Although there is a growing awareness . of the value of diagnostic bacteriology by practicing veterinarians, the benefits that can be gai11ed :by 'practical diagnostic methods are often unutilized. Perhaps one reason practitioners shy away from using bacteriology as a diagnostic tool is because of the misconceptio11 that the identification of pathogenic organisms is extremely complex an,d requires a vast amount of specialized equipment. It i3 hoped that this discussion ,will arouse further interest in diagnostic bacteriology and show its applicability to the veterinarian's office.