Animal medicines play an important role in maintaining high standards of animal welfare. Vaccines and parasiticides provide the means to prevent disease spreading amongst livestock, but also among pets. Where bacterial infections break out, antibiotics can help to control them. So although the right conditions can help minimise the risk of disease, they can never prevent it completely. This is why animal welfare requires good animal husbandry, responsible pet ownership and access to effective treatments.

AnimalhealthEurope also supports the internationally recognised principles of animal welfare known as the ‘Five Freedoms’. 
These state that animals should be:  

• free from hunger and thirst;
• free from discomfort;
• free from pain, injury and disease;
• free to express normal behaviour;
• free from fear and distress.