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ICAR AIEEA Companion Animal Practice: Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care: practice questions

ICAR AIEEA (PG): Master's entrance, Veterinary Science and Animal Sciences · India · NTA for ICAR

Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papers
10worked here, free
16written to this exam in this subject
12syllabus units

What this subject covers

Everyday dog and cat practice: puppy and kitten care, vaccination and parasite control, nutrition, the common diseases by system, behaviour, old age and emergencies.

In the exams: NAVLE canine 25.6% and feline 24.3% (about half the exam); RCVS SME companion animal 175 of 367 items; AVE Paper 2 dogs at least 14; China comprehensive paper dog and cat 25

What ICAR AIEEA asks from it

ICAR AIEEA-PG and Indian state Veterinary Officer exams

Direct recall: core vaccines and schedules, canine distemper, parvovirus, rabies, Ehrlichia and Babesia, Toxocara and Echinococcus zoonoses, breed predispositions and named diagnostic tests.

Where the 16 questions fall

How our questions for ICAR AIEEA spread across the units of Companion Animal Practice: Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care. Difficulty: 16 easy, 0 medium, 0 hard.

Vaccination: WSAVA core and non-core vaccines3
Dog and cat breeds2
Parasite control in dogs and cats2
Puppy and kitten care1
Pet nutrition1
Dermatology1
Gastroenterology1
Renal disease1
Endocrine disease1
Cardiology1
Oncology1
Behaviour1

10 practice questions, worked

Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.

1 · Dog and cat breeds · easy

Which group of breeds most often carries the ABCB1 (MDR1) deletion that causes sensitivity to macrocyclic lactones such as ivermectin?

  1. English Bulldogs, Pugs and French Bulldogs
  2. Labradors, Golden Retrievers and Newfoundlands
  3. Dachshunds, Basset Hounds and Welsh Corgis
  4. Collies, Australian Shepherds and Shetland Sheepdogs
Answer and working

D. Collies, Australian Shepherds and Shetland Sheepdogs

The ABCB1-1Δ deletion removes P-glycoprotein from the blood-brain barrier and is concentrated in herding breeds (Collie, Australian Shepherd, Shetland Sheepdog, Old English Sheepdog and related breeds). Chondrodystrophic and brachycephalic breeds have other predispositions, not this one.

Further reading: Ettinger, Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine

2 · Dog and cat breeds · easy

The Dalmatian is predisposed to which type of urolith because of an SLC2A9 variant?

  1. Silica
  2. Struvite
  3. Urate
  4. Cystine
Answer and working

C. Urate

Dalmatians carry an SLC2A9 variant that impairs uric acid transport, so they excrete urate and form urate stones. Cystine stones come from inherited cystinuria in other breeds; struvite is usually infection-induced in dogs.

Further reading: Nelson and Couto, Small Animal Internal Medicine

3 · Vaccination: WSAVA core and non-core vaccines · easy

Which are the WSAVA core vaccines for cats?

  1. Panleukopenia virus, coronavirus (FIP) and Bordetella
  2. Leukaemia virus, immunodeficiency virus and Chlamydia
  3. Panleukopenia virus, calicivirus and herpesvirus-1
  4. Calicivirus, leukaemia virus and rabies in every country
Answer and working

C. Panleukopenia virus, calicivirus and herpesvirus-1

Feline core vaccines protect against FPV, FCV and FHV-1. FeLV depends on exposure risk (advised for kittens and young cats at any risk), FIV and FIP vaccines are not recommended by WSAVA, and rabies is core only where endemic or legally required.

Further reading: WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines 2024

4 · Parasite control in dogs and cats · easy

How are puppies infected with Toxocara canis before and soon after birth?

  1. Across the placenta and in the milk
  2. In the milk only
  3. Only by eating paratenic hosts
  4. By skin penetration only
Answer and working

A. Across the placenta and in the milk

Somatic larvae in the bitch reactivate in late pregnancy and cross the placenta and enter milk, so almost every pup is born infected. Toxocara cati passes to kittens in milk but not across the placenta.

