Hippocrates, the father of medicine, considered the pathology of animal diseases useful. We refer to this science of dealing with treatment of domestic animal as veterinary medicine, with the earliest school to teach it being in France in 1761. In the US, the first institution for teaching veterinary medicine associated with a college was the division of Veterinary Medicine of Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts in 1879, in Ames. Originally, veterinary schools were privately owned, but today almost all are state supported. Most practicing veterinarians in the US are in private practice, treating animals on farms, in cattle herds, in zoos, and of course pets, with close association to the pharmaceutical industry. The US has the largest percentage of veterinarians dealing with the health of pet animals. Veterinarians!
