A wave of appreciation for pets has been sweeping across a majority of urban areas in the African Continent with new booming careers being formed as a result of this wave. The classy introduction of pink-collar jobs. This category of jobs was considered to be exclusively for women. The jobs included those in the beauty industry, nursing, social work, child care, etc.

The pink collar job we are focusing on today has to do with everything pets; the Pet Boarding: “Pet boarding is taking care of pets on behalf of their owners. This involves walking, bathing, feeding, and playing with the animals. Most of the time the pets socialize with each other as they are normally alone,” Roy, Founder – Royal pets.

Pet boarding and pet sitting are two very similar activities. Pet sitting requires the pet sitter to visit the house of the pet owner, bound with the pet, and either has pet sitting shifts when the owner is at work or stay over when they travel. The rewards of this job are intensive however, they require one simple demand. The pet sitter has to send the pet owner videos with him/her playing with the dog or just the pet alone. This enables the owner to evaluate the mood of his/her pet to see if it is being mistreated or not.

The challenges of pet boarding, “The main challenge of pet boarding is understanding the pet’s personality as they have different personalities. You have to narrow it down to the individual pet and learn how you relate with the pet for it to be happy in your facility,” says Roy. 

There are requirements before an animal is accepted in a boarding facility, “The pet owner has to sign a form that entails the vaccination and health status of the animal, what they eat, allergies, medication administered when the pets have flu, and grooming products. All this information helps us to cater to the needs of the particular pet.” Roy added.

With the emerging pink-collar jobs, employment opportunities are wider than ever, one can branch out by turning their passion into a career.