What changes when the patient is an animal
Veterinary medical writing must account for the animal patient, the clinician and the owner, as well as differences between species and the terminology used to describe them.
Patients, clinicians and owners
Veterinary writing has three parties to consider: the patient, which may be one animal or a group; the veterinarian or clinician; and the animal's owner. The animal patient may be livestock such as cattle and pigs or a companion animal such as a dog or cat.
Unlike an adult human patient, an animal cannot explain its symptoms, so the veterinarian must ask the owner—for example, when a dog last defecated. Information can be lost when the clinician relies on a proxy's knowledge of the patient's problem. Objective test results alongside the owner's subjective account can make it possible to analyse an ailment properly.
Species-specific biology
Human-healthcare writing structure, content and terminology can and should broadly transfer to veterinary work, but target species and species-specific biology require particular attention. For example, permethrin products intended for dogs can poison cats when used incorrectly. The range of species, from avian to zoological practice, makes veterinary writing more diverse than medical writing in general.
The EU regulatory classification described in 2019 distinguished major and minor species, with cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, salmon, cats and dogs classed as major species.
In 2012 about 20 invertebrate diseases were reportable to the World Organisation for Animal Health, with other invertebrate diseases reportable to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Veterinary terminology and product forms
Animal terminology can change with sex and age: a boar is a male pig, a sow a female pig, a gilt a young female pig, and a heifer a young cow that has not yet calved. Veterinary publications should describe clinical signs rather than symptoms, since symptoms are sensations felt and reported by human patients.
Veterinary products have pharmaceutical forms and administration routes that may be unfamiliar to writers without veterinary experience, including sprays, washes, collars and ear tags. Intramammary administration is another veterinary example. The EDQM standard-terms database used for human-medicine product information also provides veterinary pharmaceutical-form and administration-route terminology.