Intro to Small
Animal Care
Miss Saha
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Objectives
∗ Briefly describe the history of animals on the earth
∗ List the important time periods in the evolution of
animals
∗ Describe how animals probably became domesticated
∗ Describe the importance of the small animal industry
∗ Describe how organisms are classified
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Beginnings of LIfe
∗ Oldest traces of life – 3.4 to 3.5
billion years ago
∗ Free atmospheric oxygen – 2.2
billion years ago
∗ First land plants – 420 million years
ago
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Evolutionary Periods of Animals
∗ Ordovician – Invertebrates ∗ Cretaceous – Dinosaur
extinction
∗ Devonian – Vertebrates
∗ Paleocene/Eocene –
∗ Triassic – Dinosaurs,
Placental mammals
mammal-like reptiles
∗ Jurassic – Birds, mammals
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Domestication of Animals
∗ Dogs – first domesticated animals (~14,000 years ago)
∗ May have evolved from canid ancestor
∗ May be domesticated wolves
∗ Cats – Human contact began about 3500 years ago
∗ Cat pictures found in Egyptian tombs
∗ May have provided company, rodent control
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Basics of Pet Ownership
∗ At least one pet in 58.3% of U.S. homes
∗ Cats are most common
∗ Dogs in 36.1% of homes
∗ Cats in 31.6% of homes
∗ Other pets include birds, rabbits, hamsters,
fish
∗ What else?
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Pet Supply Stores
∗ Large and growing rapidly
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Mass merchants – 6,000 to 7,000
Pet specialty store – 1,800 to 1,900
Independents – 7,500 to 8,500
Feed/garden/hardware stores – about 500
∗ Between 15,000 and 18,000 total stores!!!
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Overview of Pet Industry
∗ Overall expenditures $38.5 billion (2006)
∗ Vet expenditures (2006)
∗ Dogs $16.1 billion
∗ Cats $7.1 billion
∗ Birds $102.8 million
∗ Lab animals over 1.1 million (2004)
∗ Research facilities over 1,000 (2003)
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Basics of Organism Classification
∗ Taxonomy: science of naming and classifying
organisms
∗ Seven taxa (categories)
∗ Known as kingdom, phylum, class, order, family,
genus and species
∗ Subdivided into subphyla or subclasses
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Five Animal Kingdoms
∗ Can you name them?
∗ Monera – bacterial organism
∗ Protista – single-celled or microscopic animals
∗ Plantae – multicellular photosynthesizing
organisms, higher plants, multicellular algae
∗ Fungi – molds, yeasts, and fungi
∗ Animalia – invertebrates and vertebrates
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Characteristics of Chordata Phylum
∗ Embryonic notochord
∗ Dorsal tubular nerve cord
∗ Pharyngeal or throat-area gill slits
∗ Rear-area tail
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Four Classes of Chordata Phylum
∗ Mammalia – Vertebrates with mammary glands, body
hair, well-developed brains
∗ Reptilia – Coldblooded vertebrates with lungs, bony
skeletons, scales or horny plates, hearts with two
atria and (usually) one ventricle
∗ Aves – Warmblooded, egg-laying vertebrates with
two legs, wings and feathers
∗ Osteichthyes – water-living vertebrates with
permanent gills, fins and scales
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Species Naming by Linnaeus
∗ Binomial nomenclature: Two words
∗ First word – Genus, capital first letter
∗ Second word – Species, lowercase first letter
∗ Trinomial nomenclature: Three words
∗ Binomial name plus subspecies name
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning
Classification of Domestic Dog
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Kingdom – Animalia – Animal Kingdom
Phylum – Chordata – Animals with vertebrae
Class – Mammalia – Animals that suckle young
Order – Carnivora – Flesh or meat eaters
Family – Canidae –Dog family
Genus – Canis – dogs
Species – familiaria – domestic dog
Credits: Delmar Cengage Learning