Vet’s Throughout the Years

The root of veterinary medicine began in what scientists believe to be the early Roman Empire. Back then they were called souvetaurinarii which is where the word veterinarian stemmed from. They were considered animal caretakers that would be able to heal the family horses used to ride around town, or the cattle that you were planning on eating for dinner. 

By Clare Walsh on Flickr.com

Back then animals weren’t kept as companions, and the only reason that they were worth anything was for transportation or eating. In this age everyone was working to make sure that they could sustain themselves and their family. They didn’t have time or supplies to keep animals around for any other purpose. 

It wasn’t until the Egyptians started worshipping cats that an animal became known as pets. And back then it was a bit different. Cats were kept in palaces on streets in order to defend the people from ill rats or poisonous snakes. They became a hero in Egypt for protecting the pharaoh from things that would have killed them in that period. They didn’t have very good medicine, so if you got a disease from an animal there wasn’t much that you could do to fix it. 

By norifumi takimoto on Flickr.com

However, veterinary practices didn’t really become a routine thing until 1761 when Claude Bourgelat created a school in Lyon, France dedicated to helping the animals. At this point, horses and cattle were the animals that vets really worked on. They relied on horses as transportation and cattle for a lot of the food source. Without these animals you would be in a lot of trouble. 

In this time, nobody really cared about saving cats. There were a lot of stray cats running the streets and they were believed to only be good for chasing away verman. But they weren’t worshipped anymore. They were just another part of the ecosystem. 

By the time that cars started to become popular people no longer had a large need for horses. They became a liability more than a help. So now vets had to switch their focus yet again to stay in the job.

That’s when people started to really get into owning dogs. They were used a lot in hunting at the beginning and as time progressed they slowly worked their way into the hearts of humans everywhere. Soon it became a really common thing to have a dog. But again cats weren’t really kept as pets until the 1970s. Crazy, huh?

By Big Swede Guy on Flickr.com

And that is the origin of vets! I hope you enjoyed! 

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Here’s where I got my information-

A lot of it came from a class that I am taking about becoming a veterinary assistant on Ed2Go. I highly recommend!
https://knowledge.rcvs.org.uk/heritage-and-history/history-of-the-veterinary-profession/
https://www.petfinder.com/pet-adoption/cat-adoption/why-did-egyptians-worship-cats/

What About Beaver’s Butts?

By Lois Mcnaught on flickr.com

I believe that one of the smartest and most interesting mammals is the beaver. If you’ve ever researched them then you probably understand why, but here’s why I think they are just so dam cool. (see what I did there) 🙂

Beavers are fairly social creatures compared to some other mammals. They like to mark their territory to keep others away, but they live in small families that are called colonies. Once a male and a female mate they are set for life. They stay together and share the responsibilities of caring for the children, building the dam, and gathering food until one of them dies. And they don’t have to worry about the other going off and cheating on them, either. They are 100% loyal. 

By Scott Knight on flickr.com

Mating season is during the winter when they’re a little bit slower moving and it takes about two weeks for the babies to be fully weaned. But then they get to work! The babies will then watch and learn from their parents and help make the dam. Eventually they will go off on their own where they will start their own family. They live to be about 10 years but have been known to live up to 30 years in captivity. 

The beaver creates a dam in the water that they use as a habitat. They use logs, stones, and mud to create a structure in the water usually scanning across the lake of the river. But, why do they build dams? Beavers live inside the dam, and, therefore, don’t want their habitat to get washed away in the wakes of the river. So, they do what they can to slow the flow of the water. This can be a good or a bad thing. Beaver dams will filter the water so that the trash in it will get trapped in one place. But, if a beaver is really good at building a dam they could cause a flood. 

By Dave Arnold on flickr.com

Beavers will find branches and logs to create the base of the dam. They like to take the bark off of the tree and eat the sweeter inside bits. So it’s like a constant food supply in a way, too. They will grab mud from the bottom of the river to stick the logs together and gather rocks to keep things from floating away. They work in the dark and sleep during the day so if you wanna catch one making a dam, you should try at night. 

So, you might have known all of that about beavers, but here’s something that I bet you didn’t know. Beaver’s butts smell like vanilla! They have castor sacs by the anus that store castoreum; a kind of pheromone they use to mark their territory. People used this as a food additive in the 1900 and some companies use it in perfumes to this day. So, next time you smell vanilla just remember: you could be smelling a beavers butt!

By Steven Johnson on flickr.com

I highly recommend watching this short video to learn a bit more and see some cool footage! https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/85620381170

Here’s where I got some of my information 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castoreum

https://www.livescience.com/52460-beavers.html