Book Reviews

M.C. Smith, D.M. Sherman, Goat Medicine, 2nd ed., Wiley-Black-well, Chichester, UK, 2009, ISBN139780781796439, 871 pp.; £87.50(hard)

For a book on small ruminants, this is big, weighing nearly 3 kg,compared with Matthews’ Diseases of the Goat (from the same pub-lisher) that weighs in at less than 1 kg. Whereas Matthews ar-ranges his book by signs, Goat Medicine has a traditional layout,with most chapter headings being body systems. It includes manygems, such as ‘most goat breeds have an erect tail, while the tail ofsheep always hangs down’: those who have puzzled over hairysheep overseas will understand how useful this comment is. Thegenetic link between wattles and high fecundity is explained andgives veterinary surgeons something to say when asked what wat-tles are for. We are warned that the white vaginal discharge at theend of oestrus is normal.

The book has some good photographs adjacent to the relevanttext and the chapter on disbudding includes valuable photographsof a naturally polled kid with a central hair whorl, and a horned kidwith a whorl around each bud. This is followed by excellent adviceto disbud male kids at 3–5 days, and a strategy for breeding polledgoats without intersexes.

In dealing with obstructive urolithiasis, the relatively new tech-nique of surgical tube cystostomy is described, with the useful ad-vice to fit an Elizabethan collar to stop the goat chewing the tube:one of my early discoveries was that whereas a sheep will ignore acatheter, a goat will eat it. There are short but useful chapters onsudden death (with techniques for field post-mortem examina-tion) and on wasting diseases (including Johne’s disease, whichin goats is not signalled by diarrhoea).

Since most chapters relate to body systems, it would have beenhelpful if the index reliably led from signs to page numbers, but if

we look up ‘straining’ we find a reference only to parturition, and‘colic’ is not even indexed. When we do find obstructive urolithia-sis, however, we read ‘perhaps the most common cause of abdominalpain in goats is obstructive urolithiasis’. The first item in the index isAAALAC-Int: four lines give this in full, instead of simply referringus to the relevant page. The index does nevertheless deserve creditfor including ‘cloudburst’.

A good way to use this book is to scan the helpful contents atthe beginning of each chapter. Whether you use index or contents,the page numbers are annoyingly faint. I hope that future editionswill consider people with imperfect eyesight. British readers mightexpand their vocabulary with ‘doeling’ (‘a young female, often onethat has not kidded’) and ‘freshener’ – freshening means giving birthand coming into milk production. A useful appendix lists medi-cines used in goats with suggested doses, but the discussion cen-tres around USA regulations. Another appendix discussesalternative therapies, including homoeopathy (‘This controversialsystem. . .’).

Mary Smith and David Sherman have laboured hard to producethis book, which is backed up by innumerable references, well up-dated since the 1994 first edition. Busy clinicians sometimes needto read carefully to discern the common conditions among therare, but this book will be invaluable for serious students of goatmedicine.

Bob Ward11 Burton Road,

Little Neston, Neston CH64 9RF,UK

E-mail address: w.r.ward@liverpool.ac.uk

doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2010.01.010

The Veterinary Journal 184 (2010) 247–248

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

The Veterinary Journal

journal homepage:

S.M. Turner, (Ed.), Saunders Solutions in Veterinary Practice,Small Animal Ophthalmology, 1st ed., Saunders Elsevier, 2008,ISBN978-0-7020-2872-4, 380 pp.; £41.99 (soft)

The general layout of Small Animal Ophthalmology is good inthat it allows quick access to relevant chapters without too muchsearching. By dividing the conditions according to the anatomicalstructures (conjunctiva, cornea, lens, etc.) involved, similar condi-tions are located near to each other. This is followed up with a verylogical approach within the condition (such as presenting signs,history, and clinical examination) – a step by step guide in the or-der that would unfold during a consultation.

One of the best features of this book is the use of colour codedboxes for ‘differential diagnosis’, ‘nursing aspects’, and ‘clinicaltips’. These provide the ideal quick reference guide for the busyveterinary surgeon, who needs information in a hurry, and doesnot have time to wade through large amounts of text. Likewise,the appendices at the back have condensed a lot of useful informa-

tion into table or bullet-point format. Combined, these allow formaximum information to be obtained in minimum time, and areideal for a quick read between consults. Indeed, for any veterinarysurgeon with a limited ophthalmology background, it would beadvisable always to have the differential diagnosis appendix (5)near to hand!

The case examples included at the end of each chapteroften serve to reiterate the information laid out earlier in thetext, and it can be frustrating to re-read this. That said, caseexamples highlighting problems serve to provide valuable infor-mation (and encouragement) for veterinarians with cases withcomplications.

My one major criticism of this book is the lack of anatomyreminders. At the beginning of each chapter there is a limited ana-tomical refresher, but often these are not illustrated. A detailedillustration allows visualisation of the anatomy (and shows wherestructures lie in relation to each other) far better than any numberof words. More anatomical diagrams interspersed throughout the

248 Book Reviews / The Veterinary Journal 184 (2010) 247–248

chapters would have kept up the quick reference aspect. This, com-bined with the case based approach, gears this text towards thegeneral practitioner, and makes its uses for students limited.

This book sets out ‘to help practitioners to keep up to date inthis discipline, rise to the challenge that eye cases pose and devel-op confidence in dealing with ophthalmologic cases’. The authorhas succeeded in all aspects. By combining thorough detail withquick reference tables and bullet-points this book will be a valu-able text for a large number of veterinary surgeons. Whether anew graduate with limited ophthalmology experience, or simplya veterinarian wishing to brush up on diagnostics and treatments,this text will help. Furthermore, the inclusion of the ‘nursing as-

doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2010.01.011

pects’ section means other members of the practice can benefitfrom it. A useful book for any veterinary surgeon or practice, it fitsthe title of ‘Solutions in Veterinary Practice’ very well.

Iain BrodieCentre for Small Animal Studies,

Animal Health Trust,Lanwades Park,

Kentford,Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 7UU,

UKE-mail address: Iain.brodie@aht.org.uk