The short answer
This page holds 12 original practice questions written by the VeterinaryPracticeNow Desk. Each question is built from a fact in a published veterinary or infection-control source. None is a real VTNE item, and none is adapted from an official sample question, a commercial question bank, or a practice test. The set covers nine of the ten VTNE content domains: pharmacy, surgical nursing, dentistry, laboratory procedures, animal care and nursing, diagnostic imaging, anesthesia, emergency and critical care, and pain management. Every answer links to the source that supports it. The Communication and Veterinary Professional Support Services domain has no supporting source here, so the set includes no questions for it.
Key takeaways
- The Ohio State University skills handbook shows the dose for a 25 kg dog given metoclopramide at 0.3 mg/kg as 7.5 mg, which equals 1.5 tablets when 5 mg tablets are used [3].
- The CDC lists 30 minutes at 121 C (250 F) in a gravity displacement sterilizer and 4 minutes at 132 C (270 F) in a prevacuum sterilizer as recognized minimum exposures for wrapped supplies [4].
- The Merck Veterinary Manual says hemolysis lowers PCV while hemoglobin stays the same, which produces a falsely high MCHC [6].
- Ko and Krimins give normal PaCO2 in anesthetized dogs and cats as 35 to 45 mm Hg and treat values above 45 mm Hg as consistent with hypoventilation [9].
- According to the Merck Veterinary Manual's CPR chapter, which references the 2024 RECOVER guidelines, the chest compression rate is 100 to 120 per minute regardless of the animal's size [10].
- The Merck Veterinary Manual states there is no "gold standard" for assessing pain in animals [11].
Doses on this pageEvery dose below is quoted from the cited source. Verify against the current label/formulary and the patient's full clinical picture.
About these questionsPractice questions written by our editorial team for study purposes. These are not real VTNE items and are not affiliated with AAVSB.
The VTNE content outline and this question set
The American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB) says the VTNE spans 10 domain areas and that its content outline is one of the most important materials to review [1]. The domain names and item counts in the table below come from Mometrix, a commercial test-prep company. Mometrix says the exam has 170 multiple-choice questions, 20 of which are unscored pilot questions, with a 3-hour time limit [2].
| Domain | Questions per Mometrix [2] | Questions in this set |
|---|
| Pharmacy and Pharmacology | 20 | 2 |
| Surgical Nursing | 20 | 1 |
| Dentistry | 10 | 1 |
| Laboratory Procedures | 14 | 2 |
| Animal Care and Nursing | 30 | 1 |
| Diagnostic Imaging | 9 | 1 |
| Anesthesia | 20 | 2 |
| Emergency Medicine/Critical Care | 10 | 1 |
| Pain Management/Analgesia | 10 | 1 |
| Communication and Veterinary Professional Support Services | 7 | 0 |
AAVSB publishes 10 sample questions representing the 10 domain areas, and sells three versions of a 75-question, 90-minute online practice test at $50 per attempt [1]. AAVSB says that practice test is copyrighted and that its questions may not be removed by any means, including memorization [1]. The questions below were written separately from the content sources cited with each answer. Most of those sources focus on small animals, and the sterilization source is a guideline written for healthcare facilities.
Pharmacology and surgical preparation
Question 1
A veterinarian orders metoclopramide at 0.3 mg/kg for a dog weighing 25 kg. What single dose, in milligrams, does the order call for?
- A. 3 mg
- B. 7.5 mg
- C. 12.5 mg
- D. 75 mg
Answer: B. The OSU handbook calculates this exact case by multiplying 0.3 mg/kg by 25 kg, which gives 7.5 mg per dose [3].
Question 2
For the dog in Question 1, the pharmacy stocks metoclopramide as 5 mg tablets. How many tablets make up one dose?
- A. 0.75
- B. 1
- C. 1.5
- D. 2.5
Answer: C. The OSU handbook divides the 7.5 mg dose by the 5 mg tablet strength to get 1.5 tablets. The authors note that 1 1/2 tablets is easier to give than 3/4 of a 10 mg tablet [3].
Question 3
A clinic follows the CDC's sterilization guideline for healthcare facilities. For wrapped supplies, what is the recognized minimum exposure time when a gravity displacement autoclave runs at 121 C (250 F)?
- A. 4 minutes
- B. 10 minutes
- C. 15 minutes
- D. 30 minutes
Answer: D. The CDC guideline gives 30 minutes at 121 C in a gravity displacement unit and 4 minutes at 132 C in a prevacuum unit as recognized minimum exposure periods for wrapped supplies [4].
