How It Changed Animal Care Worldwide
Throwback Thursday Edition
Spoiler alert: Without it, your fur baby’s annual checkup (and maybe even your dinner plans) would look VERY different today!
A Personal Throwback: How It Shaped My Journey
"I want to be someone who can help animals too. I want to be a vet."
Fast forward to today, running The Vet Vortex, and connecting with you amazing people. It’s funny how one chaotic day with Jack and a brave little goat helped set my entire life's path in motion.
How It All Began: A Little Town Called Lyon
The air is thick with worry, not about fashion, politics, or taxes... but cattle plague. (Yes, a literal viral apocalypse for cows.)
Enter Claude Bourgelat: a sharp-dressed, horse-obsessed lawyer-turned-horsemaster who looked around and said,
"Maybe instead of guessing, we should actually study what’s making animals sick."
What a revolutionary thought, right?
So, with King Louis XV’s official approval (granted on August 4, 1761), Bourgelat set out to build the world’s first school for animal doctors, where "the principles and methods of curing livestock diseases would be publicly taught"
School’s In!
On January 10, 1762, the École Nationale Vétérinaire de Lyon officially opened its doors becoming the first institution on Earth devoted solely to veterinary training
What did they teach? Not just how to clean hooves, we’re talking:
- Anatomy,
- Pharmacology,
- Surgery,
- Even how to shoe a horse.
Every student spent hours copying Bourgelat’s handwritten lecture notes by candlelight. (Imagine doing your vet school homework without Google, the horror!)
And these weren’t rich aristocrats. The first batch of about 38 students were farriers, horse-grooms, and farm boys, ordinary folks who wanted to stop the mysterious plagues killing sheep, goats, and cattle.
Big Results, Fast
Just a year later; 1763 Bourgelat’s newly trained vets faced a real test: France was being ravaged by rinderpest, a fatal cattle virus
Despite barely a year of training, the students were rushed into the field. And it worked. Contemporary reports praised their success:
"The plague was stayed and the health of stock restored."
The Vet School Boom
By 1764, Bourgelat had royal approval to open a second school in Maisons-Alfort, near Paris. That school began welcoming students by 1766
From there, the concept exploded:
- By the late 1700s, there were over a dozen vet schools across Europe
- Many graduates left France to found veterinary colleges in other countries
- Bourgelat’s model spread like wildfire creating a whole new scientific profession
Fun fact: The Lyon school still exists today now known as VetAgro Sup, located in Marcy-l’Étoile near Lyon
From One Man’s Dream to a Global Mission
Claude Bourgelat wasn’t just founding a school, he was launching a legacy.
His belief that science should guide animal health sparked a revolution that still shapes veterinary medicine today. That’s how we went from goat-attacking puppies in my backyard (true story ) to expert vets saving food chains, livestock and sometimes even lives.
How It Changed the World
- Saved Millions of Lives: Diseases like rinderpest (think: medieval cattle COVID) were eventually controlled, saving humans from famine.
- Birth of Veterinary Medicine: We got actual textbooks instead of relying on folklore.
- Laid Foundations for Human Health: Treating animal diseases = understanding zoonotic diseases (the ones animals can pass to humans), like rabies and anthrax.
- Boosted Agriculture and Economies: Healthy livestock = thriving farms = full bellies = happy humans.
Basically, veterinary medicine didn’t just save animals,mit saved civilizations. No big deal.
Quick Quiz: Are You Smarter Than a 1700s Farmer?
Answer:
Final Thoughts: Small Start, Big Impact
Question for you, Vortex Fam!
Stay curious, stay compassionate, and as always; stay vortexy!
Check out previous post - The Power of Probiotics