4. Making lives better

Prevention is better than cure, so a large amount of veterinary science involves trying to work out what causes diseases, in order to tackle those contributory factors and thus stop the disease process earlier in its tracks. ‘Making lives better’ explains that most diseases are not brought about by a single root cause, but are caused by a combination of different factors. Disease prevention is aided by ensuring that animals get the right care to keep them healthy, through providing clean living conditions, vaccination, and a healthy diet, as well as treating the causes of diseases before they get bad enough to represent major problems.

3. Making illnesses better

An obvious part of veterinary science is about making animals better when they are ill, injured, or disabled. ‘Making illnesses better’ explains the processes involved in identifying what is wrong with an animal: initial observations and discussions with the owner and further tests, such as X-rays, ultrasound, and biological and chemical investigations. Veterinary treatments tend to belong to four broad methods: drugs, surgery, advice to change how patients are cared for, and euthanasia to prevent suffering where other treatments are not sufficiently likely to be beneficial. Multiple treatments are often combined in the care for each patient. However, treatments can often come with risks of unintended side-effects.

6. Global veterinary medicine

Geographical distance is no longer a major barrier to the spread of germs or genes, or the interaction of different animals. We need to think of the world’s animals as a single population—herd medicine on a global scale. ‘Global veterinary medicine’ explains that as humans change the global and local environments, veterinary science needs to get better at predicting and preventing the emergence and spread of diseases and, when they inevitably occur, identify and respond to them quickly, effectively, and proportionately. Veterinary science also has a clear role in the conservation of species and biodiversity as well as in improving farming systems to make them both profitable and sustainable.

5. Diseases across species

Some microbes are not very picky about where they live. ‘Diseases across species’ explains that the multi-way spread of microbes and parasites across species is concerning for several reasons: it means they can have a greater impact on more animals—of any species—who can get infected; it enlarges our ‘herd’ of animals through which microbes may spread; and as microbes spread across species, they might change in ways that make them more dangerous for other species. The different ways in which the cross-species spread of microbes can be reduced are discussed along with concern about superbugs—the microbes and parasites that evolve quickly, becoming resistant to antibiotic drugs.

1. All creatures great and small

‘All creatures great and small’ provides an abridged history of veterinary science, which helps highlight how veterinary scientific developments have progressed alongside other scientific fields and social changes in how we treat animals. From early civilizations in Mesopotamia to the developing scientific knowledge in Ancient Greece and Rome, and from the 17th-century scientific revolution to the 18th-century Enlightenment, veterinary science has progressed alongside medical knowledge. The impact of the world wars and then increased farming productivity in peacetime is discussed along with modern developments in the digital age. Nowadays, veterinary science is both scientific and clinical, but at its core it is about non-human animal physical, mental, and social well-being.

Epilogue: the future of veterinary medicine

A primary veterinary aim is to help ill and suffering non-human animals. But veterinary science is essential in protecting the health, growth, function, resilience, and well-being of all species, ecosystems, economies, societies, and the environment. It can repair damage done by diseases and human activity. It can tackle old and new diseases as they appear, and prevent some from happening at all. The ‘Epilogue’ concludes that the future for veterinary science is bright. Increasingly, veterinary science will inform and integrate with other areas of scientific research. As well as human medicine and ecology, it will combine with animal science, agronomics, nutritional science, business science, economics, sociology, anthropology, meteorology, and climatology.

2. Our families and other animals

Anthropic and veterinary medical science overlap considerably, each learning from the other. However, simply comparing and contrasting them is not that helpful. Essentially, veterinary science is part of medical science. ‘Our families and other animals’ considers in turn animal biology (anatomy, physiology, and genetics); the pathology and microbiology of animal diseases; animal psychology and ethology; and animal responses to disease through immunology and pathophysiology. Despite the similarities between human and non-human animals, the medical treatment different species receive can vary. Key differences for veterinarians are in having to balance duties to their patients with responsibilities to humans; and that euthanasia is a common and important part of veterinary work.