Sick or Diseased Animals

In order to make decisions about administering treatments such as vaccines or physical interventions, it is necessary to think carefully about the possible effect that the treatment might have on a diseased animal. It is very important to know what signs to look for in order to ensure that animals that are not entirely healthy are not treated with unnecessary preventive health vaccines. In some cases, the treatments that are administered may even be a veterinary response to ensure that the animal is treated for the disease.

In order to understand what causes disease in animals, we first need to know what disease is. Disease (also known as sickness) is any process that interferes with the way the different parts of the bodywork look. We do not normally consider injuries such as broken legs and cuts as diseases.

There are many causes of disease in animals. Knowledge of what causes disease, and of how animals can get a disease, helps us to know how to prevent disease and to treat sick animals. The handout below covers some of the common illnesses that are found in livestock.