Veterinary medicine is the branch of
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...
s. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutrition, and product development. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both
domesticated and
wild
Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to:
Common meanings
* Wild animal
* Wilderness, a wild natural environment
* Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed
Art, media and entertainment Film and television
* ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...
, with a wide range of conditions that can affect different species.
Veterinary medicine is widely practiced, both with and without professional supervision. Professional care is most often led by a
veterinary physician
A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...
(also known as a veterinarian, veterinary surgeon, or "vet"), but also by
paraveterinary worker
Paraveterinary worker is the professional of veterinary science that performs procedures autonomously or semi autonomously, as part of a veterinary assistance system. The job role varies throughout the world, and common titles include veterinary n ...
s, such as veterinary nurses or technicians. This can be augmented by other paraprofessionals with specific specialties, such as animal
physiotherapy
Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...
or
dentistry
Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, disorders, and conditions o ...
, and species-relevant roles such as
farriers.
Veterinary science helps human health through the monitoring and control of
zoonotic disease
A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human. ...
(
infectious disease
An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...
transmitted from nonhuman animals to humans), food safety, and through human applications via medical research. They also help to maintain food supply through livestock health monitoring and treatment, and mental health by keeping pets healthy and long-living. Veterinary scientists often collaborate with
epidemiologists
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
and other health or natural scientists, depending on type of work. Ethically, veterinarians are usually obliged to look after animal welfare. Veterinarians diagnose, treat, and help keep animals safe and healthy.
History
Premodern era
Archeological evidence, in the form of a cow skull upon which
trepanation
Trepanning, also known as trepanation, trephination, trephining or making a burr hole (the verb ''trepan'' derives from Old French from Medieval Latin from Greek , literally "borer, auger"), is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drille ...
had been performed, shows that people were performing veterinary procedures in the Neolithic (3400–3000 BCE).
The
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
''Papyrus of Kahun'' (
Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt
The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom by Egyptologists. It often is combined with the Eleventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth dynasties under the group title, Middle Kingdom. Some s ...
) is the first extant record of veterinary medicine.
The ''
Shalihotra Samhita'', dating from the time of
Ashoka, is an early Indian veterinary treatise. The
edicts of Asoka
The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of more than thirty inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, attributed to Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire who reigned from 268 BCE to 232 BCE. Ashoka used the expres ...
read: "Everywhere King Piyadasi (
Asoka) made two kinds of medicine (चिकित्सा) available, medicine for people, and medicine for animals. Where no
healing herbs for people and animals were available, he ordered that they be bought and planted."
''
Hippiatrica'' is a Byzantine compilation of hippiatrics, dated to the fifth or sixthth century AD.
The first attempts to organize and regulate the practice of treating animals tended to focus on horses because of their economic significance. In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, farriers combined their work in
horseshoe
A horseshoe is a fabricated product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toen ...
ing with the more general task of "horse doctoring".
The Arabic tradition of ''
Bayṭara'', or ''Shiyāt al-Khayl'', originates with the treatise of Ibn Akhī Hizām (fl. late ninth century).
In 1356, the
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
, concerned at the poor standard of care given to horses in the city, requested that all farriers operating within a 7-mile (11-km) radius of the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
form a "fellowship" to regulate and improve their practices. This ultimately led to the establishment of the
Worshipful Company of Farriers in 1674.
Meanwhile,
Carlo Ruini's book ''Anatomia del Cavallo,'' (''Anatomy of the Horse'') was published in 1598. It was the first comprehensive treatise on the anatomy of a nonhuman species.
Establishment of profession
The first veterinary school was founded in
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
, France, in 1762 by
Claude Bourgelat. According to Lupton,
after observing the devastation being caused by
cattle plague
Rinderpest (also cattle plague or steppe murrain) was an infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo, and many other species of even-toed ungulates, including gaurs, buffaloes, large antelope, deer, giraffes, wildebeests, and warthogs ...
to the French herds, Bourgelat devoted his time to seeking out a remedy. This resulted in finding a veterinary school in Lyon in 1761, from which establishment he dispatched students to combat the disease; in a short time, the plague was stayed and the health of stock restored, through the assistance rendered to agriculture by veterinary science and art.
