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 Revealing Oct 13, 2009
I loved this book! It's written from a veterinarian's perspective and is so informative as to a dog's personality and the medical issues related to them.
Very interesting!
 No James Herriott Sep 15, 2009
I, too, grew up reading James Herriott's novels --- all of them. I grabbed this book after reading the back which includes a quote, "Fabulous...the best veterinary book that's been written since All Creatures Great and Small." That's a mighty endorsement. One, unfortunately, that never holds up. James Herriott's books were full of warmth, even when the animal being seen didn't make it. You could feel the relationship between person and pet. This book is flat in comparison. The author begins well, but then can only ramble from one subject to another, waiting for pages and pages to give you the outcome. It's great if you're a vet in training. It goes into great detail about costs, women vets taking over the profession, clients with internet diagnoses..WAIT! But what about the dog? Can we just go BACK TO THE DOG? I'm sorely disappointed in this book. It promised more.
Great book! Sep 12, 2009
More for a vet student or the like, but I enjoyed it! Happy and sad, funny and serious. Quick read, but not an edge of your seat page turner of course!
Ever Want To Be a Vet? Sep 02, 2009
As most others in life, I would have loved to make my living helping and serving others. Also like most people I know, for one reason or another we all became a pawn in the corporate world. When I saw this book, I thought the concept was awesome. Besides a doctor, soldier, and law enforcement, a vet was one of the career choices I mulled over when I was preparing for life after high school. I was prepared for a thrilling read. I was expecting a book version of "ER" except with fuzzy animals.
"Tell Me Where It Hurts" is meant to be a day in the life of a Boston staff animal surgeon, Dr. Nick Trout. The book begins with Dr. Trout being awaken from his sleep by the harsh, piercing beep of a pager. Thus begins the day of an animal surgeon, driving through the dark Boston night to assist a surgical resident in saving the life of a dog. With the procedure over, the doctor proceeds through his day. Cases involve everything from the simple, the humorous, and the impossible. Throughout it all, the most difficult part of his day seems to be dealing with the owners. Throughout the book, Dr. Trout takes the opportunity to discuss various events throughout his career from how he started in the field, difficult cases he's worked, his own childhood companion that he lost, and people he as met. It seems Dr. Trout paints a great picture how a vet's day is spent. Just as with a "medical doctor", a vet's day is mostly spent on simple procedures and administrative work. It is a far cry from the animal version of ER.
The concept of the book is terrific and overall it was pleasant to read. However, the writing style of Dr. Trout reminds me of a Kathy Griffin or a Bill Engvall concert. It starts with a remarkable topic, but the story keeps branching off and going on tangents. However, unlike Kathy Griffin or Bill Engvall, Dr. Trout goes back to his original point eventually. By the time he returns to the original story, I forgot what he was talking about in the first place. I think the story could have highly benefited from some better editing or a different author.
If you are an animal lover or are an aspiring veterinarian, then I would highly recommend this book. For the animal lover, the book is filled with touching stories about the creatures that have become like children to many people. For the aspiring vet, the book paints a highly realistic picture of what it is like to be a medical professional, helping the creatures that can not help themselves.
On the whole, I found the book enjoyable to read though sometimes difficult to follow.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
"Something magical will happen" Aug 23, 2009
The public appetite for stories about animals and those who care for them is huge, and the challenges of veterinary medicine are a popular subset of the animal story genre. Ever since the wildly popular James Herriott series was first published in the 1970s, how many vets have thought about writing a book? Dr. Nick Trout, a British veterinary surgeon on staff at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, gave in to the urge and produced this absorbing book.
Dr. Trout structured his story around the events of one long day in the life of a vet, with each case leading to excursions on other cases and essays on the state of modern veterinary medicine. The book is very well integrated and covers a wide range of subjects without seeming unfocused. The stories of animals and their owners are the heart of the book. The majority of Dr. Trout's patients are dogs, but we also meet some amazing cats, a goose named Q, and a parakeet (third most popular pet in the U.S. and a huge surgical challenge, with a heart rate of 600 to 700 beats per minute).
Dr. Trout is honest about his fallibility as he describes tough diagnoses and operations; and the joys and frustrations of dealing with pet owners inspire some of the most entertaining stories. He discusses what he calls "sub-optimal outcomes due to either poor (surgical) technique or failure to follow post-op instructions," which may include "house arrests, Elizabethan collars, and sedatives -- sometimes on both ends of the leash."
Tell Me Where it Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon covers some of the big issues in veterinary medicine: high cost of care, low pay for vets, and the need for owners to participate in decision making. He doesn't shy away from discussions of animal obesity (the "supersizing" of pets, and sometimes of owners as well), cosmetic surgery for animals, hard decisions around euthanasia for pets, and the $40 billion that Americans spend on their pets every year.
As well as the fascinating material from this vet's case file, "Tell Me Where it Hurts" shines with Dr. Trout's articulate, punchy writing style. The audio edition is wonderfully narrated by fellow Englishman Simon Vance, a 2008 "Best Voice" winner. Vance captures the mood of each passage, from BBC-worthy seriousness to a mildly Python-esque delivery when it suits the text.
From content to structure to writing style, this book gets full marks from me: five paws up. Nick Trout joins my list of current authors whose writing about animals delights me: Jon Katz (A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me and The Dogs of Bedlam Farm: An Adventure with Sixteen Sheep, Three Dogs, Two Donkeys, and Me) and Timothy Glass who also writes as T. Faron (Just This Side Of Heaven and Postcards). I'm hoping for more from Dr. Nick Trout.
Linda Bulger, 2009
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