Animate Dead Animal

This spell is often a necromancer's first experience animating corpses. For this to work, the animal bodies or skeletons must be intact. 

This spell creates undead skeletons and zombies from the bones and bodies of dead animals, specifically vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals). The animated remains obey simple verbal commands given by the caster, regardless of the language employed. Only naturally occurring animals of no higher than semi-intelligence can be animated with this particular spell (lizards, cats, frogs, weasels, tigers, and so on), including animals and non-magical, giant-sized animals. These undead remain animated until they are destroyed in combat or turned; the animating magic cannot be dispelled.

The type of creature that may be raised with any given casting of the spell is determined by the following chart and is scaling based on upcasting the spell.

    0 CR Animal: 1st level    1/8 CR Animal: 2nd level    1/4 CR Animal: 3rd level    1/2 CR Animal: 4th level    1 CR Animal: 5th level    2 CR Animal: 6th level

Any casting of the spell above fifth level only has uses for retaining control over a larger number of undead beasts as seen in level scaling benefits at the end of this description.

Undead beasts have their base statistics with the Undead  template applied.  (undead gain the benefits of no longer needing to Eat, Drink, Breathe or Sleep)

The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any command you've given it. To maintain control of the creature for another 24 hours, you must cast this spell on the creature again before the current 24-hour period ends. This use of the spell reasserts your control over up to four creatures you have animated with this spell, rather than animating a new one.

* - (blood drop and bone chip from the same species as the target remains)

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you animate or reassert control over two additional creatures for each slot level above 1st. Each of the creatures must come from a different corpse or pile of bones.  When this spell is used to reassert control over higher Cr monsters the base spell level needed must match the base spell level needed to animate the animal in the first place.  IE a wolf cr1/4 needs to have this spell cast at 3rd level or higher to reassert control over it.