Small animal wound care, early to mid 1700s

Feb 05, 2007 19:47

Time and place: Roughly in the 1720s, Caribbean, taking place on a ship while at sea ( Read more... )

1720-1729, ~veterinary care, caribbean: history

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giandujakiss February 6 2007, 02:08:39 UTC
I'm not sure I understand the question - are you asking whether it's plausible someone would take such measures for a cat, i.e., treating it like a person? I'm hesitant to jump in because others probably know way more than me, but I can at least say that in that period, animal experiments - with a view to transferring knowledge to people - were certainly done, including stitching up wounds, so it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that a cat would be treated like a person.

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kahva February 6 2007, 02:31:50 UTC
Guess I wasn't quite clear - for the person in question in this situation, by this time in the fic I'm certain that he will want to do whatever he can for the cat. The cat is viewed by him to be at the least a valued member of the crew (and actually as a friend, though he'll not admit that at this time), and in this particular instance, the wound was gained because the cat was attacking someone who intended to try and kill the captain.

In one of the articles I found online there was a slight mention about animal experiments, to gain knowledge and such, but it didn't indicate to me in that particular article that they were looking for ways to help injured animals, and what could/would be done at the time. The article seemed to indicate it was more for human benefit. It was also aggravatingly short and very general. That's been the most frustrating part of the search, finding something that almost gives me enough information, but not quite enough to say yes, this could be done with what the ship will have on hand and the people on ( ... )

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giandujakiss February 6 2007, 02:34:52 UTC
Yeah, I don't know about care specifically designed for animals, but yes, they'd have done experiments - including stitching - on animals for the purpose of helping humans (usually, without any sort of anesthesia, though!!) So, it wouldn't be outlandish for it to occur to someone to stitch up a cat. And what I'm thinking of for my reference, incidentally, is a book called The Knife Man, about a doctor who heavily influenced modern surgery and lived in the 1700s.

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giandujakiss February 6 2007, 02:35:27 UTC
Oh, the boko has some references to how this doctor's experiments on animals formed the basis for veterinary care in future years.

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kahva February 6 2007, 02:45:55 UTC
Thank you! It sounds like this book just might be exactly what I've been hunting for.

And totally unrelated to the topic - is that Peter Wingfield in your icon? :)

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giandujakiss February 6 2007, 02:47:12 UTC
Not sure the book focuses on veterinary care but it has a lot of very graphic detail of what the surgeon did to animals. Eeewwww.

And, why yes, it is :-).

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kahva February 6 2007, 02:57:25 UTC
Sounds like the book is still worth a look at. And the scene is very flexible, I can easily change the cut to one that doesn't need stitching, and have the captain make that decision, to not stitch and just bandage, to save the cat additional pain. It would still fit their unique friendship at this point in the story. I can put drama in elsewhere. :)

Ahh, I thought I recognized him. I still wish they would make a "Methos Chronicles" TV series, I certainly would've liked that more than Raven. {Reminds self to finish checking Highlander timelines so that the POTC/Highlander fics can finally be written.} Seeing PW icons pop up on LJ is always a pleasant event. :)

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