Dentistry, laboratory work and nursing care
Question 4
During dental charting, a periodontal probe passes more than halfway under the crown at a furcation but does not exit on the other side of the tooth. Which grade is recorded?
Answer: A. The OSU charting lesson grades probe entry of less than 50% as F1, more than 50% without passing through as F2, and complete passage as F3. M grades describe mobility, not furcation exposure [5].
Question 5
An EDTA blood sample is noticeably hemolyzed. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, how does this artifact affect the calculated MCHC?
- A. MCHC is falsely low
- B. MCHC is unaffected
- C. MCHC is falsely high
- D. PCV is falsely high
Answer: C. The Merck Veterinary Manual explains that hemolysis lowers the PCV while hemoglobin stays unchanged, which raises the calculated MCHC artificially [6].
Question 6
On a stained blood film examined under oil immersion, a technician averages 12 platelets per high-power field across several fields. How does the Merck Veterinary Manual's ranking classify this estimate?
- A. Low in number
- B. Adequate
- C. Abundant
- D. Rare
Answer: B. Merck ranks fewer than 5 platelets per high-power field as low, 5 to 20 as adequate, and more than 20 as abundant [6].
Question 7
A primary bandage layer is made of sterile wide-mesh gauze moistened with saline, placed on the wound, and removed after it dries so that it pulls debris away. Which bandage type does this describe?
- A. Dry adherent
- B. Nonadherent occlusive
- C. Wet-to-wet
- D. Wet adherent (wet-to-dry)
Answer: D. The Merck Veterinary Manual describes wet adherent, or wet-to-dry, bandages this way. It notes that a wet-to-wet contact layer is removed before it dries [7].
Imaging and anesthesia
Question 8
According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, lead-impregnated aprons and gloves reduce a holder's exposure to scatter radiation by roughly what factor?
- A. 1,000
- B. 10
- C. 100
- D. 2
Answer: A. Merck says leaded aprons and gloves reduce scatter exposure by a factor of about 1,000 but reduce primary beam exposure by only about 10. Merck also states that leaded gloves should not be used within the primary beam [8].
Question 9
A dog under inhalant anesthesia has an end-tidal CO2 (ETCO2) reading of 52 mm Hg. How do Ko and Krimins interpret a value in this range?
- A. Hyperventilation
- B. Within normal limits
- C. Hypoventilation
- D. Esophageal intubation
Answer: C. Ko and Krimins give normal PaCO2 in anesthetized dogs and cats as 35 to 45 mm Hg. They describe ETCO2 above 45 mm Hg as consistent with hypoventilation, which is usually linked to respiratory depression from anesthetic drugs [9]. The Merck CPR chapter says that during CPR, readings below 10 mm Hg may indicate esophageal intubation [10].
Question 10
A pulse oximeter on an anesthetized cat reads 90%. What PaO2 do Ko and Krimins say corresponds to this reading?
- A. 30 mm Hg
- B. 60 mm Hg
- C. 90 mm Hg
- D. 200 mm Hg
Answer: B. The authors state that an SpO2 of 90% corresponds to a PaO2 of 60 mm Hg, and they define hypoxemia as values at or below those thresholds [9].
Emergency care and pain assessment
Question 11
A team begins chest compressions on a 4 kg cat in cardiopulmonary arrest. What compression rate does the Merck Veterinary Manual's CPR chapter give?
- A. 60 to 80 per minute
- B. 30 to 40 per minute
- C. 80 to 90 per minute
- D. 100 to 120 per minute
Answer: D. Merck states that compressions should be delivered at 100 to 120 per minute "regardless of the animal's size" and continued in 2-minute cycles without interruption [10].
Question 12
A cat after surgery sits quietly at the back of its cage and scores low on a pain scale, but staff still suspect it is in pain. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, which method gives the most accurate answer about whether this patient is in pain?
- A. Giving a dose of analgesic and monitoring the response
- B. Relying on heart rate alone
- C. Waiting for vocalization or pacing
- D. Measuring pupil size alone
Answer: A. Merck states that "the most accurate way to determine whether a patient is in pain is to administer a dose of analgesic and monitor the patient's response." It adds that a quiet cat may be in pain, and that physiologic measures such as heart rate cannot reliably separate pain from other stressors [11].
