Special Offer-
Animal Health Care- Learn the essentials of caring for animals
We have a special offer on this course- receive a 10% discount and 2 bonus ebooks (which is up to $130 in discounts).
You will receive the following ebooks written by ACS staff:
MORE DETAILS ON THIS COURSE
This course can be used for:
- Establishing a foundation for a career in animal health or welfare
- Building your ability to better care for your own animals, whether as a farmer or pet owner
- A credit toward a certificate or diploma in animal science, agriculture or companion animal studies.
This has proven an exceptionally successful course for more than 15 years.
- studied by hundreds of people
- taught by leading veterinary and animal science experts
- continually being revised in response to feedback from professionals (eg. veterinarians, wildlife officers) and students.
Course Structure
There are twelve lessons as follows:
1. Introduction to Animal Health Care
- nature and scope of veterinary services
- private veterinary practices
- other veterinary services; laboratories, quarantine, agriculture departments, pharmaceutical companies, educational, etc
-
other animal services; breeders, holiday care, etc.
- animal welfare and control
- veterinary services
- code of practice
- terminology
- transporting animals
2. Common Health Problems in farm animals and pets
- causes of ill health
- injury
- conditions
- nutritional problems
- living organisms
- parasites
- family pets common conditions
- dogs
- cats
- caged birds
- aquarium fish
- mice
- wild animals common conditions
- reptiles
3. Animal Behaviour
- communication in dogs
- scent
- barking
- body language
- handling cats
- bird language
- types of behavior
- time orientation
- space orientation
- territorial behavior
- aggression
- horse psychology
4. Signs of Ill Health 
- vital signs
- the healthy animal
- signs & symptoms of diseases
- recognising ill health
- diagnosis of diseases
- taking smears
- taking tissue samples
- diagnosis and control of different types of diseases including
- viruses
- bacteria
- protozoa
- parasites
- mites
- fleas
5. Veterinary Facilities
- types of facilities; clinic, hospital, mobile facility, emergency facility,etc
- first aid kit; aids for diagnosis, instruments, medicines, preparations, etc
- record management
- enclosure for animals
- environmental requirements
6. Safety Procedures
- duty of care
- lifting heavy weights
- reducing back injury
- protective equipment
- dealing with chemicals
- skin penetrating injuries
- risk categories
- separating animals
- disposal of dead/infected tissues
- dangerous non-animal wastes
- storage and handling of medicines
- handling larger animals
7. Administration of Animal Health
- animal insurance
- quarantine
- importing animals
- managing a veterinary office
- telephone usage
- record keeping
- filing information
8. Animal First Aid
- types of wounds
- cuts
- punctures
- tears
- treating and cleaning wounds
- granulating wounds
- stitching a wound
- bone and joint problems
- broken bones
- tendon injury
- poisoning
- restraining animals during first aid
- restraining cats
- restraining dogs
- restraining horses
- restraining cattle
- restraining sheep
9. Preventative Health Care
- preventing ill health
- balanced diet
- insect control
- dip
- vaccination
- Comparing natural active immunity, artificial active immunity, natural passive immunity, and artificial active immunity
- tetanus antiserum
- types of vaccines
- alternatives to vaccination
- avoid stressing livestock
10. Routine Health Treatments
- desexing
- castration
- vasectomy
- spaying
- tubal ligation
- castration of cats
- dogs
- pregnancy
- gestation periods
- euthanasia
- anaesthesia and analgesia
- preparing an animal for surgery
- sterilising equipment
- castrating a colt
11. Health Problems in Domestic Pets
- burns
- urinary tract infections;
- shock
- electrolytes
- ticks
- reptiles
- fish problems
12. Rehabilitation Care
- scope of rehabilitation
- planning a recovery
- animal nursing
- the hospital pen
- monitoring temperature, pulse, respiration
- enclosures
Who developed and teaches this course?
All academic staff are and have always been highly qualified professional animal experts with years of experience.
Course Aims
- To be able to describe the scope of services offered by animal care services, including veterinary practices.
- Describe common health problems in various animals, including injuries & diseases, causes of ill health, problems in family pets
- Explain the natural behaviour of different types of domestic animals in different situations, natural behaviour of animals, problems in wild animals, behaviour in domestic animals
- Identify common signs of ill health in different animals - vital signs, the healthy animal, signs & symptoms of disease, diagnosis & control of diseases
- Describe the purposes of different facilities used in veterinary practice, the first aid kit and enclosures for animals
- Determine safety procedures for a veterinary practice, including workplace safety, and health & safety for veterinary practices
- Describe different administration procedures in a veterinary practice - animal insurance, legal considerations, and managing a veterinary office
- Describe/select first aid procedures/treatments for different animals in response to common health problems in animals - types of wounds, and treatments
- Describe requirements for maintaining good health in domestic animals, including nutrition & preventative medicine - preventing ill health, types of vaccinations, preparing animals for vaccinations etc
- To develop an understanding of routine treatments for healthy animals - de-sexing, managing a pregnancy, euthanasia, analgesia etc
- Develop a broader awareness of health problems and their treatment in domestic pets - ticks, Australian animals, birds, reptiles, fish
- Develop skills in caring for animals prior to, during or after treatment - planning a recovery and animal nursing
