Book excerpt: A quick guide to appropriately selecting and interpreting laboratory tests, Small Animal Clinical Diagnosis by Laboratory Methods, 5th Edition helps you utilize your in-house lab or your specialty reference lab to efficiently make accurate diagnoses without running a plethora of unnecessary and low-yield tests. It provides answers to commonly asked questions relating to laboratory tests, and solutions to frequently encountered problems in small animal diagnosis. For easy reference, information is provided by clinical presentation and abnormalities, and includes hundreds of tables, boxes, key points, and algorithms. This edition, now in full color, is updated with the latest advances in laboratory testing methods and diagnostic problem solving. Written by noted educators Dr. Michael Willard and Dr. Harold Tvedten, this book may be used as an on-the-spot guide to specific problems or conditions as well as a reference for more detailed research on difficult cases. - Concise discussions address laboratory approaches to various disorders, possible conclusions from various test results, artifacts and errors in diagnoses, and interpretations leading to various diagnoses. - Hundreds of tables, boxes, algorithms, and key points offer at-a-glance information including cautions, common pitfalls, and helpful "pearls," and lead to proper differential and clinical diagnostic decision making. - Note boxes identify key considerations in correlating clinical signs with test data for accurate diagnoses, highlight safety precautions, and offer helpful tips for sample preparation and interpretation. - Chapters on laboratory diagnostic toxicology and therapeutic drug monitoring help in handling potentially fatal poisonings and other special situations. - Expert editors and contributors provide clinical knowledge and successful diagnostic problem-solving solutions. - A practical appendix lists referral laboratories that may be contacted for certain diseases, and reference values with the normal or expected range for coagulation, hematology, and more. - Updated coverage integrates the newest advances in testing methods and diagnostic problem solving. - Full-color photos and schematic drawings are placed adjacent to related text, and accurately depict diagnostic features on microscopic slide preparations as well as test procedures and techniques.