look at more local operations. Dogs need to look and feel good too. How else would they get this much attention otherwise?

Become a Veterinary Technician

If you’re reading this you must love animals. Becoming a veterinarian is a daunting task, especially if you’re not quite sure about that career path. The veterinary industry is growing rapidly and studying to become a veterinary technician could be a great option. It requires less education (two years as opposed to four) but still keeps you heavily involved with care. Read more about it here. You can also check local vets to see if there are openings as an assistant or in an administrative role if you want to dip your feet in first. If you love working with animals, why not do it for life!

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