Veterinary Trivia
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130 free Veterinary trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
74 free Veterinary trivia questions with answers. Veterinary medicine is where biology meets bedside manner, and this quiz covers the whole waiting room. You will get the history of the profession, from the first vet school in eighteenth-century France to the woman who broke into the Royal College in 1922, plus the pop-culture vets everyone knows: James Herriot, Doctor Dolittle and Dr. Pol. The middle of the set is the stuff vet techs and students actually memorise: how many teeth a dog has, which compartment of a cow's stomach is which, why horses cannot vomit, and normal body temperatures. The hard end asks about parvovirus genetics, the MDR1 mutation, the Coggins test and the number of questions on the NAVLE. Pet owners, pub-quiz teams and anyone in scrubs should find a comfortable and an uncomfortable stretch. Every answer was checked against a primary or encyclopaedic source, including the Merck Veterinary Manual and Wikipedia's articles on the people, diseases and animals involved, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 130 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The world's first veterinary school opened in 1761 in which city?
Lyon
A second school followed at Alfort near Paris in 1765, and the model spread across Europe within decades.
Q 02Which French horseman founded the world's first veterinary school?
Claude Bourgelat
He ran a riding academy and turned to animal medicine after watching cattle plague devastate French herds.
Q 03The word 'veterinary' comes from the Latin 'veterinae', meaning what?
Working animals
The earliest vets were essentially horse and ox doctors, which is exactly what the Latin root implies.
Q 04Which 17th-century English writer first used the word 'veterinarian' in print, in 1646?
Thomas Browne
The physician-author of Religio Medici coined dozens of English words, including 'electricity' and 'hallucination'.
Q 05The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons was established by royal charter in which year?
1844
The London veterinary college itself had been running since 1791, but it took another half-century to get a professional body.
Q 06In 1922, who became the first woman recognised as a veterinary surgeon by the Royal College?
Aleen Cust
She had completed her training in Edinburgh decades earlier but was barred from sitting the exams until the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act.
Q 07The oldest veterinary college in the United States, established in 1879, belongs to which university?
Iowa State
The land-grant school in Ames had been teaching veterinary science to seniors since 1872 before offering degrees.
Q 08The first D.V.M. degree granted in the United States was awarded in 1876 by which university?
Cornell
The graduate, Daniel Elmer Salmon, went on to a USDA career and lent his name to the genus Salmonella.
Q 09The American Veterinary Medical Association was founded in which year?
1863
Forty delegates from seven states met in New York during the Civil War to create it; today it represents more than 105,000 vets.
Q 10The earliest surviving veterinary text, the Kahun Papyrus, comes from which civilization?
Ancient Egypt
It dates to the Twelfth Dynasty and deals mainly with cattle ailments.
Q 11What was the cattle illness caused by Brucella abortus long called, after its Danish discoverer?
Bang's disease
In people the same bacterium causes undulant fever, and Bernhard Bang's bacillus is still a headache for dairy herds worldwide.
Q 12What was the name of the 9-year-old boy first given Pasteur's rabies vaccine in 1885?
Joseph Meister
He received 13 inoculations over 11 days and later worked as a caretaker at the Pasteur Institute.
Q 13Pasteur risked prosecution for treating that boy because he was not licensed as what?
A physician
He was a chemist and microbiologist by training, so he had colleagues who were doctors administer the injections.
Q 21The eccentric senior partner Siegfried Farnon was based on which real vet?
Donald Sinclair
He was reportedly offended by the portrayal, telling the author the book was 'a real test of our friendship'.
Q 22Who played James Herriot in the original BBC series of All Creatures Great and Small?
Christopher Timothy
He described the real vet as having a soft, lilting Scottish accent.
Q 23Which actor plays James Herriot in the 2020 revival of All Creatures Great and Small?
Nicholas Ralph
The Scottish newcomer kept his own accent for the role, a nod to the real vet's Glasgow upbringing.
Q 14Which cattle plague became in 2011 only the second disease ever declared eradicated worldwide?
Rinderpest
It joined smallpox on the list; the virus is a close relative of measles and canine distemper.
Q 15The word 'rabies' comes from a Latin word meaning what?
Madness
The disease was historically called hydrophobia because throat spasms make victims panic when offered a drink.
Q 16James Herriot was a pen name. What was the Yorkshire vet actually called?
Alf Wight
Born in Sunderland and raised in Glasgow, he practised in Yorkshire for almost 50 years.
Q 17The real James Herriot ran his practice in which North Yorkshire market town?
Thirsk
The surgery at 23 Kirkgate is now the World of James Herriot museum.
Q 18In the Herriot books, the fictional town where the practice is based is called what?
Darrowby
The author described it as a composite of several market towns plus a fair chunk of his imagination.
Q 19The Herriot pen name came from a Scottish footballer playing for Birmingham City in which position?
Goalkeeper
The vet was watching a match on TV when he needed a pseudonym, since British vets were not allowed to advertise under their own names.
Q 20The real James Herriot qualified in 1939 from a veterinary college in which city?
Glasgow
He took six years to finish the five-year course, having decided on the career after a school lecture by the college principal.
Q 24The 2020 All Creatures Great and Small premiered on which UK broadcaster?
Channel 5
In the US it airs on PBS Masterpiece, and neither this version nor the BBC one was filmed in the real town because it had grown too big.
Q 25Reality TV vet Dr. Jan Pol was born in which country?
Netherlands
He emigrated to the US after vet school and his show ran for 24 seasons on Nat Geo Wild.
Q 26The Incredible Dr. Pol is filmed at a rural practice in which US state?
Michigan
He opened Pol Veterinary Services in Weidman in 1981 after a decade working for another practice in Harbor Beach.
Q 27Which author created Doctor Dolittle, the country doctor who learns to talk to animals?
Hugh Lofting
The first book appeared in 1920, set in the fictional village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh.
Q 28The TV series Bondi Vet follows veterinary surgeon Chris Brown in which city?
Sydney
The show splits time between a Bondi Junction clinic and an emergency hospital in North Ryde.
Q 29From 1982, Bob Barker ended which game show by urging viewers to spay or neuter their pets?
The Price Is Right
Drew Carey kept the sign-off when he took over in 2007, and Barker left millions to animal charities.
Q 30How many teeth does an adult dog normally have?
42
Puppies start with 28 baby teeth, and the big carnassials at the back are used to shear meat.