. 1 History Taking

3. 1 HISTORY TAKING

Carefully question and listen to the animal caretaker before looking at the animal. This is critical since the caretaker "knows" the animal and may recognize subtle symptoms.

Ask questions that require more explanation than simply a “yes" or "no" response. To verify uncertain responses, ask the same question more than once in different ways.

Some important questions include:

"Why did you call me? What do you think is wrong with your animal?"

"How long has your animal been sick? Is it getting better or worse?"

"Describe the symptoms."

"Have you treated the animal? With what? For how long? Did it improve?

"What medicines or injections (vaccines) have your animals received in the past?"

HISTORY (continued)

"Is this a milking animal? When was the baby born? Is it giving as much milk as usual?"

"Is it pregnant or was it bred? When?

Is it possible that it was bred without your knowledge? Are there loose animals that may have bred it, or does your animal run loose?"

"Is this a working animal? What work does it do? Is it working now?"

"How old is your sick animal?" If the age is unknown:

- Ask: "How many years has it plowed? or "How many times has it given birth?

(Usually each "ring" on the horn represents a calving)

- Or: Examine the animal's teeth.

"Do you have other animals? Are they well? Have some of them been ill like this? Are animals in the community sick? How were they treated? Did they improve?"

"How much did your animal eat today? How much does it usually eat? Is it eating well? When did it stop eating?"

"How much water does your animal drink? Where does it get its drinking water? Is it drinking well? When did it stop drinking?"

"Did you see it urinate today? The usual amount? What color was the urine?"

"How is its manure? Hard? Soft? Liquid? Bloody? Anything unusual about it?"

"Who cares for the animal? Have other people recently cared for the animal?" "Has anything changed recently?"

"Where does the animal stay? In a pen, staked out, loose?"

"How long have you had your animal? Did you just buy it? From where? From an individual? From a market? Were/are other animals at the market also sick?

“Was the animal transported a long distance? Were the animals crowded during transport? How many were on the truck? Was the animal recently exposed to bad weather or some other stress?”