 2008-11-20 - This veterinarian wholeheartedly approves
Thanks Dr. Trout for providing such an accurate, humorous, and educational portrayal of what our work is all about. Your stories truly represent what our day to day work is all about- a mixture of smiles and sadness. I hope your book will be read by animal lovers everywhere.
2008-11-07 - GREAT INSIGHTS on DOG health problems !!!
I enjoyed reading this book and couldn't put it down!
reading this book has greatly opened my mind on possible health problems my dogs will most likely encounter. made me more aware of my dogs and be more conscious that whatever small physical change i see in them could be a symptom of a certain disease or illness.
if you are a doglover, this book is definitely a must read!!
 2008-10-16 - good read
Fun to read, just a little wordy. Great for on the plane or while husband watches football game. Would like to see more from Dr. Trout.
2008-09-08 - Great read!
What a lovely book. It's filled with interesting, humorous, empathtic stories. Gives you a better understanding of the relationship between humans and their beloved pets.
2008-08-13 - Loving Surgery, empathizing with animals, laughing at owners
A delightful book showing Dr. Trout's skill with narrative. The ongoing stories, of Sage the dog with the stomach that was literally turned, and Barron, the dog with the difficult and sad diagnosis, gave the book shape and narrative curve. I loved the cautionary story about the cat who had swallowed something stringy. The tangential material, both about Trout's own life (a young man massaging a puppy to life) and weird animal lore (ferrets in one's pants), provided rich and rewarding reading.
I do wish he'd had more cat anecdotes, of course, since I am a cataholic.
One tiny criticism: an ongoing villain in the story is Sage's owner's daughter, who is an engineer and holds a doctorate. If she was truly as unfeeling toward animals as Trout paints her, she no doubt deserves the disdain with which he paints her. (And I wonder if she ever picked up his book and recognized herself). BUT: doctors of engineering with Ph.D.'s are just as much doctors as veterinarians or MDs. They hold lives in their hands as much as do doctors of medicine or veterinary science.
Doctors of Engineering keep airplanes in the air and bridges from collapsing. The degree of doctor was invented before it was assigned by public opinion to medical doctors. So I wish Trout hadn't ended his book with the snarky comment, "Perhaps she {Dr. Hartmann} uses the title . . . to get bumped from coach to business." I have a Ph.D., but it sure never helped me get a better seat on an airplane! As to his supposition that she used the doctorate "to bully her way into our phone system," I have to ask if Angell Animal Medical Center is so elitist that the owners of poor dying animals have to bully receptionists to get information or help.
The length to which I've gone in this screed might suggest I don't like the book, but I did like it, He does anecdote very well, and it's clear he loves both animals and the art and technology of surgery, maybe the latter a bit more than the former. He conveys both loves beautifully.
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