From The Critics
Reviewer: Jo Ann Eurell, DVM, PhD(University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine)Description: This textbook focuses on clinical behavioral medicine for cats and dogs. Normal behaviors are profiled followed by a comprehensive discussion of aggression and elimination disorders. Fears, anxieties, and miscellaneous behavior problems are also covered. Treatment, including behavioral pharmacology, and prevention are included along with chapters on legal issues of behavioral medicine and social work.
Purpose: The purposes of the book are to provide practical clinical information on small animal behavioral problems and to establish a framework for future growth of the discipline. The book covers canine and feline clinical behavior in detail, and the author meets her goals.
Audience: Small animal practitioners and veterinary students will find a wealth of behavioral information in this text. The author provides scientific findings, case reports, and treatment protocols from the Veterinary Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania that will be very useful to veterinarians.
Features: Each chapter contains helpful summary tables of important points. A strong feature of the book is client questionnaires and detailed treatment protocols provided in the appendixes. The only detractors to the book's layout are some photos with features that are difficult to discern.
Assessment: The author has assembled a compendium of useful small animal behavioral information. She has gathered current scientific studies that she does not hesitate to further interpret and, often, to comment upon in a strong fashion. In addition, she has included in-depth clinical information that is much needed in the field. This book should form the foundation for future discussions on diagnosis and treatment of small animal behavioral problems and should be read by all who are interested in the field.