Further reading: ESCCAP Guideline 1: Worm control

5 · Pet nutrition · easy

Why must cats receive preformed vitamin A in the diet?

  1. They need vitamin A only as kittens
  2. They lose vitamin A rapidly in the urine
  3. They cannot store vitamin A in the liver
  4. They cannot convert beta-carotene to retinol
Answer and working

D. They cannot convert beta-carotene to retinol

Cats lack the intestinal enzyme activity to cleave beta-carotene into retinol, so they need preformed vitamin A from animal tissue. They store vitamin A in the liver readily, which is why excess liver causes hypervitaminosis A.

Further reading: Nelson and Couto

6 · Gastroenterology · easy

Why is a raised serum alkaline phosphatase much less specific for liver disease in dogs than in cats?

  1. Dogs have far less hepatic ALP than cats
  2. Glucocorticoids induce a separate ALP isoenzyme in dogs
  3. Canine ALP has a half-life of only minutes
  4. Canine ALP is produced only by bone
Answer and working

B. Glucocorticoids induce a separate ALP isoenzyme in dogs

Endogenous or exogenous glucocorticoids induce a corticosteroid ALP isoenzyme in dogs, so ALP rises with stress, Cushing's syndrome and steroid treatment. Cats lack this isoenzyme and have a short ALP half-life, so any rise in a cat is significant.

Further reading: Nelson and Couto

7 · Renal disease · easy

Which canine urolith type cannot be dissolved medically and must be removed physically?

  1. Cystine
  2. Calcium oxalate
  3. Struvite
  4. Urate
Answer and working

B. Calcium oxalate

No diet or drug dissolves calcium oxalate, so it is removed by voiding urohydropropulsion, cystoscopic retrieval, lithotripsy or surgery. Struvite, urate and cystine can often be dissolved with diet and drugs.

Further reading: ACVIM consensus on uroliths 2016

8 · Endocrine disease · easy

Trilostane, used to treat canine hyperadrenocorticism, acts by inhibiting which enzyme?

  1. 5-alpha-reductase
  2. 11-beta-hydroxylase
  3. Aromatase
  4. 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase
Answer and working

D. 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase

Trilostane competitively inhibits 3β-HSD, reducing synthesis of cortisol and, to a lesser extent, aldosterone. Mitotane instead destroys adrenal cortex; aromatase and 5-alpha-reductase act on sex steroids.

Further reading: Ettinger

9 · Cardiology · easy

Which congenital heart defect classically causes a continuous 'machinery' murmur heard best at the left heart base?

  1. Patent ductus arteriosus
  2. Ventricular septal defect
  3. Pulmonic stenosis
  4. Subaortic stenosis
Answer and working

A. Patent ductus arteriosus

Left-to-right flow through a PDA continues through systole and diastole, giving a continuous murmur at the left base, often with bounding pulses. Pulmonic and subaortic stenosis cause systolic ejection murmurs; a VSD gives a right-sided systolic murmur.

Further reading: Ettinger

10 · Oncology · easy

Which drug given alone produces complete remission in most dogs with canine transmissible venereal tumour?

  1. Carboplatin
  2. Vincristine
  3. Prednisolone
  4. Toceranib
Answer and working

B. Vincristine

TVT responds very well to weekly vincristine, usually over several weeks, and is common where free-roaming dogs mate. Surgery alone recurs often.

Further reading: Withrow and MacEwen's Small Animal Clinical Oncology

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Read the subject

Companion Animal Practice: Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health CareThe full study manual, free ICAR AIEEAFormat, sections and how it has changed

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Companion Animal Practice: Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care for other exams

Australasian Veterinary Examination, formerly the National Veterinary Examination · Australia / New ZealandENADE · BrazilNational Veterinary Examination · JapanRCVS Statutory Membership Examination · UKNAVLE · USA / CanadaBCSE · USA / CanadaRPSC Veterinary Officer · IndiaTNPSC Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Code 396 · India

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