1st Year Recommended Textbooks

Students are advised to explore various textbooks before making a purchase due to the variety of styles and approaches.

At the University of Edinburgh and R(D)SVS, we provide access to a vast electronic database of online books and resources called DiscoverEd. We'll ensure that all essential readings and texts are readily available to you. If there's a resource you need but can't find electronically, you can request assistance from library staff to explore options such as interlibrary loans.

The Veterinary Library houses multiple copies of recommended books; however, please be aware that newer editions are often on short-term loan. Illustrated anatomy textbooks may seem costly, but they are a valuable investment as they will be used throughout your veterinary course and beyond.

The following notes aim to assist those who are deciding which books to purchase in advance. Additionally, some publishers' websites offer a "see inside" feature for previewing content. For further guidance, you can also find book reviews tailored for veterinary students here: Textbook Reviews from NewMedicalBooks.Net

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Anatomy

K.M. Dyce, W.O. Sack, and C.J.G. Wensing, Textbook of Veterinary Anatomy, 5th edition. Saunders, 2010. Classic anatomy textbook, that is highly recommended and is the main textbook for anatomy teaching.  It covers all the domestic species.  Predominantly text with colour line drawings and photographs.  Attractive book, but less visual than Boyd or other atlases. 

H.E. Evans & A. de Lahunta, Miller’s Guide to the Dissection of the Dog, 8th Edition, Elsevier, 2016. The Guide to the Dissection of the Dog is a practical dissection manual. It is very useful in Year 1 when you are doing your dog dissection. It has a combination of text and illustrations that will guide you through the dissection practicals. Highly recommended to have your own copy to bring to practicals. Older editions are just as useful as the newest editions (not much has changed in the anatomy of dogs in the past 20 years) but newer editions have colour illustrations while older editions are in black and white (allows for colouring in yourself). The older editions can be picked up considerably cheaper if found, but might use older terminology for some structures.

A. Gardiner (ed) & M. Raynor (illus.), The Dog Anatomy Workbook: A Guide to the Canine Body.; J.A. Allen (London), 2014. Interactive ‘workbook’/colouring atlas on dog anatomy and clinical contexts written by lecturers from the R(D)SVS. This is not a textbook but a practically-oriented learning aid. It would complement a standard anatomy textbook, e.g. Dyce, Sack & Wensing.

Other textbooks in anatomy that you might find useful as reference books or for self-study (all available in the library)

H.E. Evans and A. de Lahunta, Miller’s Anatomy of the Dog, 5th Edition.  Elsevier 2019. Anatomy of the Dog is the standard canine reference. Unless you wish to specialise in anatomy it is not recommended you buy this book.  However, yit is a useful reference if you want more information/detail.  Copies are in the library for reference and it can be viewwed online.

S.H. Done & P.C. Goody, S.A. Evans & N.C. Strickland,  Color Atlas of Veterinary Anatomy, Volume 3: The Dog and Cat 2nd Edition. Mosby, 2009. Very attractive colour book with many illustrations.  Useful as a reference to complement a standard anatomy tesxtbook e.g. Dyce, Sack & Wesing. 

Histology

B. Young, G.O'Dowd & P.Woodford,& Sylvia Wright; Wheater's Functional Histology: A Text and Colour Atlas, Churchill Livingstone; 7th edition 2023 This is the standard histology reference and highly recommended. This text book will help you learn and review the microstructure of tissues. The high quality colour light micrographs and electron micrograph images are accompanied by concise text and captions which explain the appearance, function, and clinical significance of each image. There is an accompanying website that lets you view all the images from the atlas with a "virtual microscope", allowing you to view the image at a variety of pre-set magnifications.

Cell Biology

B. Alberts, D. Bray, K. Hopkin, A. Johnson, K. Roberts, J. Lewis, M. Raff, P. Walter, Essential Cell Biology. ; 5th edition 2019. This is a readily accessible introduction to the central concepts of cell biology, and its clear writing and engaging illustrations make it the ideal textbook for cell and molecular biology. Molecular detail has been kept to a minimum in order to provide the student with an organised conceptual framework for the basic science that underlies our current understanding of all of biology, including veterinary biomedical sciences.

Animal Life

Webster, John. (ed). Management and welfare of farm animals: UFAW farm handbook. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford; 6th edition 2022 A highly recommended text book for the Animal Life course. A classic introductory textbook for veterinary students by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW). The book promotes the humane treatment of livestock within the practical business context of modern farming. 

Study Guides

A. Northedge, The Good Study Guide. The Open University, 2005. S. Cottrell, The Study Skills Handbook. (Palgrave Study Skills). Palgrave Macmillan; 4th edition 2013. Don’t forget it is important to study effectively! These study guides are very useful for students new to studying at University and come highly recommended.

Some comments from the final year vet students on textbooks:

Our Final Year Students were asked to reflect on which textbooks were the most useful companions to the first year courses, whilst remaining useful throughout the rest of their time at Vet School. Note that this is just a short selection of the most important ones as the many books available can make choices difficult.

Dyce, Sack and Wensing - Textbook of Veterinary Anatomy "This book is worth every penny. It contains detailed information on the anatomy of ruminants, horses, pigs, birds, dogs and cats and is an essential companion to the Animal Body courses. You will also find yourself referring back to this book, I am, sure for the rest of your life. The chapters are sensibly organised and the glossary is easy to use giving individual references to anatomical structures for each species. It has numerous diagrams, pictures, radiographs and the text descriptions are clear and often point out the important features clinically.”

Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary “If you were ever to buy only one book whilst at Vet School, it really is a MUST HAVE! This is not an ordinary dictionary. The entries are thorough and cover all words and terminology used in pre-clinical and clinical veterinary medicine. Cross-referencing is clear and quickly directs the reader to related entries. It covers large, small and exotic animals and has extensive appendices summarising useful clinical data and anatomical information. I could go on all day but I’m sure you’ve got the picture by now.”

Evans and Delahunta - Millers Guide to the Dissection of the Dog “This book really is essential if you are to have a clue about what you are dissecting, where to cut and if you are to know what that “weird” looking bit is! It is also an essential tool for revising the anatomy spot exams.”

Young, O'Dowd and Woodford - Wheater's Functional Histology “In first year, you have histology practical classes and this book really helps you understand what all those purple and pink blobs are down the microscope!”

Alberts et al - Essential Cell Biology “To make sense of all those molecular structures, this book is great but you will only really need it in first year. However, if you are feeling flush, it saves late nights in the library using copies that are on short loan.”

Berne and Levy - Physiology “Although this is strictly a medical textbook, it is very useful throughout your pre-clinical years and is much more comprehensive and cheaper than veterinary equivalents. It covers in detail the physiology of each of the body systems in turn, e.g. cardiology, respiration, metabolism, endocrinology, nervous system, reproduction etc…”

Finally remember that you are best advised to wait until you are here and take some time to browse our library copies before deciding what textbooks will work best for you.

BVM&S 1st Year Teaching Staff