The Illustrated Veterinary Guide for Dogs, Cats, Birds, & Exotic Pets [Paperback]

Chris C. Pinney (Author), Sandra G. Pinson (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1995

A complete pet owner's guide to the normal and emergency care required for pets. It provides general advice on healthcare for improving the lifestyle and longevity of a pet's life. It covers preventative health measurers and disease identification, and looks at typical and exotic pets.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Illustrated Veterinary Guide is a brilliantly conceived and expertly rendered reference. In one succinct volume, Chris C. Pinney, D.V.M., covers just about everything you might need to know about owning and caring for dogs, cats, and countless other animals. He covers birds, rabbits, and guinea pigs; hamsters, rats, and chinchillas; prairie dogs, hedgehogs, ferrets, and miniature potbellied pigs--plus reptiles, amphibians, tropical fish, and invertebrates. Whether your menagerie is restricted to Fluffy and Fido, or extends to tarantulas, hermit crabs, newts, and snakes, Pinney provides chapters on restraint, housing, nutrition, reproduction, preventive health care, and the diseases and disorders relevant to each species.

The dog and cat sections are naturally the most thorough, forming more than half the book. Pinney discusses how to choose the right dog and how to housebreak, socialize, and train him, then delves into preventive health care (nail trimming, weight control, and staving off parasites), elective surgeries (tail docking and ear trimming), and breeding your dog (from puberty and birthing to the care of neonatal puppies). Next come the infectious diseases (such as distemper, paravirus, kennel cough, and ringworm) and the parasitic diseases (such as scabies, tapeworm, and demodectic mange). Pinney's veterinary guide launches into all the internal systems (cardiovascular and respiratory, immune and digestive, urinary and reproductive, musculoskeletal, nervous, and endocrine) plus the doggy anatomy of skin and coat (integumentary system), eyes, and ears. Pinney explains the workings of each system, and the diseases that afflict them. There are few symptom charts, so you can't look up "vomiting" and see the associated diseases, though you can check the chapter on first aid for a quick guide to possible causes and seriousness. You can also identify the digestive system as the likely location, read about all the conditions and symptoms, and decide if tonsillitis, intestinal obstruction, or intussusception seems most likely.

The information provided by Pinney is all sound veterinary data, and the appendix on first aid for dogs and cats is excellent. But don't underestimate the value of the illustrations. An illustration of ringworm on a cat face is worth a thousand words when it comes to assessing if that's what your cat has, and mimicking the drawing of how to hold a pet snake is worlds easier than trying to apply written instructions to a restive boa. Some illustrations, such as the one of a cat in a thicket to illustrate feline nocturnal predatory habits, provide more eye candy than useful data. But there's no replacement for a picture of where to cut a bird's talon, how to restrain a lizard, or what a dog with impacted anal sacs looks like when it's scooting. If you like animals and want all your veterinary info in one place, Pinney's guide is a great one-volume resource. --Stephanie Gold --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

If you want to take good care of your pet, take a look at this A-to-Z quick answer book from popular veterinarian Chris Pinney, D.V.M. The Illustrated Veterinary Guide covers it all, from preventive health care, to diet, grooming, and training tips, to eye-opening facts that you would never have guessed about your pet (did you know that dogs might not be as color blind as people think?). Destined to put your mind at ease and give your pet a longer, happier, and healthier life, this book is the one for you---whether you own just one pet or a small zoo!

In the second edition you will find: * Super $$$ saving strategies for pet owners * New treatments for canine and feline heartworm disease, management of arthritis, flea control, pet nutrition, breeding---plus emergency first aid * Expanded sections on hedgehogs, chinchillas, prairie dogs, amphibians, and invertebrates * An informative introduction to holistic and alternative therapies for pets---homeopathic and "natural" pet care * A new format loaded with easy-to-read charts, tables, and illustrations Coverage includes: amphibians, birds, cats, chinchillas, dogs, fish, gerbils, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, hedgehogs, invertebrates, mice, pot-bellied pigs, prairie dogs, rabbits, rats, and reptiles. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: Tab Books (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070501793
• ISBN-13: 978-0070501799
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,800,358 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable aid for caretakers and owners of small animals, November 4, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Illustrated Veterinary Guide for Dogs, Cats, Birds, & Exotic Pets (Paperback)

This indispensable aid for caretakers and owners of small animals is a miniature encyclopedia chock full of facts, advice, and instruction on the care and feeding of dogs, cats, birds, and other pets. With chapters on everything from proper housing and daily nurturing of your pets, to emergency medicine and disease symptoms, this book has a section for just about everything you may encounter in pet ownership and animal care. The book even covers pets that many folks won't take to a vet -- rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils, and reptiles. If you learn even one thing from the book that avoids a costly veterinary visit, the book has already paid for itself. This guide is especially helpful for people with more than one type of animal -- for instance, I have cats, dogs, birds, rabbits, and rats. Instead of shelling out mega-bucks for 5 separate books, I was able to locate all the information I need in a single book. While most pet owners won't read the entire book at the time of purchase, that's one way to approach the wealth of information it offers. On the other hand, it's a terrific manual to have on hand, just in case, for the times when you'll need it. Much like a home first aid kit, this is a tool all pet owners should have in their homes.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, February 23, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Rochester, New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Illustrated Veterinary Guide for Dogs, Cats, Birds, & Exotic Pets (Paperback)

This book is great for veterinary students as well as anyone with animals. Very informative and easy to understand. First Aid section in back! I loved this book, it even told me the right way to hold my parakeet.

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, December 11, 2009

By 

Jo-jo (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Illustrated Veterinary Guide (Paperback)

This book was pretty good, I got a used one for around three dollars (despite most of the used ones being sold for 50$, and the new ones 200$) and it has helped me a lot.
It covers a lot of the basic pet illnesses and has a cross section at the end of each chapter that shows the causes of some sicknesses, the results, and some possible treatments. I espcially like the index that has a lot of information that you may need emergencys in bold so that you can easily locate the page if an emergency should occur ( e.g., Unconciusness, Difficulty Breathing, ect. ). In all, I would recomend this book, but I definitly wouldn't pay 200$ for it.