This paper will look at the developments with respect to laboratory science in colonial India in the period between 1890 and 1920, focusing mainly on the experimentation with regard to animal diseases such as rinderpest and surra. In this connection, we will argue that colonial laboratories paid a great deal of attention to diseases that affected the cavalry, such as surra or glanders, while ignoring cattle diseases that caused excessive mortality, such as rinderpest. The reasons behind this will be explored, and links will be drawn with the nature of the incipient Civil Veterinary Departments in India. The paper will also look at the working of Pasteur Institutes that were established in India during this period. The overall aim of the paper will be to examine the attitude of the Indian state towards bacteriological theories, which had gained wide acceptance all over Europe following the discoveries made by Koch, Pasteur and others.