National Veterinary Technician Week – October 19-25, 2025

History of National Veterinary Technician Week

Animal husbandry started around 13,000 B.C., beginning with the domestication and breeding of dogs, sheep, and goats. The practice was driven by the need to have food on hand when hunting was sparse. Dogs were the first animals to be domesticated — used for safeguarding hunting parties, assisting with hunting, and later shepherding cattle.

However, animal domestication didn’t take place all at once. Instead, it occurred in waves across continents. For example, the nomads in the Middle East were the first to domesticate sheep and goats, while the South Americans worked on taming alpacas and llamas. Several centuries later, we had domesticated horses as meat sources and later as pack animals, cows as working animals, and camels for traveling across the desert. These animals required maintenance and care, usually provided by animal doctors, local healers, or the owners.

It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that veterinary practice became established when farriers started working as horse doctors and later during the Renaissance, which brought many changes. For example, the first treatise on horse anatomy was published by Carlo Ruini in 1598, followed by the establishment of the Worshipful Company of Farriers in 1674. Yet it wasn’t until 1762 that the first veterinary schools opened in France. Over the ensuing centuries, the practice picked up, and by the 1950s, the role of veterinary technicians had come into existence.