Quick Reference to Veterinary Medicine

by William R. Fenner

Now in its revised, updated Third Edition, this handy quick-reference guide provides easy and rapid access to the facts needed in daily small-animal practice. The book is written in outline format and organized to help the veterinarian quickly recognize signs and symptoms, formulate a differential diagnosis, select and interpret laboratory tests, choose a therapy, and find additional reference material. Major sections cover clinical signs and client complaints; laboratory abnormalities; principles of fluid, osmotic, and electrolyte balance; systems disturbances; and special topics.New chapters in the Third Edition cover behavioral disturbances, pain and pain management, dental and periodontal disorders, geriatrics, and cancer. Other problems addressed for the first time in this edition include splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, ataxia, polycythemia, and thyroid disorders. All chapters from the previous edition have been thoroughly updated.

Genres: Animals, Reference

731 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure that this is a very good "quick reference" as the title states. It's poorly organized. The index is not helpful and seems incomplete, which makes it very hard if you want to look up a particular subject. As a vet who has five minutes between rooms to look up something, you want a quick reference with a great index. That is not this book. I use this book and carry it around with me when I do my relief work, and that's why I'm grading it more harshly. If this is the only veterinary reference textbook available (which happens), I find it lacking what I need on a practical basis. Even after fourteen years of practice, I still like to look up symptoms and disorders to double check my work, so to speak. I can't do it very well with this setup. I wish that the book was organized according to clinical signs or disorders, instead of by organ system. You don't diagnose patients by organ system. It doesn't help you. Way too broad. And the clinical signs can be very nonspecific when it comes to organ systems. You diagnose and form a diagnostic/treatment plan according to clinical signs and a list of possible diagnoses that would cause those clinical signs, so this organization system is not helpful for a quick look.

Having said that, I think it has good information, such as it is. Just problematic locating it. So that's why I gave it a 3 star rating. Middle of the road. Okay as an additional book in a veterinarian's library, but not as a sole book.

[Czirják · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good.