Kenya Veterinary Board pre-registration exam · Kenya · Kenya Veterinary Board (VSVP Act 2011)
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersThe first hour of an emergency: triage, shock, CPR, fluids and blood, poisoning and trauma, oxygen, and humane euthanasia.
In the exams: AVMA COE clinical competency on emergencies; EAEVE Day One competences on emergencies and euthanasia; NAVLE clinical practice
How our questions for Kenya Veterinary Board pre-registration exam spread across the units of Emergency & Critical Care, Fluid Therapy and Euthanasia. Difficulty: 13 easy, 10 medium, 1 hard.
| Fluid therapy | 4 | |
| Cardiopulmonary resuscitation | 3 | |
| Blood transfusion | 3 | |
| Trauma | 3 | |
| Humane euthanasia | 3 | |
| Triage | 2 | |
| Shock | 2 | |
| Toxicological emergencies | 2 | |
| Oxygen therapy | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A dog with head trauma has a modified Glasgow Coma Scale score of 8. How is this interpreted?
A. A low score on a 3-18 scale, indicating a poor prognosis
The modified Glasgow Coma Scale adds motor activity, brainstem reflexes and level of consciousness, each scored 1-6, for a total of 3-18; lower is worse, and a score of 8 is associated with a poor prognosis. Students often reverse the direction because the Animal Trauma Triage score runs the other way (higher is worse).
Further reading: Silverstein & Hopper, Small Animal Critical Care Medicine; BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Emergency and Critical Care
Using 80 x BW(kg)^0.75 mL/day, what is the hourly maintenance rate for a 4 kg cat?
A. About 9 mL/h
4^0.75 = 2.83; 80 x 2.83 = 226 mL/day; /24 = about 9.4 mL/h. 226 mL/h confuses daily with hourly; 16 mL/h comes from using the canine 132 factor; 13 mL/h from 80 x 4 without the exponent.
Further reading: DiBartola, Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Disorders in Small Animal Practice; 2013 AAHA/AAFP Fluid Therapy Guidelines
What is the widely taught maximum rate of intravenous potassium supplementation?
D. 0.5 mmol/kg/h
Potassium should not exceed about 0.5 mmol (mEq)/kg/h because faster infusion risks fatal arrhythmia. For this reason potassium-supplemented fluid is never used for boluses.
Further reading: DiBartola, Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Disorders in Small Animal Practice; 2013 AAHA/AAFP Fluid Therapy Guidelines
A DEA 1-negative dog that has never been transfused receives DEA 1-positive blood. What is expected?
C. Usually no acute haemolysis, but the dog may become sensitised to DEA 1
Dogs lack clinically important natural antibodies to DEA 1, so a first mismatched transfusion rarely causes acute haemolysis, but it sensitises the recipient so that a later mismatched transfusion can. Fatal haemolysis at first exposure is the feline type B pattern.
Further reading: Yagi & Holowaychuk, Manual of Veterinary Transfusion Medicine and Blood Banking
Within what time should a unit of blood usually be completed once the transfusion has started?
D. About 4 hours
Blood is started slowly while the patient is watched, then given so the unit finishes within about 4 hours, to limit bacterial growth at room temperature. Ten minutes risks volume overload and missed reactions.
Further reading: Yagi & Holowaychuk, Manual of Veterinary Transfusion Medicine and Blood Banking
A 20 kg dog ate chewing gum containing a total of 3 g of xylitol. Using commonly cited thresholds (hypoglycaemia above about 0.1 g/kg, liver failure above about 0.5 g/kg), what risk applies?
C. 0.15 g/kg: hypoglycaemia risk, below the liver threshold
3 g / 20 kg = 0.15 g/kg: above the hypoglycaemic threshold but below the hepatotoxic one, so glucose monitoring and dextrose are needed. 1.5 g/kg and 0.015 g/kg are decimal slips.
Further reading: Peterson & Talcott, Small Animal Toxicology; Gupta, Veterinary Toxicology; Merck Veterinary Manual
Which form of vitamin K is used to treat anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning?
A. Vitamin K1 (phytonadione)
Vitamin K1 is effective, given for several weeks for second-generation compounds with a prothrombin time check 48-72 hours after the last dose. Vitamin K3 is ineffective; protamine reverses heparin, not vitamin K antagonists.
Further reading: Peterson & Talcott, Small Animal Toxicology; Gupta, Veterinary Toxicology; Merck Veterinary Manual
How do pulmonary contusions typically behave after blunt chest trauma?
B. They often worsen over the first 24-48 hours before improving
Contusions are the commonest thoracic injury in trauma; haemorrhage and oedema progress so that radiographic and clinical signs often worsen for 24-48 hours. A dog that looks stable on arrival must therefore be monitored.
Further reading: Silverstein & Hopper, Small Animal Critical Care Medicine, trauma chapters
A dog hit by a car breathes rapidly and shallowly with quiet lung sounds dorsally. What is the most likely problem?
A. Pneumothorax
A rapid, shallow, restrictive pattern with quiet dorsal lung sounds points to air in the pleural space. Laryngeal paralysis and tracheal collapse cause noisy upper-airway breathing; lower airway disease causes expiratory effort and wheezes.
Further reading: Silverstein & Hopper, Small Animal Critical Care Medicine, trauma chapters
A conscious feral kitten cannot be restrained for intravenous injection. Which route for barbiturate euthanasia is acceptable?
A. Intraperitoneal injection, accepting a slower onset
Intraperitoneal barbiturate is acceptable in small animals when IV access is impractical, though onset is slower. Intracardiac injection requires unconsciousness, and potassium chloride requires general anaesthesia.
Further reading: AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals, 2020 Edition
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