Animal Health Care

DO YOU WANT TO WORK IN THE ANIMAL HEALTH INDUSTRY? 

• Do you want  to work in animal health care?
• Do you want to improve your promotion prospects in animal health care?
• Then this course be the course for you!
• Learn about caring for the health of different types of animals, including mammals and birds
• Understand the scope of services available in animal health care
• Study common health problems
• Understand animal behaviour
• Signs of ill health
• Safety procedures and much more..
• Learn with our highly qualified and helpful tutors
• Study all this in our 100 hour course

• Anyone wanting to work in the field of animal health care or wanting to improve their promotion prospects
• veterinary assistants
• pet owners
• wildlife park workers
• farm workers
• animal rescue staff
• animal boarding kennels staff
• voluntary care workers and many more..

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 behaviour
   • time orientation
   • space orientation
   • territorial behaviour
   • 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

Aims

• Describe common health problems in various animals, including injuries & diseases.
• Explain the natural behaviour of different types of domestic animals in different situations
• Identify common signs of ill health in different animals.
• Describe the purposes of different facilities used in veterinary practice.
• Determine safety procedures for a veterinary practice.
• Describe different administration procedures in a veterinary practice.
• Describe/select first aid procedures/treatments for different animals in response to common health problems in animals.
• Describe requirements for maintaining good health in domestic animals, including nutrition & preventative medicine.
• Develop an understanding of routine treatments for healthy animals.
• Develop a broader awareness of health problems and their treatment in domestic pets.
• Develop skills in caring for animals prior to, during or after treatment.

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 the following:
  • Restrictions placed by local councils upon the keeping of pets.
  • Legal requirements placed upon farmers or pet 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.