Small Animal Pathology for Veterinary Technicians
Amy Johnson, BS, CVT, RLATG

 VSPN Review by Elizabeth Warren, RVTStar
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This is a handy little book for veterinary technicians and veterinary technician students to have available when looking for practical information about common diseases seen in small animal practice. It is well-organized, brief, and includes plenty of color photographs. I believe that this book will be most useful to veterinary technicians who are looking for concise descriptions that will help them communicate essential information to clients regarding a pet’s diagnosis and treatment.

The bulk of the material focuses on dogs and cats, but diseases of other small mammals are included as well in separate chapters. The first chapter of the book describes the role of the veterinary technician in pathology—from participating as part of the diagnostic team, to providing nursing care to patients, educating clients, and preventing the spread of infectious disease.

The next three chapters cover canine infectious diseases, feline infectious diseases, and rabies. The infectious diseases are for the most part the common bacterial and viral conditions that we routinely vaccinate for. As an example: the canine chapter includes distemper, parvovirus, and infectious tracheobronchitis, but not borreliosis, ehrlichiosis, or brucellosis, and the feline chapter includes panleukopenia, feline leukemia, and feline immunodeficiency virus but not cytauxzoonosis, feline infectious anemia, or giardiasis.

The next eight chapters cover the pathology of disease by body system or organ: gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, reproductive, endocrine, ocular, integumentary, musculoskeletal, and hematologic and lymph disease. Again, these are basic summaries of some common diseases and presentations. Each disease includes a paragraph or bulleted list for description, clinical signs, diagnosis, treatment, and client education and technician tips. There are some conspicuous absences (discussions of parasites, for example) and no chapters for the cardiovascular, respiratory, or nervous systems (although some of the diseases affecting these systems are covered in other chapters).

Some diseases are not addressed at all—no discussion of heartworm disease, for example—and the descriptions of others are too brief. For example, the section on diabetes mellitus does not include the differences between canine and feline diabetics, particularly in terms of dietary management, and it seems that clarity has been sacrificed to brevity, as in the statement “this disease requires frequent monitoring and lifelong insulin treatments,” which is not always true of cats diagnosed with diabetes.

The final three chapters in the book are: Diseases of Rabbits, Guinea Pigs and Chinchillas; Diseases of Ferrets; and Diseases of Hamsters, Gerbils, and Rats. These brief chapters describe the conditions that we are most likely to see in these patients.

There are online resources to accompany the printed text, including review questions and answers as well as case studies. These will be very useful in an educational or training environment when this text is used as a supplementary resource for individuals studying pathology and basic nursing. The references listed at the end of each chapter are an excellent starting point for additional reading and information about the pathologies described in this neat little book.

Publisher: Wiley Blackwell, 2014

ISBN 13: 9781118434215


Table of Contents
Book Reviews
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Introduction
Alternative Medicine
Anatomy
Anesthesia/Analgesia
Animal Welfare
Aquatic/Fish
Avian
Behavior
Camelids
Canine
Cardiology
Client Education
Cytology / Hematology / Histology
Dental
Dermatology
Dictionary/Reference
Drugs/Pharmacology
Emergency Med
Endocrine
Epidemiology
Equine
Ethics
Exotics
Feline
Food Animals/Livestock
General
Genetics
Geriatrics
Handling & Restraint
Human-Animal Bond
Imaging & Radiology
Immunology
Infectious Diseases
Internal Medicine
Laboratory Medicine
Microbiology
Multimedia
Neurology
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Parasitology
Pathology
 
* BSAVA Canine Feline Haematology
 
* Handbook Urinalysis (VSPN Review)
 
* Lab. Vet. Tech. 5th Ed. (VSPN Review)
 
* Pathogenesis Bacterial Infection 3rd Ed.
 
* Vet. Forensics
 
Animal Abuse: Forensic
 
Antimicrobial Resistance in Animals and Public Health (VSPN)
 
Blackwell Lab. Tests (VSPN Review)
 
Clinical Pathology
 
Clinical Pathology & Laboratory Techniques for Veterinary Technicians (VSPN)
 
Clinical Pathology for the Veterinary Team
 
Duncan & Prasse's Veterinary Laboratory Medicine Clinical Pathology, 5th ed
 
Equine Clinical Medicine, Surgery and Reproduction
 
Equine Clinical Pathology (VSPN)
 
Fundamental Clin. Path. 2nd Ed.
 
General Pathology Nurses (VSPN Review)
 
Intro. Vet. Comp. Forensic
 
Intro. Vet. Pathology 3rd Ed.
 
Kirkbride’s Diagnosis of Abortion and Neonatal Loss in Animals 4th (VSPN)
 
Lab. Urinalysis Hematology
 
Path. Rod. Rabbit 3rd Ed.
 
Pathologic Basis of Veterinary Disease, 5th Ed.
 
Pathological Basis of Veterinary Disease, 5th Ed. (VSPN Review)
 
Pathology of Pet and Aviary Birds (VSPN)
 
Small Animal Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 2nd Ed.
 
You are hereSmall Animal Pathology for Veterinary Technicians (VSPN)
 
Vet. Clin. Path. Intro.
 
* Lab. Profile SA 3rd Ed.
 
* Mechanisms of Disease 3rd Ed.
 
* Path. Rod. Rabbit 2nd Ed.
 
* Pathologic Basis 4th Ed. (VSPN Review)
 
* Pathology Pet Aviary
Pediatrics
Physiology
Physiotherapy
Practice Management
Primates
Rabbits, Rodents & Ferrets
Reproduction
Reptile/Amphibian
Research
Respiratory
Ruminants
Sheep/Goats
Shelter Medicine
Surgery
Swine
Technicians
Toxicology
Urology/Renal
Veterinary Education
Wildlife-Zoo Animals
Zoonoses

Date Published: November 10, 2014

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