Abstract
Following much anticipation, the second edition of this text is available for the diagnostic pathologist's and dermatology interested clinician's reading enjoyment and edification. The second edition has been expanded from the first edition entitled Veterinary Dermatopathology. The current edition contains extensive clinical descriptions. Many newly described skin diseases and tumors are included. The text contains 558 pages on skin disease conditions and 332 pages on neoplasia. The authors have written a well organized and complete review of the clinical signs and histopathologic lesions observed in all of the included skin diseases of the cat and dog. It is the most thorough and practical work available to the clinician and pathologist at this time. There are 420 color illustrations of clinical appearance with scattered, color, immunohistochemical photomicrographs. There are 840 black and white photomicrographs of dermatopathology. These are representative and quite inclusive. All of the illustrations are distinctly labeled but occasional illustrations are placed in the middle of text dedicated to the next skin disease, which may cause confusion as to the relationship of that specific illustration to a disease entity.
There are several diseases that are listed in multiple sections. The text references the repeated disease to the previous section but not vise-versa. This might have been helpful to some readers that would like to read both sections. These repeated topics do not include duplicate illustrations or text and thus it would have been helpful if each section were listed in the index. The index is 37 pages but is not all inclusive. The reader is not consistently directed to the discourse they desire to read. The disease lists for specific breeds are limited compared to some texts. There will be readers that would have appreciated the expansion of these lists.
The references are limited to the most recent or specifically related articles. The information is so current that it includes ongoing projects supported by the ACVP Oncology committee.
This text has a wider focus than the first edition and as such, the collaboration of dermatologists and pathologists in the evaluation of skin diseases in the dog and cat is encouraged. It will be a valuable reference for anyone (clinician, student or pathologist) interested in dog and cat skin diseases. There will be dermatologists and pathologists that will disagree with specific terminology, but the text is an excellent resource to initiate dialog.