Caring for a pet teaches responsibility and builds a strong bond. You'll show how you care for your pet, learn more about it, and maybe teach it some tricks. It's a badge that rewards everyday kindness and patience.
Why it's worth it
Caring for a pet is real responsibility: another living thing depends on you every single day, whether you feel like it or not. This badge helps you become the kind of owner your pet deserves, with a better understanding of what it needs, how to read its behavior, and how to teach it new things with patience. Those same skills lead to volunteering at a shelter, working with a vet, or training service animals, and they make you someone people trust with their animals.
Start this week
- Make a simple care chart for your pet today with boxes for feeding, water, cleaning, and exercise, and put it where you'll see it.
- Ask your Scoutmaster for the name of a Pets counselor, and send them a short message with a parent copied to set up a first meeting.
- Talk with your parent or guardian about which pet you'll care for, especially if it's a family pet you'll be sharing duties for.
- Check out a library book about your kind of pet this week so you can start reading for requirement 3.
Plan ahead: Requirement 1 covers four months of care, so start your care log now. Work on the writing, reading, and tricks while the months add up.
Stay safe
- Wash your hands after handling pets, cages, or litter, especially reptiles and amphibians, which can carry salmonella.
- Ask the owner before petting any animal you don't know, and give scared or eating animals space.
Requirements · 5
Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab) (updated 2025).
Note: Get your counselor's approval before starting the four months of pet care, and care done for another merit badge doesn't count.
- Requirement 1
With approval before you begin, show proof that you took care of a pet for four months. Work used for another merit badge doesn't count
Tip: Keep a simple chart of feeding, cleaning, and exercise so you have a record of your care.
For example: Keep a chart on the fridge or a notebook: date, feeding times, fresh water, litter or cage cleaning, walks or playtime, and anything unusual like a missed meal. Snap a photo of the chart each month so you don't lose your record.
- Requirement 2
Write at least 200 words on how you care for, feed, and house your pet. Share some interesting facts, why you chose this kind of pet, and any local laws about keeping it
Tip: Write about what your pet eats, where it lives, and how you keep it healthy.
For example: For a guinea pig, your 200 words might cover the cage size and bedding, daily hay and vegetables, why they need vitamin C, how often you clean, and signs that mean a visit to the vet, like not eating.
- Requirement 3
Show that you read a counselor-approved book or pamphlet about your kind of pet, and discuss what you learned with your counselor
Tip: Find a book about your kind of pet at the library and share one new thing you learned.
- Requirement 4
Show or train your pet. Choose 1 of 2
Tips for this section: Practice tricks a few minutes a day with treats or praise. Patience works better than long sessions.
Example for this section: With a dog, teach sit, stay, and shake in short sessions of five minutes a day, rewarding with small treats and praise. Keep notes on how many days each trick took and what helped your pet learn.
- Requirement 4a
Enter your pet in a pet show
- Requirement 4b
Teach a pet three or more tricks or special skills
- Requirement 5
Careers or hobbies. Choose 1 of 2
Tips for this section: Talk with a veterinarian, groomer, or pet store worker about their job.
Example for this section: Interview a veterinary technician, groomer, or shelter worker with a parent present. Ask what training they needed, what a normal day is like, and what part of the job is hardest.
- Requirement 5a
Research one career related to pets: training and education, costs, job outlook, pay, duties, and advancement. With a parent's or guardian's permission, you may search online or at a library, interview a professional, or visit a workplace. Discuss what you found and what makes it interesting with your counselor
- Requirement 5b
Research how pet skills could become a hobby or part of a healthy lifestyle, including training, costs, and groups that support it. Discuss with your counselor the short- and long-term goals you might set
Places to visit
Ask an adult to set it up, and go with your family, den, patrol, or crew.
An animal shelter or rescue
You'll see how staff care for many animals at once and why so many pets end up needing new homes.
How: A parent or leader can call the volunteer coordinator and ask about a group tour or a youth-friendly service project, like making toys or sorting donations.
A veterinary clinic
Vets and techs can show you exam rooms, X-rays, and how they keep animals calm during visits.
How: Have a parent ask at your pet's next checkup whether someone could show you around for a few minutes when the clinic is quiet.
Where it can lead
- VeterinarianDiagnoses and treats animals; needs a veterinary degree after college.
- Veterinary technicianAssists vets with exams, lab work, and surgery; usually a two-year program.
- Dog trainerTeaches dogs and owners good habits; some train service or search dogs.
- Animal shelter managerRuns a shelter, cares for animals, and finds them new homes.
- Pet groomerBathes, trims, and cares for pets' coats and nails; often learned through hands-on training.
Ask yourself
- How does your pet let you know what it needs?
- What part of daily care is easiest to forget, and what helps you remember?
- What did you learn from your book that changed how you care for your pet?
- How did your patience change while teaching tricks or caring for your pet?
- What would you want to know before getting a different kind of pet someday?
Good questions to ask a veterinarian or veterinary technician
- What are the most common mistakes owners make with a pet like mine?
- What signs mean my pet needs to see a vet right away?
- How much exercise and what kind of food does my pet really need?
- What's the hardest part of your job, and what's the best part?
- What did you study to get into this work?
Helpful reads
- Earning a merit badge, step by step, From picking a badge to getting the final signature: how to find a counselor, set up meetings safely, work the requirements, and keep your progress., Youth · Families · 6 min read
- Contacting counselors, experts, and organizations, Email and phone scripts, who to ask for, how to follow up, and how to say thanks, with a parent copied every time., Youth · Families · 7 min read
- Choosing your next merit badge, How to pick a badge you'll actually finish: start with what you care about, balance Eagle-required and just-for-fun badges, and make the most of camp., Youth · Families · 6 min read
For leaders & parents
- Remind scouts that the four-month care period needs to be planned ahead.
- Invite a veterinarian or animal shelter worker to talk with the troop.
People & places that can help
- Merit badge counselor — Talk with them early; they can explain what's expected.
- Veterinarian — Advice on pet health and care.
- Local animal shelter — Learn about animal care and maybe volunteer.
- ASPCA (opens in a new tab) — Pet care information.
- AVMA Pet Owner Resources (opens in a new tab) — Pet care advice from the American Veterinary Medical Association.
- Humane World for Animals (opens in a new tab) — Pet care guides and ways young people can help animals.
- AVMA Veterinary Careers (opens in a new tab) — What vets do and how people train to become one.
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Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.