The history of veterinary medicine; types of veterinary practices; the team approach to veterinary medicine; rolls and responsibilities of team members; personal qualifications; professionalism and ethics; laws and agencies related to veterinary practice.

Front-office team members and veterinary assistant roles; greeting clients on the phone and in person; telephone triage; scheduling appointments; accounts receivable; pet health insurance; inventory control and reorder points.

General requirements and commonly used formats for medical records; records maintenance; common office forms; procedures for admitting and discharging patients.

Communication with animals and owners; the effect of body language on client communication; the human-animal bond; pet loss and grief; compassion fatigue.

Common terms used to describe animals; anatomical terms of direction; terms for body regions; word roots and combining forms.

Cells and tissues; skeletal and muscular systems; the integument; circulatory and respiratory systems; nervous system and special senses; endocrine, digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems.

Dosage forms and calculations; prescriptions; storage and handling of medications; drugs for specific body systems; antimicrobials; antiparasitics; anti-inflammatories; disinfectants and antiseptics.

Dog and cat breeds; ethology; preventing and correcting behavior problems; house training; canine body language; restraint equipment and techniques.

Aspects of preventive care; proper housing and sanitation for dogs and cats; nutritional needs; feeding methods for different life cycle stages; common zoonotic diseases; vaccine requirements.

Patient history and physical examination; therapeutic bathing; grooming and skin care; nail trimming; administering medications; fluid therapy; wound care and bandaging.

The role of the veterinary assistant in surgical nursing; using appropriate terminology related to surgical procedures; sterilizing surgical instruments and equipment; suture materials; asepsis in the surgical suite.

Collecting and preparing samples for diagnostic testing; lab equipment; hematology and clinical chemistry tests; immunology and urinalysis tests; common parasites of dogs and cats.

Principles of X-ray generation; commonly obtained radiographic views for dogs and cats; proper patient positioning during radiographs; safety concerns; radiology record-keeping procedures.