I have both the hard copy and the app. I prefer the book when I’m in the house and have to research an issue that we have with our cattle. However, the app for me is more handy as I’m usually out in the great outdoors and with the cattle when a medical issue is noted. Both are outstanding resources but I will give the nod to the app as it is easier to carry and more handy as well as just as thorough as the book.

Buy the book. As a critical care nurse and vet tech for most of my life, this was anticipated to be a handy reference tool. Not! All I wanted was metabolic lab values for dogs! Could I find it, NO. If you have a specific disease, this may help, but I just wanted to see how easy it would be to look up relatively daily necessary info . Useless . Merck should be ashamed . To not have to carry the manual everywhere would have been helpful. This is a farce. for heavens sake : when you open a table, it should not jump around on its own, crash and restart itself, or go to another table. Who wrote this softwear? High school kids? No they would have done better There is no handy, easily found table of medications, or lab tests. Medications are outdated and do not take into account what the practitioner sees in his office. You have to dig through layers to try to find this information and often the meds are in one section where they may be used for other conditions. They don’t have the latest lab tests for certain Canine conditions or the latest medications. No excuse since updating an app should be easy, it not like they have to put out a new edition of the manual.

It is unbelievable that Merck, a renowned company with a more renowned veterinary reference book can’t supply an app that actually works. I am beyond disappointed AND frustrated after repeatedly attempting to download, install, uninstall, and reinstall numerous times. The app will simply not install onto my iPhone 7 or iPad Pro regardless of high quality internet speed and an over abundance of patience. I’m obviously not the only person out here having this same issue and it’s NOT because I can’t follow simple directions. The ***notation on the app store suggesting we just need to “install it right” in response to numerous complaints is beyond patronizing.Thanks for nothing Merck. It’s a shame because when I went to veterinary school, the Merck Manual was almost entirely what we studied before our board exams. Such a wonderful reference, but the app is a big pile of “feces”.

We can’t know everything, I when I get out of my specialty lane, this is a quick reference that really helps jog my memory. I had someone ask me about ryegrass staggers the other day (I have not done food animal in decades). A quick look in the Merck Manual refreshed my memory. I don’t know what issues others are having, but I have had no problem downloading or using the app on my iPhone or iPad.