Animal Health Care - Home Study Course
Do you 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 practices.
Course Duration: 100 hrs
Course Aim: To develop your understanding of basic veterinary and animal health care practices.
Course Structure:
There are twelve lessons as follows:
1. Introduction to Animal Health Care
Includes: animal welfare and control; veterinary services; code of practice; transporting animals.
2. Common Health Problems in farm animals and pets
Includes: causes of ill health, injury, pains, 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
Includes: communication in dogs; scent; barking; body language; handling cats; bird language; types of behaviour; time orientation; space orientation; territorial behaviour; aggression; horse psychology.
4. Signs of Ill Health
Includes: 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
Includes: first aid kit; record management; enclosure for animals; environmental requirements.
6. Safety Procedures
Includes: 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
Includes: animal insurance; quarantine; importing animals; managing a veterinary office; telephone usage; record keeping; filing information.
8. Animal First Aid
Includes: 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
Includes: diet; insect control; dip; vaccinate; avoid stressing livestock; vaccination.
10. Routine Health Treatments
Includes: desexing; 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
Includes: burns; urinary tract infections; shock; electrolytes, ticks; reptiles; fish problems.
12. Rehabilitation Care
Includes: animal nursing, planning a recovery.
Course 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
- behaviour in domestic animals
- Identify common signs of ill health in different animals.
- vital signs
- the healthy animal
- signs & symptoms of disease
- diagnosis & control of diseases
- Describe the purposes of different facilities used in veterinary practice.
- the first aid kit
- enclosures for animals
- Determine safety procedures for a veterinary practice.
- workplace safety
- health & safety for veterinary practices
- Describe different administration procedures in a veterinary practice.
- animal insurance
- legal considerations
- managing a veterinary office
- Describe/select first aid procedures/treatments for different animals in response to common health problems in animals.
- types of wounds
- treatments
- Describe requirements for maintaining good health in domestic animals, including nutrition & preventative medicine.
- preventing ill health
- vaccinations
- To develop an understanding of routine treatments for healthy animals.
- desexing
- managing a pregnancy
- euthanasia
- To develop a broader awareness of health problems and their treatment in domestic pets.
- ticks
- Australian animals
- birds
- reptiles
- fish
- To develop skills in caring for animals prior to, during or after treatment.
- planning a recovery
- animal nursing
EXAMPLES OF WHAT YOU WILL DO IN THIS COURSE
- Research bodies/organisations that are concerned with animal welfare.
- Determine restrictions placed by local councils upon the keeping of pets.
- Determine legal requirements placed upon farmers or pet owners, with respect to animal welfare.
- Observe and compare the behaviour of different types of domestic animals
- Describe methods used for controlling/restraining animals during an examination
- List things as you can that might cause an animals temperature to go too high.
- Contact a government veterinary/agriculture department to research health risks to humans from domestic and farm animal diseases in your country.
- Determine animals that are a threat; what diseases are a more serious threat, and what controls are in place to minimise such problems.
- List animal diseases (exotic and otherwise) that may be contracted by man.
- Design a standard "Patient record" card/form for use by a general practice veterinarian.
Extract from the Course
"If an animal is infected with disease organisms, particularly a bacterial or viral infection, it produces antibodies in the blood which engulf and destroy the invading bacteria or viruses.
When all the bacteria or viruses are destroyed, the animal recovers from the disease, the antibodies remain in the blood. If the animal is later exposed to that same infection, it may show slight signs of illness, or no signs at all. This ability to withstand infection is called immunity.
There are four kinds of immunity, as outlined following:
1. NATURAL ACTIVE IMMUNITY
This is the type of immunity acquired by an animal that has been naturally infected by disease organisms and has recovered. Antibodies remain in the animal and it has a natural immunity to that particular disease, often for the rest of its life.
2. ARTIFICIAL ACTIVE IMMUNITY
This is produced by giving an animal a very mild dose and allowing it to produce antibodies to combat the disease. It is done by injecting an animal with a small amount of the bacteria or viruses that cause a disease. The organisms injected into the animal can be alive, using what is called a live vaccine, or they can be dead, using a dead vaccine.
3. NATURAL PASSIVE IMMUNITY
This is the type of immunity acquired by a calf when it drinks its mother's milk. The antibodies pass from the mother's blood into the colostrum. When the colostrum is drunk by the calf, the antibodies pass into the calves blood, giving the calf immunity. This type of immunity is effective only for a short time, and in the case of a calf, immunity against scours acquired through the mother's colostrum lasts for about the first ten days of the calves life. After that period, the calf begins to build its own natural active immunity against scours.
4. ARTIFICIAL PASSIVE IMMUNITY
If an animal is injected with a low level of organisms of a disease, it will produce antibodies to combat that disease. After a few days, it will be able to receive a larger dose of the disease organisms without being seriously affected. This process can be repeated over a period of time until the animal is receiving doses of the disease that would normally kill it. The animal has developed an immunity to the disease, but because this immunity has been acquired by infecting that animal in the first place, it is called artificial immunity.
If blood is taken from an animal who has built up artificial passive immunity, and the serum from this blood is injected into another animal, the second animal will also develop immunity to that disease. Antibodies in the blood of the first animal have been transferred to the second animal, and can be used to destroy the same disease organisms. This transfer of antibodies from the blood of one animal to the blood of another animal is called passive immunity -the same type of immunity as in the case of a cow and its calf."
More Information on ACS Distance Education and our Courses
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OUR TUTORS
Dr. Gareth Pearce BSc(Hons), BVSc, MA, MVetS, PhD, GradCertEd(HE), PGCertAqVetS, PGCertWLBio&Cons, DiplECPHM, MRCVS. Gareth has over 25 years of experience in teaching and research in agriculture, veterinary medicine, wildlife ecology and conservation in a variety of colleges and universities in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. He qualified as a veterinary surgeon at the Universities of Melbourne and Bristol, having previously graduated in Agricultural Science and gained a PhD in Livestock Behaviour and Production. He also has post-graduate qualifications in Education, Wildlife Conservation Medicine, Aquatic Veterinary Studies and Wildlife Biology & Conservation.
Anna Sylvester B.Sc.Hons.(Human Biology), M.Sc.Equine
Anna graduated with a degree in Human Biology from Loughborough University and then went on to complete an MSc in Equine Science at The University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and has a high level of expertise in equine science. She has since spent time in managerial, research and lecturing positions. She also has practical equine experience, and still competes nationally whenever the opportunity arises.
Marius Erasmus B.Sc.Agric., B.Sc.(Wildlife), M.Sc.Agric.
Subsequent to completing a BSc (agric) degree in animal science, he completed an honours degree in wildlife management, and a masters degree in production animal physiology. Following the Masters degree, he has worked for 9 years in the UK, and South Africa; in wildlife management, dairy, beef and poultry farming.
