Grade 6

Resource For Veterinarians

Objectives:

Students will be introduced to the history of the human-animal bond and will gain an appreciation of how interactions between humans and animals have led to mutual cooperation, domestication, selective breeding, farming, pets and the selection and training of animals to perform specialized jobs.
Students will learn about specific and unique ways in which people and animals communicate with one another.
Students will explore methods that are used to ensure that pets, farm animals and working animals are treated humanely and with compassion.
Students will be able to list several animal-related occupations and will be able to explain the essential components of training, education, duties and career opportunities.

Basic Concepts:

It is particularly important in this lesson that presenters be aware of children in the class who have sensory or physical impairments, and that they discuss with the teacher whether these students would be comfortable with a discussion about a particular disability.
Animals have worked for people for thousands of years. Deciding which kinds of work animals can do for people includes balancing the temperament and physical strengths of the animal and the needs and attitudes of the person.
Animals who share in a loving bond with people seem to enjoy their work, as long as they are treated compassionately. They seem to relish the attention received when a job is completed satisfactorily. In fact, assistance/service animals are considered “co-therapists,” enjoying an equal partnership with people in accomplishing particular tasks, such as helping people who are blind live rich, full lives.
People and animals in loving relationships seem to communicate in very subtle, yet dramatic ways. When they care a great deal about each other, they seem able to anticipate each other’s feelings and needs. This relationship can be a type of “therapy” for many different kinds of ills.
Training and caring for an assistance/service animal provides both adults and children opportunities for developing self-esteem, empathy and self-control, plus the satisfaction of completing a difficult job.
Young people fascinated by assistance/service animals may decide they want to pursue such work either as professionals or volunteers. This sort of work requires experience with animals, physical fitness and verbal skills. It is personally enriching and provides special benefits to other individuals and society at large.

Presentation Pointers

As the objectives for this lesson are complex, a considerable measure of sophisticated thinking is demanded from the students. That is precisely why this topic is intriguing and stimulating for the presenter. Most sixth graders are quite capable of going beyond themselves and their own needs and considering the needs of others. Many are able to reason abstractly; they are ready for intellectual challenges—with one requirement: the concepts being explored must be connected to their background of experience. It is up to the presenter and the classroom teacher to help students make connections between what they have already experienced, either directly or vicariously, and the messages involved in the lesson.

Books, magazines and newspapers are excellent resources for stories about people-pet communication. Such stories challenge students to explore how pets and people can understand and provide for each other’s needs. The accounts of prison inmates training animals to help other people, and the consequent effect on their self-esteem, could lead the students to higher level cognitive activities as they consider the “taming power of nature.” Again, the concepts are complex and can be touched on lightly or pursued in depth. Getting the right balance for any particular group will best be achieved when the presenter and the classroom teacher collaborate, choosing initiating and follow-up activities that highlight the lesson and allow students to pursue individual interests.

Videos and brochures are excellent resources for discussions about veterinary careers.

The Ontario Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA) publishes a brochure for students interested in becoming veterinarians. Veterinarians: Your Animal Health Partners can be ordered by phone, fax or email (info@ovma.org).

Veterinarians in private practice can dress in a lab coat or coveralls. Students will also benefit from props from the veterinary hospital—surgical tools, items removed from animals [hairballs, toys, etc.], stethoscopes and other items are fabulous props.

Invite a veterinary technician to be a co-presenter.

Suggested Script

Hi! My name is and I am from .

Today, I have brought a/some friend(s) to help teach you about this special partnership that we call the human-animal bond.

[If you have brought in an assistance animal/service animal team, take this opportunity to introduce them. This person may choose to speak at this time, or at any other time during your presentation. One approach might be for you to explain general topics about the development of the human-animal bond, human-animal communication, animal-assisted activities and the training and use of assistance animals, etc. Your guest may then illustrate these concepts by relating their own personal experience.]

People and animals have lived and worked together for thousands of years. In early times, primitive people hunted wild animals for food and furs. Humans watched animals carefully and learned a lot about their environment from the animals. They could follow herds of animals to sources of water, and could avoid poisonous plants by eating those plants that were consumed by the animals. Wild animals could even serve as alarms by giving warning when predators approached.

Before long, people began domesticating, or taming, wild animals. They found that larger, stronger animals, like cows, donkeys and horses, could be used to haul heavy loads and for transportation. When people began to keep farm animals, they could stay in one place and feed more people because they didn’t need to travel long distances to hunt herds of wild animals. Sheep could be raised to provide wool for clothing, and cows and goats could be used for both meat and milk. Animals could be used to plough fields, so more plant crops could be grown. People also discovered that predators (meat-eating animals) could be domesticated. Cats were first domesticated thousands of years ago by the ancient Egyptians, who used them to kill rats and mice to prevent the spread of disease. Humans also learned to follow wolves on the hunt to find game, and later discovered that domesticated dogs (which are the direct descendants of the wolf) could be of great help on the hunt, and could also be trained to protect property and livestock, and to herd farm animals.

