Abstract
Cardiovascular Disease in Small Animal Medicine is an excellent resource for anyone interested in small animal cardiology. It offers an overview for students and technicians and a nice review for academic clinicians and private practitioners. The text is organised into three broad sections: (1) introduction and normal reference information, (2) clinical manifestations and management of cardiovascular problems, and (3) cardiovascular diseases.
Section one gives a very detailed description of the cardiovascular physical examination accompanied by excellent images to illustrate. The remainder of this section is an overview of cardiac radiography, electrocardiography and echocardiography which are again accompanied by very nice images.
Section two focuses on the clinical sequela of heart disease and includes many focused, easy to follow flow charts to assist the reader in determining the cause of the presenting clinical signs. Flow charts are also provided which detail a step-wise approach to the management of many common arrhythmias.
Section three discusses in detail the most common types of both acquired and congenital cardiac diseases in dogs and cats. This section briefly discusses other less common diseases which I have typically not seen reviewed in other small animal textbooks, but which are important for readers to be aware of.
In my opinion, this book is an excellent addition to the library of any veterinarian, veterinary student or veterinary technician who wants to learn more about small animal cardiovascular disease. Information is up-to-date, drug dosages are current and correct and many colour images are used to explain concepts or show examples of clinical manifestations.