Animal Health Care

Want to learn more about animals and how to care for them?

This course has been designed to help you understand animal health care and basic veterinarian procedures.

By studying this course you will gain invaluable experience in understanding many aspects of Animal Health Care

Use this course as part of a career pathway toward becoming a qualified Veterinary Nurse or Animal Technician. It is also useful for people wishing to work in Companion Animal Services, such as pet shops and animal grooming.

Lesson Structure

There are 12 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Animal Health Care
   • animal welfare and control
   • veterinary services
   • code of practice
   • transporting animals
2. Common Health Problems
   • causes of ill health
   • injury
   • conditions
   • nutritional problems
   • living organisms
   • parasites
   • family pets common conditions
   • dogs
   • cats
   • caged birds
   • aquarium fish
   • mice
   • wild animals common conditions
   • reptiles
3. Animal Behaviour
   • communication in dogs
   • scent
   • barking
   • body language
   • handling cats
   • bird language
   • types of behavior
   • time orientation
   • space orientation
   • territorial behavior
   • aggression
   • horse psychology
4. Signs of Ill Health
   • vital signs
   • the healthy animal
   • signs & symptoms of diseases
   • recognising ill health
   • diagnosis of diseases
   • taking smears
   • taking tissue samples
   • diagnosis and control of different types of diseases including
   • viruses
   • bacteria
   • protozoa
   • parasites
   • mites
   • fleas
5. Veterinary Facilities
   • first aid kit
   • record management
   • enclosure for animals
   • environmental requirements
6. Safety Procedures
   • duty of care
   • lifting heavy weights
   • reducing back injury
   • protective equipment
   • dealing with chemicals
   • skin penetrating injuries
   • risk categories
   • separating animals
   • disposal of dead/infected tissues
   • dangerous non-animal wastes
   • storage and handling of medicines
   • handling larger animals
7. Administration of Animal Health
   • animal insurance
   • quarantine
   • importing animals
   • managing a veterinary office
   • telephone usage
   • record keeping
   • filing information
8. Animal First Aid
   • types of wounds
   • cuts
   • punctures
   • tears
   • treating and cleaning wounds
   • granulating wounds
   • stitching a wound
   • bone and joint problems
   • broken bones
   • tendon injury
   • poisoning
   • restraining animals during first aid
   • restraining cats
   • restraining dogs
   • restraining horses
   • restraining cattle
   • restraining sheep
9. Preventative Health Care
   • diet
   • insect control
   • dip
   • vaccinate
   • avoid stressing livestock
   • vaccination
10. Routine Health Treatments
    • de-sexing
    • castration
    • vasectomy
    • spaying
    • tubal ligation
    • castration of cats
    • dogs
    • pregnancy
    • gestation periods
    • euthanasia
    • anaesthesia and analgesia
    • preparing an animal for surgery
    • sterilising equipment
    • castrating a colt
11. Health Problems in Domestic Pets
    • burns
    • urinary tract infections;
    • shock
    • electrolytes
    • ticks
    • reptiles
    • fish problems
12. Rehabilitation Care
    • animal nursing
    • planning a recovery

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• To be able to describe the scope of services offered by animal care services, including veterinary practices.
• Describe common health problems in various animals, including injuries & diseases, causes of ill health problems in family pets
• Explain the natural behaviour of different types of domestic animals in different situations - natural behaviour of animals, problems in wild animals, and behaviour in domestic animals
• Identify common signs of ill health in different animals - vital signs, the healthy animal , signs & symptoms of disease , and diagnose and control of diseases
• Describe the purposes of different facilities used in veterinary practice, the contents of a first aid kit, suitable enclosures for animals
• Determine safety procedures for a veterinary practice, workplace safety issues, aspects of health and safety for veterinary practices
• Describe different administration procedures in a veterinary practice, including animal insurance, legal considerations, day to day management of a veterinary office
• Describe/select first aid procedures/treatments for different animals in response to common health problems in animals, identify types of wounds and suitable treatments
• Describe requirements for maintaining good health in domestic animals, including nutrition & preventative medicine, preventing ill health through correct management, vaccinations
• To develop an understanding of routine treatments for healthy animals such as de-sexing, managing a pregnancy and euthanasia
• To develop a broader awareness of health problems and their treatment in domestic pets, discuss ticks and tick borne diseases, Australian animals, birds, reptiles, and fish
• To develop skills in caring for animals prior to, during or after treatment, planning a recovery and animal nursing

What You Will Do

• Contact several bodies/organisations that are concerned with animal welfare, and obtain any literature or other information which you can, regarding issues such as:
  • Restrictions placed by local councils upon the keeping of pets.
  • Legal requirements on animal owners, with respect to animal welfare
• Find two different types of domestic animals which you can observe (ie. different species).
  • Observe each on two different occasions, for at least 15 minutes each time.
  • Make notes of their behaviour.
• Note any similarities between behaviour on the different occasions, and between the different types of animals.
• Describe methods used for controlling/restraining animals during an examination
• List as many things as you can that might cause a dogs temperature to go to 40oC.
• Contact a state government veterinary/agriculture department, and find out anything you can about health risks to humans from domestic & farm animal diseases in your country.
• Try to determine what animals are the biggest threat; what diseases are a more serious threat, and what controls are in place to minimise such problems.
• List any animal diseases which may be also contracted by man, which you are aware of?
• Research exotic diseases in your country or region and take notes.
• Design a standard "Patient record" card/form for use by a general practice veterinarian.

