Rating: 
Summary: Great referencing!
Review: As a veterinary technician who graduated in '94 and is out of the clinics, but still works in Animal care, it is the best. I refer back to it all the time. I don't remember everything I was taught and especially being away from practices, it is perfect. It has EVERYTHING!! I carry it with me, it is like my bible! Nothing beats this either, I had other books that I have tried to refer to, but this is ideal as I stated it has everything.
Rating:
Summary: Great referencing!
Review: As a veterinary technician who graduated in '94 and is out of the clinics, but still works in Animal care, it is the best. I refer back to it all the time. I don't remember everything I was taught and especially being away from practices, it is perfect. It has EVERYTHING!! I carry it with me, it is like my bible! Nothing beats this either, I had other books that I have tried to refer to, but this is ideal as I stated it has everything.
Rating: 
Summary: Trades off depth for breadth
Review: For a layperson like myself, the Merck Vet Guide is a handy reference book to have at hand. The writing is terse and concise, as you would expect from a guide for professionals. As such it (unsurprisingly) uses dense medical terminology, and is not beginner-friendly.However, in it's breadth of coverage, it necessarily skims the surface of most of it's topics. So, someone looking for in-depth information on any given topic will likely be disappointed. I suspect few vets (or advanced vet students) ever consult the MVM very often in their practice due to this limitation. Further, constant advances in diagnosis and treatment will plague any printed guide, such as this, that will inevitably be dated as soon as it is printed. But those are the inevitable constraints of writing a comprehensive guide such as this. All in all, it is a worthwhile book for the technically-inclined layperson or vet student to have at hand.
Rating: 
Summary: Most Complete Reference I've Found
Review: I've used the MVM for my dairy goats, dogs, cats & turtle :-) for probably 10 years. I'm an RN, so I can understand most of the medical terms used, but do still have to keep my Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary close by to look up many words it uses. Despite this fact, the book is a must have for breeders of any type animal. If all you know is a symptom (ie, itching, lameness, hair loss), this word will often (but not always) be listed in the index. A fault in this area is that not ALL pages are listed where the word is mentioned. Many times, I find information on one thing while I am reading about another thing & I wonder why that page was not also listed in the index. I just jot down these type things on the Notes pages in the back, for my own reference. If this book was indexed to include all the information it possesses, it would be almost perfect. This is the ONLY reason I do not rate this book a 5. But still overall, from the breeder's books I've read, this one is the most concise & complete for most animals. For each disease entity, there will be listed the Etiology (causes), Clinical Findings & Diagnosis (symptoms & other facts leading to a diagnosis), Treatment (meds or management suggestions) and sometimes a Prognosis (outcome prediction) and Control (measures needed to prevent future cases). Information & dosages of drugs for many animals are listed, along with specific information on drug families (adverse reactions, toxicology, etc). And the Zoonoses section shows which diseases are contagious to humans or other animals. The Poisonous Plant chart is also very helpful.
Rating:
Summary: A must have for farmes...and medical doctors
Review: Iam a Medical Doctor(human medicine), and I work in my wife's cattle's farm, all most as a general management and cowboy. I have learn a lot about how to do with the caws when in the open field, and it works a lot for me.
'My youngest daugther loves it because i also see her dog...and works for me...and for her dog.
It took me a lot to learn how to handle it, beacuse I use to use the merck manual of medicine, and there is a great difference, but its not the books fault, its just mine...
Rating:
Summary: The Merck Veterinary Manual (8th Ed).
Review: Probably the best general veterinary reference book around. Although its primary users are veterinarians and vet technicians, it is relatively easy to understand for the average animal owner interested in learning more about the animal's physiology, behavior, management, nutrition, pharmacology, toxicology and general management. Even though most of the book's 2300+ pages deal with domestic animals, it has a few chapters devoted to exotic and Zoo animals.
Rating:
Summary: Don't go to vet school without it!
Review: The Merck Manual is a MUST HAVE for all vet students. It discusses most species and the common problems of each. It has an excellent appendix with all sorts of useful information including normal TPRs, conversion charts, and zoonoses, etc. While it does not go into great depth on pathophysiology, it is a perfect place to look up quick rule outs and basics. No matter what species or organ system we're studying, I use my Merck nearly every day.
Rating:
Summary: Concise, affordable reference
Review: The Merck Manual's new edition is a much needed update to previous editions. The book follows the same, easy to follow formal and includes sections on exotic animals that were not a part of previous editions. It is a very affordable although fairly comprehensive reference to general veterinary medicine. Some veterinary students have found this a very useful book for reviewing while studying for National Boards. The book's main flaw is that references are poorly cited, and for the most part, are non-existent.
Rating:
Summary: A better version of a great book
Review: The Merck Veterinary Manual has been the bible for the veterinary students (and the beginning veterinary practitioners) for ever, and deservingly so. This 8th edition is even better than the previous one. If you don't have a professional library that covers every possible subject in veterinary medicine (or don't have the time to look for ever for a subject), you need the Merck. It has information not only on nearly every disease but also on physical examination and procedures. I learned, for example, that in an X-ray machine mA represented the amount of radiation while the kV represented its tissue penetration. Can you put it shorter and clearer? I can't! It has no references but it is not a reference book. It may be somewhat difficult for the non-initiated but it is for the profesional. All around, a great book!
Rating: 
Summary: Limited usefulness for veterinary professionals
Review: The Merck Veterinary Manual serves the same purpose as its sister publication, the Merck Manual of Medical Information for human medicine. Anyone in veterinary medicine beyond the second year of vet school is well beyond the scope of this book. It is somewhat useful for the lay public, but a little information can be dangerous when it isn't put into perspective.
|
