Department of Comparative Biology and Experimental Medicine

Anatomy and Physiology of Animals

This book describes the structure of the animal body and the way in which it works. Animals encountered in normal veterinary practice are used as examples where possible.

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA

Animals & Ethics 101: Thinking Critically about Animal Rights

This textbook helps readers identify and evaluate the arguments for and against various uses of animals.

Licence: CC BY-SA

A Guide to the Principles of Animal Nutrition

In this introductory text, six fundamental nutrients, their structure, digestion, and metabolism are covered. A brief introduction to bioenergetics, feed additives, nutrient analysis, digestive organs and processes in monogastric and ruminant animals, and methods for assessing nutrient utilization are also included.

Licence: CC BY-NC

Introductory Animal Physiology, 2nd Edition

This book is an introduction to the diversity of structure and function in animals at the tissue and organ system level. The focus of this book is on principles and mechanisms that sustain life and maintain homeostasis, including water balance, gas exchange, acquisition and transport of oxygen and nutrients, temperature regulation, electrical and chemical signal transmission, sensory processing, and locomotion. The content in this open textbook was adapted from other open textbooks.

Includes: Self-check questions, discussion concepts, activities, multimedia content

Licence: CC BY

Judging and Evaluating Dairy Cattle

These materials have been put together to help students and youth to learn the basics of judging and evaluating dairy cattle using various methods. There are numerous 4-H, Cooperative Extension and Breed Association booklets freely available, referred to in the document. However, this resource differs as it is intentionally full of visual examples and videos. The objective is to provide educators with additional resources to help beginning cattle judges understand visual evaluation and comparative judging techniques, as well as breed standards, linear scoring, oral reasons and the basics of fitting and showmanship.

Licence: CC BY-NC-SA

Swine Diseases

This textbook was written as a support for the course CVM 6969: Large Animal Medicine III at the University of Minnesota. Its structure follows the organization of the course sessions and may be confusing for an external audience.

Licence: CC BY-NC

Vet Med: Applied GI Physiology- Supplemental Notes

This book is an attempt to connect the principles of veterinary physiology to the clinical presentation of disorders, particularly diagnostic tests and test interpretation.

Licence: CC BY-NC

Veterinary Epidemiology: Principles and Methods

The purpose of this textbook is to provide an introductory, yet comprehensive, source of information on epidemiology for veterinary students, researchers, and practitioners. There has not been a textbook that presents analytic epidemiology as a science, basic to veterinary medicine’s efforts in health management (herd health) as well as in clinical medicine.

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND (Note: this is an open access resource that does not allow for remixing and adaptation)

Veterinary Histology

This open textbook focuses on conveying the basic material required for understanding the microscopic anatomy to better understand the disease processes that they will learn later in the curriculum.  Included is a basic overview of veterinary histology of commonly reviewed organ systems, with the goal of illustrating important concepts of cells, tissues, and organs in a manner that we hope is not only accessible to first-year veterinary students, but serves as a reference for clinical medicine and pathology.

Licence: CC BY-NC