Book reviews

C.A. Buffington, C.A. Holloway, S.K. Abood (Eds.),

Manual of Veterinary Dietetics, Elsevier Saunders, St.

Louis, 2004, ISBN 0721601235, p. 253, £29.99 (soft)

Over a period of some 45 years, veterinary surgeons

in small animal practice have developed the marketingof nutrition to a point where not only does it make a

contribution to health and welfare of patients but also

a significant effect on income. The Manual of Veteri-

nary Dietetics has been produced by a team of authors

with profound veterinary and nutritional knowledge.

It is a comprehensive guide to diet for healthy and

diseased pet animals and does not restrict itself to

commercial diets and indeed looks carefully at adver-tising claims, noting the paucity of evidence behind

some of these.

The authors note in their preface that they have

chosen to present information in a different way to

most pet nutrition books, because they intend to help

practitioners, technicians and students, to help owners

with their worries, rather than teach nutrition. This is

clear from the opening pages and the book is emi-nently successful in its aim. Fundamental to a success-

ful consultation is the ability to communicate with

clients and the authors� emphasis on this, demon-

strates the depth of experience on offer. Much can

be learnt here, even by those who are already experi-

enced practitioners, as the advice extends beyond the

nutritional consultation.

A book on nutrition should be expected to cover

most aspects of the subject and indeed this manual

does so, even to the length of setting basic principlesfor nutrition of more exotic pets. However, and

understandably, the authors restrict themselves to

principles alone. To attempt to cover the vast varia-

tion in nutrition requirements for the growing list of

species kept at home is clearly beyond the scope of

a single book. As veterinary practice advances, clients

demand, quite rightly, more and more attention for

their pets and their problems. Critical care is evolvingas a speciality and the manual covers this area in rea-

sonable detail. Most readers will find this section of

particular value.

Despite its modest size, space has been found to in-

clude contemporary issues in clinical nutrition and a

few words on quackery were well received by this

reviewer.

In conclusion, this book should be not just on everystudent and practitioners book-shelf but should be clo-

sely read and kept at hand. Enjoyment and education

is guaranteed. Buy it today!

Edward Chandler

The Animal Health Trust

Lanwades Park, Kentford

Newmarket, Suffolk

CB8 7UU, UK

E-mail address: ted.chandler@aht.org.uk

doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2005.04.007

M.F.W. Te Pas, M.E. Everts, H.P. Haagsman (Eds.),

Muscle Development of Livestock Animals: Physiology,

Genetics and Meat Quality, CABI Publishing, Walling-

ford, 2004, ISBN 0851998119, £70 (hard)

This book is a must for anyone who ever imagined

that producing lean, tender and tasty meat consistently,

is a simple matter. A series of 18 reviews exposes thereader to the amazingly complex world of muscle differ-

entiation, growth and development, from the perspective

of physiologists, biochemists, molecular and quantitative

geneticists, and applied meat scientists. A major strength

of the work is in demonstrating the value of all these dis-

ciplines, especially when they are combined to tackle

such a difficult system. Towards this aim, the book cap-

tures the ideas, experience and wisdom of 41 expert con-

tributors from 10 countries and four continents.

The book is arranged into three sections, with the first

nine chapters emphasising physiological aspects of mus-cle development. Some excellent introductory chapters

inform the reader about muscle composition, systems

that control muscle development, and the relationship

between muscle morphology and meat quality. This is

no mean achievement, considering that each chapter cov-

ers aspects as diverse as species, gender, hormones, exer-

cise, nutrition and major genes. Subsequent chapters

focus on specific topics such as hormone receptors, thesodium/potassium-ATPase, and micronutrients. With

www.elsevier.com/locate/tvjl

The Veterinary Journal 170 (2005) 384–387

TheVeterinary Journal