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Health Care
Prevention is a key to good health. Sanitary and clean housing,
spacious pastures, nutritious food, and plenty of fresh air
will greatly reduce health problems. Learn about the necessary
care needs of your animals as soon as you adopt. Hoof trimming
and cleaning, shearing and grooming, parasite control, annual
vaccinations, and other regular care treatments are all very
important.
Follow a regular care schedule, which includes keeping a
dated notebook of herd and flock treatments done, such as
vaccines or group parasite treatments, and treatments that
need to be done at specific times throughout the year. Keep
records of treatments done on individual animals and whether
these treatments were successful. A thorough monthly health
check on each individual animal is recommended, since many
animals mask their illness and changes are often subtle. You
will also need to learn how to properly restrain animals to
administer treatments needed and conduct monthly grooming
and health care needs. Do not rely on veterinarians to know
how to humanely and effectively restrain all breeds of farm
animals, as many veterinarians have only been trained using
standard "livestock and poultry" restraint techniques
and equipment. Farm Sanctuary shelter staff are happy to provide
this training for farm animal adopters at our New York or
California shelters.
During your daily contact with your companion farm animals,
it is important to check for any physical or behavioral changes.
In particular, watch for diarrhea, listlessness, pale coloring,
loss of appetite, runny eyes and noses, dull coats (curled
feathers in birds), change in gait, breathing difficulties
and coughing. Ruminants often grind their teeth when they
are in pain or stressed but other animals, such as rabbits,
are experts at masking illness. Consult your veterinarian
if you see any of the above symptoms. Find (or develop) a
veterinarian who respects your views and will treat farm animals
according to your philosophy, not the "food animal"
industry's. Ask your veterinarian to explain treatments and
procedures, and don't be afraid to make suggestions. Many
veterinarians have not worked with people who are willing
to spend time and money on an injured chicken or sickly piglet.
You need to do a bit of education--and in turn, a good veterinarian
will educate you on farm animal treatments and care. Many
farm animal diseases or ailments are related to factory farming,
genetic engineering, and other harmful industry practices.
Farm Sanctuary has developed a variety of treatments for common
farm animal ailments, and shelter staff is available to assist
with your health care problems.
Farm animals are flock or herd animals and they must always
have a suitable companion. This is a very important welfare
consideration, whether you are caring for pigs or chickens.
The best companion for a farm animal is a member of his or
her own species, and the Farm Sanctuary adoption policy requires
that animals are adopted in pairs. Most farm animals like
to interact with their human companions too, however some
will tend to avoid human interaction, particularly if they
are part of a large flock or herd. It is important to let
farm animals choose to interact with you, based on their own
personalities and needs.
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