Animal health

“ Amongst the numerous precautions for the promotion of the general health is the attention given to the subject of animal food, the care taken of the beast, the mode of slaughtering, and the rigour with which every beast having the slightest tendency to disease is rejected as unfit for food.
All animals, and particularly those intended for food, are now treated with great kindness, gentle treatment and cleanliness being thought essential to the excellence of the meat. Formerly, when the beasts were improperly treated, the growth of the young was impeded and the quality of the meat deteriorated. ”

“ The preventive treatment is by far the most important. This consists in observing right methods of feeding and caring for horses. The attendant should note the condition of the animal before feeding grain, feed regularly and avoid sudden changes in feed. If a horse has received unusual exercise, it is proper to feed hay first, and when the animal is cooled out, water and feed grain. Drinking a small quantity of water when tired or following a meal is not injurious, but a large quantity of water taken at such times is injurious and dangerous to the health of the animal. ”

“ As every debilitating condition renders the already predisposed animal more open to attack, all causes of ill health should be guarded against, and especially for the young, and in the case of such as are inevitable, every effort should be made to curtail and lessen the evil influence. Food or water which contains the eggs and embryos of intestinal worms, must be avoided and parasites which have already invaded the system must be got rid of as far as possible. ”

“ The benefits brought to humanity through the study of lower animal life are incalculable, and could not be told in one book. With all that vivisection and post-mortem dissection have revealed to scientific examiners, contagious and infectious diseases have been nearly removed from the human family. We have been taught to live better from observing animal habits in searching for food, in building their habitats, in their mode of living, in their fear of man, and in the methods they adopt to preserve their health. ”

“ THOUGH SUBJECT TO SO MANY DISEASES, no domestic animal is more easily kept in health, cleanliness, and comfort, and this without the necessity of "ringing," or any excessive desire of the hog to roam, break through his sty, or plough up his pound. ”

“ Health of Animals.—It is indispensable to the good quality of meat that the animal should be perfectly healthy when slaughtered. However slight the disease in an animal may be, inferiority in the quality of its flesh as food is certain to follow. In many cases, indeed, the flesh of diseased animals has a tendency to very rapid putrefaction, and becomes not only unwholesome, but absolutely poisonous to those who eat it. ”

“ The fodder, of whatever kind, should be frequently changed, and many other hygienic measures adopted, all tending to promote the appetite and general health of the animal. An admixture of salines is a matter of essential importance, especially in cases where the disease is not far advanced. ”

“ An ill-proportioned or deficient diet is certain to lead to failure of health. The anatomy of an animal may be modified in the course of generations by altered diet, as well as its character; thus, the alimentary canal of the cat has increased in length to adapt it to its omnivorous habits. ”

“ In chronic inflammation of the womb the discharge is intermittent. In mild cases the health of the animal is in no way impaired. Sterility is common. Loss of appetite and unthriftiness occur in severe cases. ”

“ In fact, man's first knowledge of simple, natural health remedies came from animals. This wisdom they have acquired by ages of instinct and reason, for theirs has been the normal life, whereas man's is often abnormal. Each animal is his own specialist. ”

“ Every medical method has its advocates. The preference of mortal mind for any method creates a demand Horses mistaught. for that method, and the body then seems to require such treatment. You can even educate a healthy horse so far in physiology that he will take cold without his blanket; whereas the wild animal, left to his instincts, sniffs the wind with delight. The epizoötic is a humanly evolved ailment, which a wild horse might never have.
Treatises on anatomy, physiology, and health, sustained by what is termed material law, are Medical works. the promoters of sickness and disease. ”

“ Any animal that died of itself or had been torn by beasts was not to be eaten, and this was an extremely wise provision, for those that had died were very likely to be the subject of serious disease, while those torn by wild animals, if they did not perish at once were likely to have pyemia or septicemia set in in their wounds, {312} while if they had been killed at once and their bodies had been exposed for any length of time in the open air, they were likely to become the subject of serious putrefactive changes from the growth of bacteria in them. ”

“ Then comes the question, how do drugs, hygiene, and animal magnetism heal? It may be affirmed that they True healing transcendent do not heal, but only relieve suffering temporarily, exchanging one disease for another. ”

“ Animals dying by accident, of course, are exceptions, but if diseased animals, animals dying a natural death, and animals out of condition are eliminated, the quality of food supplied from any individual farm may be approved so far as the animal itself is concerned. ”

“ The proof of this is that while other animals have never studied medical science, nor carried on researches into diseases or medicines, treatments or cures—even so, when one of them falleth a prey to sickness, nature leadeth it, in fields or desert places, to the very plant which, once eaten, will rid the animal of its disease. ”

“ First, these animals are subject to the same disease, and consequently may impart it to those who feed upon them; but it would follow from hence, that we must contract all the diseases of every animal we eat of, which we find otherwise by experience. ”

“ Sheep may be under the charge of the stock-minder; from ten to twenty to the hand may be generally kept with advantage.
Sick animals require close and judicious attention. Too frequently they are either left to get well or to die of themselves, or are bled and dosed with nauseous mixtures indiscriminately. Study the subject of the diseases of animals during your leisure evenings, which you can do from some of the many excellent works on the subject. Think before you act. When your animal has fever, nature would dictate that all stimulating articles of diet or medicine should be avoided. ”

“ The change from animal life on the broad prairies and woods of a temperate [Pg 149] zone, to life in stables of crowded cities and yards of farmers, many of which are in any thing but a sanitary condition, and to the experience of daily exposure and labor, and ofttimes to ill treatment and improper food, induces disease no less surely among animals than among the human race. ”

