By Dr. Nick Trout
As a big animal lover, I’ve occasionally wondered if a career as a veterinarian would have been a good choice for me. I can hardly think of a more rewarding way to spend my time than surrounded by animals. The enormous feeling of satisfaction from healing sick and injured pets is very appealing to me. Unfortunately, science was never one of my best subjects and vet school is both extremely expensive and highly competitive. So this elementary education major with a concentration in English ended up in library school instead.
Nick Trout is a surgeon at the Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a veterinarian, you’ll enjoy his book which follows one day in his work there. It’s a well written and absorbing story, and you meet many interesting four legged friends. Dr. Trout is just the person you’d choose to treat your beloved family pet with his calm, intelligent manner, many years of vet experience and kind, understanding demeanor. No matter how stressful the situation, Nick never forgets that his patient is not just an animal or a medical case, it is someone’s beloved companion.
Although Dr. Trout's writing is not overly sentimental, it is clear that he possesses a true understanding of the emotional relationships between people and animals. He writes: “Pets devour the loneliness. They give us purpose, responsibility, a reason for getting up in the morning and a reason to look to the future. They ground us, help us escape the grief, make us laugh, and take full advantage of our weakness by exploiting our furniture, our beds and our refrigerator. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Pets are our seatbelt on the roller coaster of life – they can be trusted, they keep us safe, and they sure do smooth out the ride.”
My favorite patient in the book is Sage, a ten year old German Shepherd admitted to the clinic with a GDV, a condition which occurs when a dog’s stomach somehow twists around and expands within the chest. A GDV is considered an extreme emergency and the dog can die within hours. When Nick meets sweet Sage and his elderly, widowed owner who considers Sage not just his pet but his most faithful friend, he knows he must do everything in his power to save Sage’s life. Recommended for animal lovers.
As a big animal lover, I’ve occasionally wondered if a career as a veterinarian would have been a good choice for me. I can hardly think of a more rewarding way to spend my time than surrounded by animals. The enormous feeling of satisfaction from healing sick and injured pets is very appealing to me. Unfortunately, science was never one of my best subjects and vet school is both extremely expensive and highly competitive. So this elementary education major with a concentration in English ended up in library school instead.
Nick Trout is a surgeon at the Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a veterinarian, you’ll enjoy his book which follows one day in his work there. It’s a well written and absorbing story, and you meet many interesting four legged friends. Dr. Trout is just the person you’d choose to treat your beloved family pet with his calm, intelligent manner, many years of vet experience and kind, understanding demeanor. No matter how stressful the situation, Nick never forgets that his patient is not just an animal or a medical case, it is someone’s beloved companion.
Although Dr. Trout's writing is not overly sentimental, it is clear that he possesses a true understanding of the emotional relationships between people and animals. He writes: “Pets devour the loneliness. They give us purpose, responsibility, a reason for getting up in the morning and a reason to look to the future. They ground us, help us escape the grief, make us laugh, and take full advantage of our weakness by exploiting our furniture, our beds and our refrigerator. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Pets are our seatbelt on the roller coaster of life – they can be trusted, they keep us safe, and they sure do smooth out the ride.”
My favorite patient in the book is Sage, a ten year old German Shepherd admitted to the clinic with a GDV, a condition which occurs when a dog’s stomach somehow twists around and expands within the chest. A GDV is considered an extreme emergency and the dog can die within hours. When Nick meets sweet Sage and his elderly, widowed owner who considers Sage not just his pet but his most faithful friend, he knows he must do everything in his power to save Sage’s life. Recommended for animal lovers.
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