This book investigates the historical evolution of the relationship between human society, animal populations, and the emergence of veterinary medicine as a professional discipline. Joanna Swabe, a scholar in the field of sociology and animal studies, examines how the management of animal disease became a critical concern for state governance and public health. By analyzing the shifting perceptions of animals from mere commodities to sentient subjects, the author provides a framework for understanding the institutionalization of veterinary practices in Europe. The text argues that the professionalization of veterinary medicine was fundamentally driven by economic necessity and the need to control zoonotic threats to human populations.

Experts in the history of science and animal studies identify this work as a foundational text for understanding the intersection of veterinary medicine and social history. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of how institutional structures were built to manage human-animal interactions.