An Introduction to Veterinary Humanities

Although veterinary professionals can now provide technologically sophisticated medical care for animals, every day they ask themselves questions that lie outside the realm of science. How do I overcome my dread of this hostile client? How can I protect myself from moral stress? What level of intervention is ethically appropriate for this patient? What does professionalism mean for me? While the work can be immensely rewarding, the veterinary sector can be very challenging. It is a world where clinical care is influenced and professionalism affected by multiple factors relating to colleagues, patients, animal caregivers and wider societal contexts. We deal every day with human problems that science alone can’t solve.

This book offers new ways to think about these issues through the emerging interdisciplinary field of veterinary humanities. It breaks new ground in bringing together insights from multiple academic perspectives – history, art, ethics, social sciences and many more – to think about veterinary topics in a new way through contributions from over forty authors. Some are veterinary professionals with expertise in humanities and social science, others explore the veterinary world from a primary background in the humanities and social sciences. Addressing topics from across the veterinary sector, their writing ranges from deeply personal reflections to academic essays.

● 32 chapters by different authors with veterinary and/or humanities expertise

● Linking sections that relate these contributions to overarching themes

● UK-based scholarship with wider relevance

● Structured to stimulate reflection and discussion, in university, in the workplace, or anywhere where people consider what it means to be involved in the veterinary world.

This anthology will be particularly relevant to those training or working in the veterinary sector, whatever your role or level of experience. Other readers who are interested in animal welfare and human-animal relationships will also find it accessible, because the book assumes no clinical knowledge and offers no clinical guidance. It’s a book about being human and working with animals, intended to help you think about what that means for you.