Over the next several thousand years, humans realized they could change the way animals looked and acted by carefully breeding those animals whose traits they wanted to pass on to the next generation. By practicing what is now called “selective breeding,” people were able to develop huge muscular draft horses to pull heavy loads, and tall fleet-footed horses that could run very fast. Cows were bred to either be fast-growing, heavy beef animals, or smaller animals that provide large quantities of milk. Dogs were bred to do a host of jobs—including guarding property, killing rats, snakes and other vermin, hunting (either by sight or smell), herding sheep and rescuing people caught in avalanches. Each type of dog had to do the job well, so breeds developed to look and act quite differently from one another. Today, dogs of many different breeds perform very complicated and specialized jobs. Dogs are trained to help police officers with their duties, act in the movies, lead the blind, alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing to important sounds, pull wheelchairs and pick up objects for people with physical disabilities, sniff out drugs and bombs, find people who are lost, and a variety of other tasks.

Until about 200 or 300 years ago, keeping animals strictly as pets was only practiced by very powerful and wealthy people. Today, many people keep animals as pets. Even though we may not think of these animals as having a “job,” pets serve a very important role. They help us feel connected to nature and provide us with feelings of acceptance and love. Pets help to teach young people about caring and responsibility and are sometimes the only source of companionship for people who are elderly or who live alone.

Studies show that human-animal bond can improve our health. Pet owners who have suffered serious heart attacks are more likely to survive than people without pets. Cholesterol levels for people with pets are two percent lower than cholesterol levels for people without pets. This risk of those pet owners having a heart attack was reduced by four percent. Owning a pet can reduce blood pressure as effectively as eating a low-salt diet. In nursing homes that use companion animal therapy have experienced a significant reduction in the use of prescription drugs.

Children who grow up with pets in the house are less likely to develop allergies. They also demonstrate higher levels of self-esteem.

There are many emotional benefits of owning a pet. Our pets are sympathetic, supportive and they listen to us without judging. Pets distract us from our worries. Pets encourage us to play and to get exercise.

Some people love animals so much that they want to become veterinarians.

Today, there are about 8,000 licensed veterinarians in Canada.

Most of you know that a veterinarian’s job is to keep our animal friends healthy. But, you may not realize that veterinarians also protect human health.

Veterinarians are trained to prevent, detect and treat animal health problems. Some veterinarians treat pets, like dogs, cats, hamsters, birds and turtles. Other veterinarians treat large farm animals, like horses, cows pigs and sheep. Some veterinarians work at zoos and treat elephants, lions, zebras and other animals.

However, veterinarians also work hard to keep people healthy.

Some veterinarians keep us safe by protecting our food supply. These veterinarians work for the provincial and federal governments as food and animal safety inspectors. Other veterinarians conduct research at universities. These researchers often work on scientific projects that lead to breakthroughs in human medicine.

Some veterinarians work as teachers at colleges and universities across Canada. Still others work for companies that produce animal-related products, like vaccines or pet food.

So, what does it take to become a veterinarian?

If you want to be a veterinarian, you should be a good student, with a desire to learn and keen powers of observation. You should also be good at biology and science. You should enjoy working with animals.

Veterinarians have to be good communicators, because they spend a lot of time working with other people. They also have to be good problem-solvers.

Each year, student applications to the Ontario Veterinary College far exceed the number of available positions. Consequently, high marks and practical experience with animals will be a big help to anyone applying to the veterinary program.

Getting a veterinary medical degree requires six years of university education. Students must complete two years of pre-veterinary courses before they begin the four-year veterinary medicine program. The Ontario Veterinary College is located at the University of Guelph. It is one of only four Canadian universities that offer programs in veterinary medicine. The other universities are located in Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

By the time a veterinary student has graduated, he or she has spent about 4,000 hours in classrooms, labs and clinical studies. Some of the courses that veterinary students must take include anatomy, anaesthesiology, surgery, and biochemistry.

After graduating, Canadian veterinarians must complete board exams in order to obtain a license to practice from their provincial regulatory body.

Veterinarians don’t stop learning once they graduate. Scientific knowledge and medical techniques are constantly evolving. Veterinarians must stay informed by reading medical journals, attending lectures, taking continuing education courses and completing professional seminars.

If veterinarians are the doctors of the animal world, then veterinary technicians perform the important role of nurses to our animal friends.

Graduates of veterinary technician programs can be found at private veterinary clinics, research institutions, humane societies, zoos, pharmaceutical companies, government departments and other areas.

Some of the duties that veterinary technicians perform include:

Basic patient examinations
Assessing vital signs
Anaesthesia
Preparing for and assisting during surgery
Intensive and general nursing care
Producing X-rays
Routine dental cleanings
Collecting and processing samples for diagnosis in the laboratory
Preparing and administering medications as prescribed by the veterinarian
Veterinary practice management
Discussing animal health issues with clients

After graduating, veterinary technicians must successfully complete a registration examination in order to become Registered Veterinary Technicians.

If you love animals, I encourage you to consider a rewarding career as a veterinarian or a veterinary technician.