Animal care

• Companion or therapy animals live within a human household. Providing company to the owner.
• Animals such as dogs, horses and snakes can be kept as therapy animals.
• Animal therapy is proven to: reduce heart problems, reduce stress, improve welfare
• Assistance animals include: Guide dogs, Hearing dogs, seizure detection dogs, therapy dogs, sniffer dogs, police horses.
• Production Animals are bred and managed to produce food or clothes such as meat, eggs, milk, wool, leather.
• Commercial animals are bred and managed to produce a financial profit for sport and entertainment such as horse riding, dog racing.
• Trading of animals can be legal or illegal. Legal includes pet trade or breeding. Illegal includes poaching or trade of rare species.
• Animals used in science.. animals are mainly tested on for medical purposes. Animal welfare is strictly monitored and there are rigorous standards.
• A leisure animal is an animal adopted by a human for recreational purposes that gives a human a sense of companionship and responsibility.
• Leisure can be competitive e.g dog shows
• Leisure can involve hunting animals e.g shooting
• Animals can also be kept for educational purposes, they can be used for things such as: handling, demonstrations and behavior observation.
• Zoos will keep animals which are endangered to conserve their population.
• The following concerns must be avoided when animals work: overhandling, stress, noise levels, neglect, overworking, incorrect transport, rough handling, access to food and water.
• A bacteria is a single celled organism that lives on surfaces.
• Virus is not a living cell. It reproduces and multiplies inside of cells.
• Fungi live in the environment and do not need a host to survive.
• Parasites take nutrients from a host
• Endoparasites are round worms and tape worm
• Exoparasites live on the outside of the animal such as fleas and ticks
• Endoparasites affect internal organs such as the small intestine
• Zoonotic diseas are diseases which spread between humans and animals
• Zoonotic diseases include salmonella, leptospirosis and ringworm
• Direct contact: urine, blood, droplet spread, airbourne.
• Indirect contact: eating infected food or animals, passed through placenta, contaminated food or water
• Vector transmission: fleas, ticks, worms
• Bacterial diseases include salmonella, leptospiros, campylobacter, septicaemia and kennel cough
• Viral disease include: feline leukaemia, rabies and parvovirus
• Fungi diseases include ringworm
• Antibiotics do not treat viruses however they can still be prescribed for each disease to prevent secondary infections.
• Painkillers wont treat an animal suffering from a viral disease but it will provide it comfort.
• A notifiable disease is a disease named under the animal health legislation that must be reported to authorities such as vets. This is to protect public health and stop spread from disease and prevent epidemics by controlling the disease
• Notifiable diseases may include foot and mouth disease, rabies, blue tongue and classic swine fever/ african swine fever