Why did Ivan Pavlov pay close attention to animals’ postoperative care?

Ivan Pavlov prioritized meticulous postoperative care and the maintenance of animal health at the Institute of Experimental Medicine to ensure his subjects remained normal and healthy throughout their entire life spans.1

By keeping the animals in a healthy, unanesthetized state, Pavlov was able to study physiological processes—such as gastrointestinal secretions and conditioned reflexes—under natural conditions. This approach allowed him to observe the animals over long periods, providing the consistent, measurable data necessary to formulate his groundbreaking scientific theories.12