[J.L.Lupton, "Modern Practical Farriery", 1879, in the section: "The Diseases of Cattle Sheep and Pigs" pp. 1] The school received immediate international recognition in the 18th century and its pedagogical model drew on the existing fields of human medicine, natural history, and comparative anatomy.
The
Odiham Agricultural Society
The Odiham Agricultural Society was formed in 1783 by a collection of prominent citizens in Odiham, Hampshire, UK, for the purpose of encouraging local industrial and agricultural development. Its aim to advance knowledge in livestock breeding a ...
was founded in 1783 in England to promote
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
and
industry,
and played an important role in the foundation of the veterinary profession in Britain. A founding member,
Thomas Burgess, began to take up the cause of animal welfare and campaign for the more humane treatment of sick animals. A 1785 society meeting resolved to "promote the study of Farriery upon rational scientific principles."
Physician James Clark wrote a treatise entitled ''Prevention of Disease'' in which he argued for the professionalization of the veterinary trade, and the establishment of veterinary colleges. This was finally achieved in 1790, through the campaigning of
Granville Penn
Granville Penn (9 December 1761 – 28 September 1844) was a great-grandson of Admiral Sir William Penn, a British author, and scriptural geologist.
Biography
He was born 9 December 1761 in Spring Gardens, London, the second surviving son of Th ...
, who persuaded Frenchman Benoit Vial de St. Bel to accept the professorship of the newly established veterinary college in London.
The
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) is the regulatory body for veterinary surgeons in the United Kingdom, established in 1844 by royal charter. It is responsible for monitoring the educational, ethical and clinical standards of the v ...
was established by
royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
in 1844. Veterinary science came of age in the late 19th century, with notable contributions from Sir John McFadyean, credited by many as having been the founder of modern veterinary research.
In the United States, the first schools were established in the early 19th century in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, New York City, and
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. In 1879,
Iowa Agricultural College became the first
land-grant college to establish a school of veterinary medicine.
Veterinary workers
Veterinary physicians
Veterinary care and management are usually led by a veterinary physician (usually called a veterinarian, veterinary surgeon or "vet" - doctor of veterinary medicine or veterinary medical doctor). This role is the equivalent of a physician or surgeon (medical doctor) in
human medicine, and involves postgraduate study and qualification.
In many countries, the local nomenclature for a vet is a protected term, meaning that people without the prerequisite qualifications and/or registration are not able to use the title, and in many cases, the activities that may be undertaken by a vet (such as animal treatment or surgery) are restricted only to those people who are registered as vet. For instance, in the United Kingdom, as in other jurisdictions, animal treatment may be performed only by registered vets (with a few designated exceptions, such as
paraveterinary workers
Paraveterinary worker is the professional of veterinary science that performs procedures autonomously or semi autonomously, as part of a veterinary assistance system. The job role varies throughout the world, and common titles include veterinary n ...
), calling oneself a vet without being registered or performing any treatment is illegal.
Most vets work in clinical settings, treating animals directly. They may be involved in a general practice, treating animals of all types; may be specialized in a specific group of animals such as
companion animals,
livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...
, laboratory animals,
zoo animals, or
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
s; or may specialize in a narrow medical discipline such as veterinary surgery, dermatology, cardiology, neurology, laboratory animal medicine, internal medicine, and more.
As with healthcare professionals, vets face ethical decisions about the care of their patients. Current debates within the profession include the
veterinary ethics of purely cosmetic procedures on animals, such as
declawing
Onychectomy, popularly known as declawing, is an operation to remove an animal's claws surgically by means of the amputation of all or part of the distal phalanges, or end bones, of the animal's toes. Because the claw develops from germinal ti ...
of cats,
docking of tails,
cropping of ears, and
debarking on dogs.
