Animal Care and Nursing
Domain focus
Animal Care and Nursing tests husbandry, restraint, vital-sign monitoring, nutrition, fluid therapy, infection control, and patient comfort. The exam asks you to recognize deterioration and to calculate basic nursing parameters.
Core rules and concepts
- Normal adult dog temperature is roughly 38.0–39.2°C (100.4–102.5°F); cat 38.1–39.2°C. Count respirations for 30 seconds and multiply by 2; assess mucous membrane color, capillary refill time, and pulse quality.
- Use minimal restraint appropriate to the species and condition. Scruffing a dyspneic cat is dangerous; handle it gently and provide oxygen.
- Calculate fluid deficit from dehydration: body weight (kg) × percent dehydration × 1000 = mL. Add maintenance (about 50–60 mL/kg/day for adults) and ongoing losses.
- Isolate infectious patients and follow hand hygiene, barrier precautions, and species-specific disinfection.
- Provide pain assessment, soft bedding, warmth, and access to water unless contraindicated.
Worked example
A 10 kg dog is 5% dehydrated. Deficit = 10 kg × 0.05 × 1000 = 500 mL. Maintenance at 60 mL/kg/day = 600 mL. Total for 24 hours = 1,100 mL, or about 46 mL/hour. The technician sets the pump and reassesses perfusion, urine output, and respiratory effort rather than assuming the calculation is the final answer.
Traps that cost marks
Using pounds in a kg formula; adding maintenance to the deficit but forgetting ongoing losses; giving a full meal to a vomiting patient; and missing hypothermia in a recumbent animal.