“ Keep dry--dampness breeds disease.
5. Keep warm--in chilly weather, blanket the sick animal, hand rub limbs
and bandage with woolen cloths.
6. Exercise with care--excessive and insufficient exercise are both
injurious.
7. Feed with care--green grass, in medium quantity, and vegetables are
cooling to the blood, easily digested and exert a slight laxative
effect. Grain feed is nutritious and strengthening, but it is not
required in any quantity by a horse not working. Be sure that all
feed is fresh and clean.
8. Drinking water must be pure--impure water carries many disease germs. ”

“ Notes of affection in man. Symptoms in man. Prevention and treatment in man. Prevention in animals: exclusion of contagion, immediate and mediate; close infected pastures and roads, stop all movement of bisulcates, disinfect all boats, cars, places and things exposed, exclude visitors, guarantees with strange animals, quarantine and disinfect arrivals, exclude fresh animal products, fodder and litter, wash, disinfect soiled clothes. Inoculation undesirable. Treatment in animals: cleanliness, dryness, disinfection, segregate sick and well, gaseous antiseptics, liquid ointments. ”

“ Also, in like manner, it was noticed by others that "the dog, if out of condition, would seek for certain grasses of an emetic or purgative sort; sheep and cows, when ill, would devour curative plants; an animal suffering from rheumatism would remain as much as it could in the sunshine; and creatures infested by parasites would roll themselves frequently in the dust." ”

“ Radical treatment for the disease is far from generally satisfactory. Too often the affected animal is still in the environment which has tended strongly to its development, and it is impossible to secure a satisfactory change. ”

“ The horse, as well as the other domestic animals, is subject to a great variety of diseases, which, like those affecting the human system, are frequently under the control of medicinal remedies; and the same general means which are efficacious in healing the disorders of our race, are equally so in controlling those of the inferior part of the animal creation. ”

“ This is necessary not only to prevent disease spreading to other stock on the farm, but for the convenience of nursing them, giving them medicines, and also to place them in the very best position for a cure. Often a little timely care and nursing will save and restore an animal, which, if permitted to run with the stock, and take its chance, would unquestionably be lost. A sick animal as truly needs attention as a sick child. ”

“ Article 3
⁠For the purposes of this Law, animals include livestock and poultry and other animals that are raised by man or are legally captured.
⁠Animal products include animals' meat, rawhides, raw wool, down, viscera, fat, blood, semen, spawn, embryos, bones, hoofs, heads, horns and tendons as well as milk and eggs which are liable to cause the spread of animal epidemics.
⁠Animal epidemics are infectious and parasitic animal diseases.
⁠Animal epidemic prevention means the prevention, control and elimination of animal epidemics as well as the quarantine of animals and animal products. ”

“ Never, after danger has seemingly passed, permit the animal to return all at once to flesh food. For some time, after all signs of the disease have entirely disappeared, let vegetables form a part, and a good part of the diet. Do not let the animal gorge itself. ”

“ Here are investigated the habits of injurious insects and birds and the best means for their destruction; the causes of and remedies for vegetable and fruit diseases. The Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry inspects herds of cattle and causes to be slaughtered those suffering from a contagious disease. ”

“ There are two points to be noted in an animal about to be killed, namely, whether the animal is healthy, that is, free from disease,—and whether it is in proper condition, neither too young nor too old, is well-grown and well-nourished. Among the diseases to which animals are subject, some are objectionable because of the possibility of the direct transmission of their disease to those eating the flesh, while others are objectionable because the flesh is spoiled and so causes irritation in the stomach and intestines of those eating it. ”

“ Housing and Care of Sick Animals When an animal shows signs of illness, it should be immediately cared for. The horse, unless in cases of very slight Colic, or other ailment, when the medicine be given at once, and his work continued, should be placed in a roomy, convenient and warm stall, well littered, with plenty of dry bedding, and well blanketed, unless in very warm weather. Cattle, Sheep and Hogs, as soon as it is noticed that they are sick, should be separated from the herd or flock, and placed in comfortable, well littered and especially dry apartments. ”

“ These, which are supplied to us by an all-wise and beneficent Creator in unlimited abundance, are indispensably necessary to a healthy state of animal life; the absence of the one, or impurity of the other, as being detrimental to life, should take the lead of all sanitary measures. ”

“ Food and Stabling.—In all serious diseases of the air-passages, Bronchitis, Pleurisy, Pneumonia, etc., the animal should be placed in a dry, comfortable stable, not too close, and her food should consist of bran mashes, boiled carrots or turnips, meal-gruel and hay tea. Good old hay may be given sparingly; straw and chaff not at all. When the appetite is returning, great care must be taken not to give too much food at once, for if the stomach is overloaded or crammed, disease is almost sure to return, and the animal to die in consequence. ”

“ The great value of the domestic animals has rendered them, from the earliest periods, the objects of study and attention, not only while in health, but also when laboring under disease. For the latter state, a peculiar system was early formed, including a materia medica, and a general mode of treatment considerably different from those for human patients. ”

“ We have seen that the first section of the animal industry act provided for an investigation as to the condition of the domestic animals of the United States, their protection and use, the causes of contagious, infectious, and communicable diseases among them, and the means for the prevention and cure of such diseases. ”

“ HYGIENE OF PREGNANT ANIMALS.—Pregnant animals that are confined in a pasture that is free from injurious weeds and not too rough or hilly, and where the animals have access to clean water and the necessary shelter, seldom suffer from an abnormal birth. Here they live under the most favorable conditions for taking exercise, securing a suitable diet and avoiding injury. It may not be possible in managing breeding animals to provide such surroundings at all times, but we should observe every possible hygienic precaution, especially if the animal has reached the later periods of pregnancy. ”