Thinking Like a Vet
Learn to read the hidden language of animals. From checking a dog's heartbeat to understanding how a horse moves, discover the secrets of animal anatomy and how to keep them healthy.
Like Duolingo, but for Thinking Like a Vet. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
195 levels across 9 sections, about 390 minutes end to end, roughly 78 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The First Five Minutes: Checking Vital Signs; Moving Parts: Bones and Joints; The Fuel System: Digestion and Diet; Skin, Fur, and Feathers; Sensory World: Eyes, Ears, and Noses; Internal Engines: Heart and Lungs; The Command Center: Brain and Nerves; The Science of Healing; and Deep Foundations: Evolution and Cell Biology. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Key ideas in Thinking Like a Vet
- Dogs and cats use the femoral artery in the inner thigh
- Horses have a prominent facial artery under the jaw
- Cows are often checked via the coccygeal artery under the tail
- The femoral artery runs along the inside of the back leg
- You must press high up in the groin area where the leg meets the body
- Location of primary pulse points across different species
- Technique for finding a femoral pulse in a small pet
- Each heartbeat should produce a corresponding pressure wave (pulse)
- Large animals like cows have very slow metabolic rates and heartbeats
- A 'pulse deficit' occurs when the heart beats but blood doesn't reach the extremities
- Relationship between animal size and resting heart rate
- Small animals like rabbits have extremely rapid heartbeats
- A 'bounding' pulse feels unusually strong or sharp
- Heart rate is measured in beats per minute
- Bounding pulses can indicate high blood pressure or certain heart defects
- Multiply a 15-second count by 4 to get the BPM
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Thinking Like a Vet the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Where is the best place to feel a big horse's pulse with your fingers?
Get it right to open this lesson and 194 more in the app.
Where Thinking Like a Vet takes you
- 1
The First Five Minutes: Checking Vital Signs
- Finding a Heartbeat on Different Pets
- What a Healthy Breath Sounds Like
- Reading Gums and Hydration Levels
- Taking a Temperature Safely
- 2
Moving Parts: Bones and Joints
- The Framework of Dogs and Cats
- How a Horse's Leg Works Like a Spring
- Spotting a Limp Before It Becomes a Problem
- Common Joint Issues in Older Pets
- The Unique Skeleton of Birds and Reptiles
- 3
The Fuel System: Digestion and Diet
- Why Cats are Meat-Only Eaters
- The Complex Stomach of a Cow
- Dangerous Foods Hidden in Your Kitchen
- 4
Skin, Fur, and Feathers
- The Job of the Skin Barrier
- Identifying Common Rashes and Bumps
- How Animals Cool Down Without Sweating
- Claws, Hooves, and Nails: The Hard Parts
- Signs of Parasites Under the Fur
- The Molting Process in Birds
- 5
Sensory World: Eyes, Ears, and Noses
- How Dogs See the World
- Cleaning Ears Without Causing Damage
- The Power of the Animal Nose
- Night Vision and the Reflective Eye
- 6
Internal Engines: Heart and Lungs
- How Blood Travels Through the Body
- The High-Speed Heart of a Small Bird
- When the Lungs Struggle: Asthma and Coughs
- The Connection Between Exercise and Heart Health
- Oxygen Exchange in Fish Gills
- 7
The Command Center: Brain and Nerves
- How Reflexes Protect an Animal
- Understanding Animal Pain Signals
- The Instincts That Drive Behavior
- 8
The Science of Healing
- How Wounds Knit Back Together
- The Role of White Blood Cells
- How Vaccines Prepare the Body
- Why Some Animals Heal Faster Than Humans
- 9
Deep Foundations: Evolution and Cell Biology
- Why Mammals Share the Same Basic Plan
- The Microscopic World of Animal Cells
- How DNA Determines Breed Traits
- The History of Veterinary Medicine
- Ethics and the Future of Animal Care
9 sections · 39 units · 195 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Thinking Like a Vet is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Thinking Like a Vet today.
Download Tomo, search Thinking Like a Vet, and play your first lesson in under a minute.