VPT 421: Veterinary Toxicology (2+0)

INTRODUCTION

• Drugs are applied in animal husbandry for different reasons.
• Drugs are used to cure or prevent diseases in animals, increase feed efficiency and/or growth rate or sedate animals in order to minimize the effects of stress.
• All applications are not therapeutic in character.
• It is customary to term any pharmacologically active substance used in animal husbandry, regardless of its purpose of use and mode of application as veterinary drug.
• Hence the substances used for increasing feed efficiency and/or growth rate are also considered as veterinary drugs.
• The range of drugs with a potential of use in food-producing animals is continuously widening.
• It has been estimated that as many as 400 drugs have the potential for use in food producing animals.