A wide range of surgeries and operations is performed on various types of animals, but not all of them are carried out by vets. In a case in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, for instance, an eye surgeon managed to perform a successful cataract surgery on a
rooster for the first time in the world.
Paraveterinary workers
Paraveterinary workers, including veterinary nurses, technicians, and assistants, either assist vets in their work, or may work within their own scope of practice, depending on skills and qualifications, including in some cases, performing minor surgery.
The role of paraveterinary workers is less homogeneous globally than that of a vet, and qualification levels, and the associated skill mix, vary widely.
Allied professions
A number of professions exist within the scope of veterinary medicine, but may not necessarily be performed by vets or veterinary nurses. This includes those performing roles which are also found in human medicine, such as practitioners dealing with
musculoskeletal disorders, including
osteopaths,
chiropractor
Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudoscie ...
s, and
physiotherapists.
Some roles are specific to animals, but which have parallels in human society, such as animal grooming and animal massage. Some roles are specific to a species or group of animals, such as farriers, who are involved in the shoeing of horses, and in many cases have a major role to play in ensuring the medical fitness of horses.
Veterinary research
Veterinary research includes prevention, control, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases of animals, and basic biology, welfare, and care of animals. Veterinary research transcends species boundaries and includes the study of spontaneously occurring and experimentally induced models of both human and animal diseases and research at human-animal interfaces, such as food safety, wildlife and ecosystem health,
zoonotic disease
A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human. ...
s, and public policy.
Clinical veterinary research
As in medicine,
randomized controlled trial
A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical te ...
s also are fundamental in veterinary medicine to establish the effectiveness of a treatment. Clinical veterinary research is far behind human medical research, though, with fewer randomized controlled trials, that have a lower quality and are mostly focused on research animals. Possible improvement consists in creation of networks for inclusion of private veterinary practices in randomized controlled trials.
No studies exist on the effect of community animal health services on improving household wealth and the health status of low-income farmers.
The first recorded use of regenerative
stem-cell therapy to treat lesions in a wild animal occurred in 2011 in Brazil.
[Conselho Federal de Medicina Veterinária](_blank)
"Tratamento", 11 January 2011, (in portuguese). Retrieved 4 May 2022. On that occasion, the used
stem cells to treat a
maned wolf who had been run over by a car, which was later returned, fully recovered, to nature.
See also
*
Animal drug
An animal drug (also veterinary drug) refers to a drug intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in animals.
Regulation United States
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the broad mandat ...
*
Animal science
Animal science is described as "studying the biology of animals that are under the control of humankind". It can also be described as the production and management of farm animals. Historically, the degree was called animal husbandry and the ...
*
Federation of Veterinarians of Europe
The Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) is a non-profit umbrella organisation of veterinary organisations from 38 European countries. It was founded in 1975 and nowadays represents around 200,000 European veterinarians. The FVE strives to ...
*
Lists of animal diseases
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National Office of Animal Health
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One Health
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Pet orthotics ''Pet orthotics'' refers to the use of orthotics for pets. Orthotics is an allied health care field concerned with the design, development, fitting, and manufacture of orthoses. Orthoses, sometimes called braces or splints, are devices that support ...
*
Technology in veterinary medicine
*
WikiVet
By country
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Veterinary medicine in the United Kingdom
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Veterinary medicine in the United States
Veterinary medicine in the United States is the performance of veterinary medicine in the United States, normally performed by licensed professionals, and subject to provisions of statute law which vary by state. Veterinary medicine is normally ...
**History of veterinary medicine in Pennsylvania
*
History of veterinary medicine in the Philippines
*
Veterinary Council of India
*
Veterinary Council of Ireland
References
Further reading
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Veterinary nursing, ophthalmology, and pharmacology
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Related fields
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Veterinary Medicine
Animal diseases