ACVIM: Large Animal

The entire examination will emphasize information taken from the current veterinary literature. Selected information will also be taken from the current human literature. With respect to the veterinary literature, current veterinary textbooks and papers published in refereed journals should be the primary study area.

Candidates are advised to prepare for the examination by a systematic review of recent textbooks and periodicals. Your mentors can help you select appropriate study material. WE CANNOT DEFINE CONCLUSIVELY THE BODY OF KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY TO PASS THIS EXAMINATION — the following list is ONLY A GUIDELINE.

Textbooks (most recent editions)

  • A Current Textbook in Physiology (Guyton or Ganong)
    • Ganong’s Review of medical physiology, 25th ed. edited by KE Barrett (2016), available online
    • Guyton and Hall Textbook of medical physiology, 13th ed. edited by JE Hall (2016), available online
  • Current Therapy in Equine Medicine VII (Robinson) — Vet Reserve Stacks SF 951 C976 2015
  • Current Therapy in Food Animal Practice V (Anderson and Rings) — Vet Reserve Stacks SF 745 C9761 2009
  • Diseases of Dairy Cattle (Rebhun) — 2nd ed. (2007) available online, 3rd ed. (2018) available online
  • Equine Geriatric Medicine and Surgery (Bertone) — Vet Reserve Stacks SF 951 E685 2006
  • Equine Internal Medicine (Reed, Bailey & Sellon) — 4th edition (2018) available online; 3rd ed. (2010) Vet Reserve Stacks SF 951 E638 2010
  • Large Animal Internal Medicine (Smith) — Vet Reserve Stacks SF 745 L322 2015 (5th ed.)
  • Large Animal Neurology (Mayhew) — Vet Book Stacks SF 895 M469L 2009 (2nd ed.)
  • Llama and alpaca care (Cebra) — 1st ed. (2014) available online; Vet Reserve Stacks SF 997.5 C3 L53 2014
  • Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics (Goodman and Gilman) — 12th ed. (2011) available online, 13th ed. (2018) available online
  • Sheep and Goat Medicine (Pugh) — 2nd ed. (2012) available online
  • Veterinary Clinical Epidemiology (Smith) — Vet Book Stacks SF 780.9 S657v 2006 (3rd ed.)
  • Veterinary Immunology (Tizard) — Vet Reserve Stacks SF 757.2 T625i 2013 (9th ed.)
  • Veterinary Medicine (Radostits, Gay, Hinchcliff & Constable) — Vet Reserve Stacks SF 745 B655v 2007 (10th ed.), 11th ed. (2017) available online
  • Veterinary Neuroanatomy and Clinical Neurology (DeLahunta) — 3rd ed. (2008) available online, Vet Reserve Stacks SF 895 D278v 2015 (4th ed.)

Journals

  • Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, online 1997-
    [PubMed search, limit results to Publication Dates: 5 years]
  • Equine Veterinary Journal, online 1996-
    [PubMed search, limit results to Publication Dates: 5 years]
  • Equine Veterinary Education, online 1996-
    [not indexed in PubMed; search CAB Abstracts]
  • Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, online 2000-
    [PubMed search, limit results to Publication Dates: 5 years]
  • American Journal of Veterinary Research, online 2000-
    [PubMed search, limit results to Publication Dates: 5 years]
  • Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, online 1997-
    [PubMed search, limit results to Publication Dates: 5 years]
  • Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice, online 2002-
  • Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practice, online 2002-
  • ACVIM Consensus statements (ALL), available online and on IVIS (free; need an account)
  • ACVIM Forum Proceedings — Vet Book Stacks  SF 605 V586p, available online on VIN (free; need an account)

PubMed search for large animal species in JVIM, EVJ, JAVMA, AJVR and JVECC; plus  articles in VCNA Equine Practice; plus articles in VCNA Food Animal Practice. Use the Publication Dates limit on the left to get articles from the last 5 years.

PubMed Search Terms:

((“journal of veterinary internal medicine”[Journal] OR “equine veterinary journal”[Journal] OR “journal of the american veterinary medical association”[Journal] OR “american journal of veterinary research”[Journal] OR “journal of veterinary emergency and critical care san antonio tex 2001″[Journal]) AND (“animals, domestic”[MeSH Terms] OR “camelids, new world”[MeSH Terms] OR “equidae”[MeSH Terms] OR “cattle”[MeSH Terms] OR “goats”[MeSH Terms] OR “sheep”[MeSH Terms] OR “swine”[MeSH Terms])) OR (“the veterinary clinics of north america equine practice”[Journal] OR “the veterinary clinics of north america food animal practice”[Journal])

NOTE: The large animal medicine certifying examination is written in concordance with USA (USDA/APHIS) regulations regarding the extra label use of drugs and legal use of antimicrobials. Candidates need to know drugs illegal for use and legal regulations surrounding common antimicrobials used in food producing animals in the US. The following websites may prove useful in reviewing pertinent US regulations regarding drug use in food animals.

Free VLS e-Journals for Residents
*Residents can receive a complimentary digital subscription to VetLearn.com. The subscription provides access to the online monthly digital publication Compendium: Continuing Education for Veterinarians® and Compendium Equine® the recurring series within Compendium. Additionally, this subscription provides access to archived articles from past and current issues. Visit www.vetlearn.com and click on “Register” in the upper right corner to access the registration form.

 This list is based on the 2018 reading list. The journal section of this page was last updated December 2019.