What Exactly is Involved With Animal Care?

Animal care is the well being of non-human mammals. Formal standards of animal care vary considerably between different contexts but are often debated largely by animal care specialists, veterinarians, politicians, and other public figures. It is a complex field with no clearly defined borders or guidelines. Animal rights advocates may be against euthanasia, while animal rights activists may be against spaying or neutering (in some places), while animal rights opponents may be against all animal rights movements and advocacy. Still, there are many who are firmly in the camp of animal rights, including animal care experts and veterinarians, while others are somewhere in the middle, believing that some aspects of animal care are necessary and others are not.

Animal welfare is the study of how animals are treated in their day to day lives as well as their emotional and psychological well being as a species. Animal welfare also takes into consideration the psychology of animals and how humans interact with them, as well as the welfare of farm animals and other animals used for food, companionship, research, etc. Animals that are used in these ways have usually been abused, neglected, or otherwise abused in some way or another. This extends to even domestic dogs and cats as well as farm animals like horses, fish, and other farm animals.

Animals can suffer from abuse, just as people do. So just as there are standards for the care that people give to their children, there are standards for animal care that should be followed in certain circumstances. And just as the vet who examines your pet and checks for any physical damage, so should you be the person who determines the best course of action for your animals’ well being. Some things that should always be done include; bathing, grooming, de-worming, vaccinations, flea control, microchips, heart worm testing, microchip placement, microchip retrieval, microchip retrofitting and spaying/neutering, identification, microchip removal, microchipping retrieval, spaying/neutering, microchip reinstalling, trimming, de-worming, and the same sort of thing for exotic animals.