The other family doctor a veterinarian explores what animals can teach us about love, life, and mortality

"All Creatures Great and Small meets Being Mortal in this compelling memoir of one woman's dream to become a veterinarian in a field historically dominated by men, and how, through her work both with her patients and their people, she comes to better understand humanity, mortality, and the...

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Main Author: Fine, Karen R. (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York : Anchor Books, a Division of Penguin Random House, LLC, 2023.
Subjects:
Summary: "All Creatures Great and Small meets Being Mortal in this compelling memoir of one woman's dream to become a veterinarian in a field historically dominated by men, and how, through her work both with her patients and their people, she comes to better understand humanity, mortality, and the unique role animals play in our lives. Karen Fine always knew that she wanted to be a vet and wasn't going to let anything stop her: not her allergy to cats, and not the fact that in the '80s veterinary medicine was still a mostly male profession. Inspired by her grandfather, a compassionate doctor who paid house calls to all his (human) patients, Dr. Fine persevered, and brought her Oupa's principles into her own practice, which emphasizes the need to contextualize pets' care in terms of their stories. And in The Other Family Doctor, Dr. Fine shares all these touching, joyful, heartbreaking, and life-affirming tales that make up her career as a vet. There's the feral cat who becomes a creature out of a fable when he puts his trust in a young vet to heal his injured paw; the pot-bellied pig who grows too big to fit in the car but remains a cherished part of her family; the surprising colony of perfectly behaved ferrets; the beloved aging pet who gives her people the gift of accompanying them on one final family vacation; and the dog who saves his owner's life in a most unexpected way. Woven into Dr. Fine's story are, of course, also the stories of her own pets: the birds, cats, and dogs who have taught her the most valuable lessons-how we can be better caretakers of the animals in our lives and, ultimately, of ourselves"--
Item Description: "An Anchor Books Original 2023"--Title page verso.
Physical Description: viii, 294 pages ; 25 cm
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-294).
ISBN: 9780593466896
0593466896
Author Notes: Dr. Karen Fine is a holistic veterinarian who is fascinated by the relationships between animals and their people. She is an associ-ate veterinarian at Central Animal Hospital in Leominster, Mas-sachusetts. For twenty-five years she owned and operated her own house call practice in central Massachusetts. Dr. Fine is certified in veterinary acupuncture through the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society. A leading expert in the emerging field of vet-erinary narrative medicine, she has also authored a textbook called Narrative Medicine in Veterinary Practice .