[bksvol-discuss] wish list

  • From: "maithe007" <maithe007@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 01:14:00 -0500

Hi G. Cindy, 

I would really appreciate it if you could place a book on the wish list for me. 
 It is called:  
The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health : The Complete Pet Health Resource for 
Your Dog, Cat, Horse or other Pets
by Merck Publishing and Merial
ISBN-13: 9780911910995
Pub. Date: October 2007

Synopsis:
The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health delivers animal health expertise in 
everyday language that all pet owners can understand. This in-depth new 
resource,
authored by over 200 veterinary experts, covers the full spectrum of today's 
pets, from dogs, cats and horses to birds, reptiles, fish and other exotic
pets. No other book provides as much health information on as many types of 
animals. The one resource for a lifetime of pets.

I think this book needs to be done in-house as it has some graphs and/or 
diagrams.  This is the reason I am not scanning it.  Here is a cute article 
from the New York Times regarding this book.  Thanks!

Maithe
maithe007@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pet Ferret Hit by an Arrow? Here's a Book for You
By
ERICA GOODE
Published: December 18, 2007

Does your gerbil seem depressed?

Is its coat rough, its appetite flagging, its posture hunched?

Does its exercise wheel stand sadly silent?

If so, it might be suffering from Tyzzer's disease, a bacterial infection 
commonly seen in gerbils, especially when stressed.

Then again, the little rodent might just have a bad case of
pinworms.

Not knowing which diagnosis applies - or more likely, never having heard of 
either ailment - is often frustrating for pet owners, who are unsure how serious
their animal's illness is or what to do about it.

The new Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health: Home Edition (Merck & Company, 
$22.95), an exhaustive guide to the illnesses and care of many of the species
that humans, sensibly or not, have turned to for companionship, aims to help 
out.

Merck's manual for humans has long been a resource for doctors, a bible for 
worried mothers and a draw for hypochondriacs, who can spend hours matching
their symptoms to the diseases it describes.

In the 1,345 pages of the pet version, readers can find, among other things, 
the anatomy of a turtle; six signs of hyperparathyroidism in a dog; a list
of 27 houseplants poisonous to pets; a description of lockjaw (an infection 
that leads baby birds to starve to death); instructions for what to do if your
pet is shot with an arrow (don't pull it out); seven causes of liver injuries 
in horses; the necessary components of a pet travel kit; 161 diseases that
can be passed to humans from animals; and yes, a proper diagnosis for a sick 
gerbil.

Those new to pet ownership will discover basic information about choosing pets 
and how to provide them with a good home. In some cases, they may decide
to forgo the pleasure: a sugar glider, for example, while extremely cute, 
spends its nights barking and chirping and, the book notes, requires at least
two hours of human contact per day, lest it develop behavioral problems - like 
cannibalism.

The bulk of the manual, a popular translation of the handbook for veterinarians 
published by Merck since 1955, is devoted to the three most common household
animals: dogs, cats and horses. But the guide also includes chapters on birds 
and so-called exotic pets, like fish, reptiles, amphibians, chinchillas,
ferrets, gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rats, rabbits, prairie dogs, 
pot-bellied pigs and sugar gliders, as well as sections on emergency care,
poisoning,
cancer
and other subjects.

The sheer number of creatures found between the book's covers is likely to 
distinguish it from other pet health guides, most of which focus on a single
species or even a single breed. And the manual, written by 200 veterinarians, 
is likely to find an eager readership in an animal-crazed nation, where 68.7
million households include at least one pet and $24.5 billion a year is spent 
on veterinary care, according to a survey released this month by the American
Veterinary Medical Association.

"We felt there was a need for a comprehensive book," said Dr. Scott Line, the 
manual's associate editor and an animal behaviorist at Merial, a veterinary
drug company co-owned by Merck and Sanofi-Aventis.

"People have multiple pets," Dr. Line said. "Eighty or 85 percent of horse 
owners also own a dog; half of dog owners have a cat. If you have one book that
covers all different species it will make it easier for people."

Still, like The Merck Manual for human health, the pet version often sacrifices 
depth for breadth. It describes hundreds of diseases, some that readers
will find familiar, like
diabetes
and
epilepsy,
and many others they are unlikely to recognize, like guttural pouch mycosis 
(which affects horses) and proliferative enteropathy (recently weaned rabbits).

"My feeling is there was a little bit of information on everything and not a 
lot of information on any one thing," said Dr. Susan Hackner, head of the 
department
of critical care and emergency medicine at the Animal Medical Center in New 
York. "It's like other Merck manuals in that it addresses very briefly and
concisely a very comprehensive list of diseases. I think that it's more of a 
coffee-table book."

Dr. Hackner noted that some things in the manual were very helpful - for 
example, the basics of emergency care and the list of household poisons 
(especially
when read before an animal ingests one). There are specific instructions for 
nursing a sick bird, a discussion of when to euthanize a desperately ill pet
and useful descriptions of a variety of medical tests and treatments.

Dr. Hackner praised the glossary and the dozens of graphics in the book, 
singling out a schematic drawing of a cat's kidney that she said was "really 
interesting."

But she added that equal space in the manual seemed to be given to very common 
illnesses - for instance, immune mediated hemolytic
anemia,
which she said was common in dogs and that the hospital sees a few times a week 
in summer - and to disorders like hepatozoonosis, a parasitic disease affecting
dogs and cats, which the hospital sees rarely, if at all.

Some readers may find missing from the guide any mention of commonly used 
alternative medical treatments, like acupuncture. And those who own exotic 
animals
will almost certainly be better served buying a book dedicated wholly to their 
species.

These lapses, however, are unlikely to deter most pet owners, who can be as 
obsessive about their animal's health as they are about their own. And it can't
hurt to know that that strong musty smell is coming from your unneutered 
ferret, that a chunk of avocado could kill your cockatiel and that you should
never, ever pick up a gerbil by its tail.

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