PROTECTION OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 587 



ing the last few years, however, more funds have been available for this 

 work and much has been done to improve the teaching of veterinary 

 medicine both in treatment and in general hygiene. 



As an illustration, perhaps the most important advance in the hu- 

 mane treatment of suffering animals has been in the use of anesthetics. 

 Formerly all operations were performed on animals without the use of 

 any agent to deaden pain. To a considerable degree that practise is 

 continued, but the more progressive surgeons use ether, chloroform, ether 

 cocaine or other general or local anesthetics in painful operations. This 

 is one of the blessings modern surgery has brought to dumb creation. 

 The use of antiseptics in veterinary surgery is saving many animals 

 from the painful and serious consequences of wound infection. The 

 methods of restraining animals for operation are also being improved. 

 Veterinary hospitals are increasing in number and popularity so that 

 animals are receiving more humane treatment when it is necessary for 

 them to come under the surgeon's knife. A like interest is being taken 

 in the advancement of internal medicine. Methods of nursing sick ani- 

 mals that will give to the patient the greatest comfort possible are com- 

 ing into use. The treatment in veterinary medicine is becoming as ra- 

 tional and as scientific as it is in human medicine. The unwarranted 

 medications for animals that were reported in former times are rapidly 

 disappearing. 



With the development of the work in veterinary colleges, all will be 

 done that is possible by way of teaching efficient and humane methods of 

 treatment. However, in the application of modern methods in veteri- 

 nary medicine there are serious difficulties to be overcome. The 

 veterinarian needs the moral support of the public in applying his art. 

 The condition confronting him is complicated. The afflicted animal is 

 conscious of pain. The operation necessary to restore it to usefulness is 

 severe. The operator equips himself with disinfectants, sterilized in- 

 struments and proper dressings. Thus prepared he meets the owner. 

 Shall the animal be restrained in the quickest way possible and operated 

 upon without an anesthetic or shall the comfort of the animal be con- 

 sidered? Here the responsibility of the owner enters, for it is he who 

 orders the work to be done and it is he who bears the expense. The use 

 of anesthetics involves additional cost that some one must pay. It is in 

 this particular that the efforts of the veterinarian to minimize suffering 

 are often checked. What is true of surgery applies to medicine when 

 the proper care calls for additional expense. As the worth of the pa- 

 tient is usually measured in dollars, the amount to be expended for its 

 recovery has its limitations. But a strong effort for humane treatment 

 on the part of practitioners is tending to adjust many of these differ- 

 ences. However, society should take a positive stand on this subject 

 in order to encourage those who are striving for better and more hu- 

 mane methods in treating sick and injured animals. A veterinarian of 



