Magic and Veterinary Medicine

Purification magic can cure poisons and diseases. Healing magic can cure physical injuries and traumas.   Both of these magics work just as well on beasts as they do on mortals.   There are not enough magical healers in Scarterra to magically treat every single injury or illness in Scarterra. The most highly sought after magic for both sphere is at the ●●● level or acolyte rank because this will cure typical battlefield wounds or serious illnesses.   It costs a theurgist healer or purificationist basically nothing to heal someone other than a hard daily limit. An acolyte level theurgist can usually heal four or five subjects per day indefinitely. A very strong-willed theurgist who is especially magically potent that banks her mana to the maximum level can heal up to 20 people in a single day, but it will take several days to recover.   Given that there is not enough healing magic for all the people who want it, some Scarterrans view it as a selfish or wasteful act to give healing to a mere animal. But people love animals, so it still happens.   And if a healer is nearby a sick or injured beast and has mana to spare, why not heal the poor beast?  

Potions, Scrolls, and Powders

  One limiting factor for magical healing is not the mana supplies of the healers but the fact that the healers can't be everywhere at once. One can get around this by stocking up on healing magical items to store magical items for later. The go-to magical item for this is Healing Potions.   A healing potion typically sells for 65 silver pieces a dose. That is well above the cost of most livestock in Scarterra.  

Let's Talk About Horses

  Healing and Purification can be used on any animal, but if an animal is going to be given magical healing, it's probably a horse. Horses are valuable and expensive. Beyond this, both peasants and princes often develop sentimental attachments to their horses.   Also, in the real world for most places and eras, a horse with a broken leg, sadly needs to be put down. If magical healing is an option, a horse with a broken leg does not need to be put down. If a theurgist with Healing is on hand, they probably won't hesitate to heal an injured horse if there aren't injured people around in greater need, but using a potion on a horse is both controverial and difficult.   The most common horse is a "rouncey", an all purpose horse good for carrying people or pulling weapons tends to sell for 10 silver pieces. A "palfrey" which is a top of the line horse for carrying riders on long journeys typically sells for up to 50 silver pieces. Generally only upper class people can afford palfreys and even then, a healing potion usually costs more than a palfrey.   The best warhorses of superior breeding and superior training sell for up to 240 silver pieces at their prime age. A more common warhorse is going to sell for 80 to 100 silver pieces. At this point, sacrificing a healing potion makes economic sense to save a valuable horse.   Some Scarterrans will fork over the money to have magical healing for their horse even if it would be cheaper to buy a new horse because they love their horses.  

Potions are not practical for horses

  The problem is, it is very hard to get a horse (or any other animal) to drink a potion.   Obviously, getting a horse to drink from a tiny glass bottle is not easy, but you could theoretically get around this by pouring a potion into a bowl and putting the bowl in front of the horses mouth. But a bigger problem awaits.   Like most potions, healing potions smell and taste unpleasant. Good luck getting an animal to drink it. If the animal doesn't drink at least half of the potion, they will gain no benefit from the potion. To get the full benefit, you can't waste more than a few drops.   Mixing a potion with food or water to make it more palatable is an option but the potion will lose potency very quickly. The animal needs to eat the doctored food within about two minutes of potion being poured over the food or the potion won't take effect.   Getting a healthy and calm to drink a potion is hard enough, but a horse that is in severe pain is going to be even harder to feed a potion. (See sidebar).   The way around this is to use magical powders instead of magical potions. In the case of a healing powder, the powder is applied to the wound itself instead of ingested orally. Powders are bulkier and more expensive than potions. A healing potion has a standard market price of 65 silver pieces while Healing Powder has a standard market price of 80 silver pieces, but it is much easier to use on a non-humanoid subject. (See sidebar).  

Vets with Animal Theurgy

  An initiate Animal theurgist can talk to animals (though not all animals have useful things to say). An acolyte Animal theurgist can control or puppeteer animals and a high level arcane enchanter can pull off of the same trick. This makes it easier to make animal takes its medicine (see the sidebar again).   Animal theurgy helps a lot with the practice of mundane medicine. Mortal physicians can usually talk to their patients but veterinary physicians usually cannot. Practicing veterinary medicine is at +1 difficulty versus practicing medicine mortals unless the physician in question can talk to his patient with magic in which case the +1 difficulty modifier goes away.   Even if they are not Animal theurgists themselves, most of the best veterinarians in Scarterra at least did some training with an Animal training to give them a better feel for how animals communicate.