Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary

This was a recommended text in my first animal anatomy class at the college level. It's well organized and has a wealth of information that can be used by the novice and experienced alike. One negative is that it doesn't give you pronunciations like a normal dictionary. Luckily that isn't something I need but some people might consider it important. Its as correct as any veterinary or any other subject reference will be...no book is absolutely perfect. I refer to this book more often than my other animal science or veterinary textbooks. It does a great job of breaking terms down so they're easily understood.

I am a first year vet student who hasn't had that much clinical experience. Thus, I am constantly running across terminology and verbage that I am not familiar with. This dictionary is great! I use it constantly. This book has basic medical/vet vocabulary in addition to the veterinary-specific terminology that I need for my classes. It is a great size, too--fits great in the backpack and is not heavy.

I am a third semester veterinary student and I use this dictionary at least once almost every time I study. The reason I say that first year students will need this book is that I find I am using it less as my basic medical vocabulary grows, but I am still using it regularly. I too borrowed this book from my roommate constantly before I bought my own, even though I own a medical dictionary and had to walk farther to use her vet dictionary. This book simply has more of the veterinary terminology that I need definitions for. It is just the right size to bring with me when I study - it's not too heavy and it has enough words to make it useful. It does have some words that are unnecessary though, such as 'pooper-scooper'!Another `pro' for this book is the appendix at the back: there is one for arteries, bones, joints, muscles, nerves, etc. Honestly, the only one I've used is the muscle chart, but that one was great when I was studying for anatomy lab since it has origins and insertions as well as innervations.Since I do use it so much, I would recommend the hardcover version. If you want to see the picture of the cover or use the `look inside' feature, you can see these features on the paperback book webpage since they are currently not available at the hardcover webpage. ...Don't get me wrong; I still think a medical dictionary is useful. I often find words (and their pronunciations, since the Saunders does not have pronunciations) in the medical dictionary that I didn't find in the veterinary dictionary. But I almost always try the veterinary dictionary first, and I almost always find the word I'm looking for in this book.

When I started vet school, I wanted the biggest, most expensive medical dictionary because I figured it would be the best. I bought Dorland's medical dictionary which is intended for human medicine, and it weighs about 10 lbs. I found that, for my purposes, it was close to useless. Too big to carry around, not very user friendly, and of course lacking in veterinary terminology. I was constantly borrowing my classmates' Saunders dictionary (it was small enough that they could carry it around easily) and I was SO impressed. It's an excellent resource and is on the bookshelf of nearly every veterinarian I know. I now own a copy for myself.

I am a medical transcriptionist for a major hospital in the Mid-South. We have a DVM pathologist on site who does cases for vet clinics, hospitals, the Memphis Zoo, and several other places. This book has helped me out tremendously when it has been a word I have never encountered before, especially when you go to school to learn about the human anatomy and not animals. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get good definitions for vet words. The defininitions are easy to understand and will give several different ones if the word can pertain to more than one anatomical area. We have one at work for all of us to use. I am going to get one for myself.