Why is animal health important

Animal health is vital to the overall animals performance whether in food production, work animals or for sport and recreation. It is important to keep the animals health at an optimum level to prevent any health issues such as diseases, stress and even things such as loss of appetite. There are many different ways we can ensure good animal health. Vaccines, proper nutrition and adequate shelter is just a few ways prime health can be obtained.

Whether we are owners of a business producing animals for meat or their by-products such as milk and eggs or even just as pets for our own recreation and pleasure we need to make sure that we have the animal’s health top priority. In caring for animals you need to always play close attention to signs of illness or injury and also any abnormal animal behavior. These can be results of poor animal health. When an animal’s health is not at its best stress is the first thing that the animal will experience. A hormone cortisol is secreted when animals experience stress, this hormone also can be sensed by other animals which can cause them to experience stress. This has an overall negative effect on an animal’s health.

We can prevent sicknesses and diseases by vaccines and shots. Basically the role of a vaccines is to expose the naïve immune system to viral and bacterial antigens so that in the future if the body gets attacked by a related virus or bacteria the immune system will recognize and remember and then the body will be able to fight of the virus. Although when animals are first born their immune system has all the components in the immune system of an older animal but the difference is a young animal’s immune system is very naïve because they have not been exposed to any foreign antigens before. It is important to keep animals healthy and when needed vaccines and shots need to be given to prevent any further illness.

When we make sure the animal’s health is the main focus the animal remains happy and will be free from sickness and disease that could be spread among a herd or to other species that it comes into contact with. All animals, whatever their purpose need to have good general health.