Veterinary Services

These may include:

• The General Practice Vet
• Specialist Vets
• Pathology Laboratories
• Animal Hospitals
• Government Veterinary Services
• Pharmaceutical Departments
• Educational and Research Organisations

Veterinarians are scientists who have university level training. They are highly skilled professionals.

They are commonly supported/assisted by veterinary assistants or nurses who may work in any or all of the following areas:

• Reception and general office duties
• Medical nursing -including investigative procedures
• Surgical nursing
• General cleaning
• Technical maintenance

Traditionally, veterinarians have employed people at various levels to undertake different combinations of these tasks.

The lowest level has been an "Animal attendant" or "Trainee veterinary nurse" who has been responsible for tasks such as:

- Basic office duties such as answering the greeting customers, answering the phone, typing, processing mail etc.

- Basic animal care such as grooming, feeding, cleaning and restraining (e.g. placing animals in a cage, or holding them during an examination).

An Animal attendant would normally be closely supervised in their duties, by a veterinary nurse or a veterinarian. An animal attendant might not necessarily have any formal training; but people employed as such are often expected to pursue a course of training to develop further skills and qualify them to work at a higher level as a trainee veterinary nurse, and eventually a qualified veterinary nurse.

ANIMAL WELFARE AND CARE

Animal welfare has become increasingly prominent in recent times, and is increasingly seen as an important social issue in developed countries.

Organisations such as the RSPCA have been guardians of animal welfare for a very long time. Veterinarians and others involved with animals in their daily work are commonly responsible for animal welfare (not just curing illness). This may involve participating as key members of ethics committees supervising animal use in research, or in other committees/organisations involved with animal welfare.

Local Government Pound (e.g. Dog Catcher)

Local government is normally responsible for the control of pets and other domestic animals. Laws can vary from one municipality to the next; but they usually control what animals can be kept, how they can be kept, and where they can be kept/taken. Large animals, for example, such as horses, may not be allowed to be kept on small residential properties. In some places, the movement of cats and dogs may be restricted or prohibited.

The Law

In most developed countries, there are many laws that govern the treatment of animals, both domestic and wild. These may cover various things such as:

·        Procurement of animals (eg. operation of pet shops, stock markets, etc)

·        Breeding

·        Keeping or trading in wildlife and domestic animals

·        Exporting or importing animals

·        Quarantine and or destruction on diseased animals

Breeders

Various well organised breeding schemes exist, which control the pedigree of domesticated animals; maintaining records of parentage, and maintaining a system to verify the blood line.

Holiday Care

Many people have a serious problem with pets when they decide to take a holiday. When this happens, pets are often neglected or abandoned. Apart from being irresponsible and cruel, this treatment of an animal is illegal.

Options include:

·        Placing an animal in a commercial care facility such as a boarding kennels or cattery.

·        Getting someone in to house sit & look after the animal.

·        Ruminants may be put under agistment etc. -but may still need to be checked.

To remove an animal from its "home" may be disorienting, and may cause stress. Often house pets can "fret", leading to abnormal behaviour (including abstaining from eating).

Codes of Practice for Animal Welfare

In Australia, there is legislation established in each state with the aim of preventing cruelty to animals.

Codes of Practice have been set up by various Agriculture departments to clarify what is meant by cruelty of animals.

These codes set down minimum management standards to achieve basic welfare requirements of animals, such as:

·        Feed & water needs

·        Disease protection

·        Protection from extreme weather (eg. cold, heat, rain, etc)

·        Protection from physical injury

·        Protection from pain.

Failure to meet these codes minimum requirements is rare, but if it does occur, the owner and/or manager of the animal is liable to prosecution in the courts

Transporting Animals

The driver of a vehicle is responsible for animals’ welfare during transport. This may mean that they are expected to drive carefully to reduce any discomfort or injury to animals; and that inspections of stock must be carried out before, after, and during trips. Various other regulations also apply; particularly for young animals, during long trips.

SOME COMMON VETERINARY TERMS

Active ingredient:

Acute:

Antibiotic residues:

Antigen:

Attenuated strain:

Augment:

Batch Number:

Body Condition:

Calibration (of veterinary equipment):

Carrier Animal:

Chronic: 

Combined vaccines:

Differential Diagnosis: A list of

Dystocia:

Eradicate:

Excrete:

Immune system:  

Intramuscular:

Infertility:

Insect borne virus:

Metabolic disease:

Personal protective equipment:

Post partum:

Primary vaccination

Scouring:

Sharps container:

Segregate:

Shelf life:

Subcutaneous:

Titre:

Vector:

Virulent: