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Love Is the Best Medicine: What Two Dogs Taught One Veterinarian about Hope, Humility, and Everyday Miracles
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Amazon.com Review
Lisa Scottoline Reviews Love is the Best Medicine
is the New York Times bestselling author of , , , and . Read her guest review of Love is the Best Medicine:
A couple of years ago, at the Spring Book and Author Luncheon in Charleston, South Carolina, I met a veterinarian, , who was there to talk about his first book, . We got to talking, not least because I am a dog nut (two Goldens, a Corgi and two King Charles Cavaliers), and I reckoned, no harm in trying to eek out some free veterinary advice, especially about my beloved Retriever Lucy. Lucy had passed away only a few days earlier and I was haunted by a feeling that I could have done more, that I wasn’t able to physically be with her, to hold her, connect with her and ease her into the next life in the end. Nick hardly knew me but I could tell he got it, understood what it means to have an animal in your life and how we pet owners struggle with the burden of loss when we are left behind to pick up the pieces. On the plane home I read his book, loved, loved, loved it, and ordered him to write more.
Thankfully, he has, and in Love is the Best Medicine, Nick radiates the exact same sensitivity, empathy, and understanding of loss that I felt the day I met him. The book features his trademark humor, with funny stories pulled from the examination rooms and operating suites of one of the top veterinary hospitals in the country, but at its heart is the true story of two dogs that you cannot help but fall in love with and root for--a Min Pin puppy named Cleo and a geriatric Cocker Spaniel named Helen. The stories of these two dogs symbolize for all of us pet people exactly what it means to love an animal--and it’s so fascinating to get the view from the other side of table. I don’t want to give too much away, but I’ll say this: as someone who knows a thing or two about losing a cherished animal, I found the story surprising and comforting. It reminded me once again that the universe works in mysterious, rich, and wonderful ways.
This book, too, is rich and wonderful, and you should read it. --Lisa Scottoline
(Photo © April Narby)
Look Inside Love is the Best Medicine
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Cleo, 6 months old Cleo in her favorite pink bag Helen Helen playing in ivy
From
Veterinarian Trout offers up a surefire comfort read for Animal Planet fans with this intimate look at the lives of two dogs and the people who loved them. By focusing on the trials and tribulations of the older abandoned cocker spaniel Helena and the much-coddled miniature pincher puppy Cleo, he juxtaposes their lives and then brings them together in Boston at the Angell Animal Medical Center, where readers will find themselves in an animal ER. Deeply passionate about his work, he manages to write about his patients without anthropomorphizing. The focus here is not clinical, but rather embraces the connections we make with our pets and even animals we barely know. This book is unusual in how it emphasizes how Cleo and Helena came to be in their owners’ lives, making the final outcome of their illnesses that much more poignant. (Yes, get ready for a tear or two.) Easily traversing the border between science and society, Trout’s chronicle will appeal to readers from teens to grandparents. --Colleen Mondor
19/02/2011
with much laughter and a few tears.
Dr. Trout is not a glory hog about his talent and training. He could become over sentimental or too sterile in his daily profession. He does neither. He relates to his charges and their people with empathy, compassion and professionalism. He never waivers in the fact that his first duty is to the animal and reducing its sickness and suffering. He takes his job seriously all the while not taking himself too much so. If you are looking for James Herriot then prepare yourself, Dr. Trout shakes you up with a look at the hectic, non-stop current day vet practice in a large city, not one found in the 1930's Yorkshire Dales.
If you are an animal lover I highly recommend all three of his books.
Enjoy the read!
05/03/2010
"Love is the Best Medicine" is mainly a book about two dogs who are patients of Dr. Nick Trout. A young Miniature Pinscher Cleo and an old abandoned cocker spaniel Helen cross paths in an unexpected way, yet they never met. Cleo's death, through the eyes his owner Sandi, taught Dr. Trout about the selfless love between a human and their animal. It was this revelation that caused Dr. Trout to operate on Helen with such conviction and faith enabling her to live longer than expected.
The book starts out one chapter Helen, the next Cleo, the next Helen, and so on. The story is peppered with anthropomorphic descriptions (from the animals' point of view) that most "pet parents" will identify with.
In the later chapters, Dr. Trout briefly mentions some of his other patients--expertly writing their stories into the book like a master weaver. The intensity of the human-animal bond is eloquently expressed in this book and the generosity of the animal lovers featured in this story will make your heart swell.
Dr. Trout is a phenomenal writer. It was practically impossible to put this book down.
01/03/2010
Dr. Nick Trout works as a veterinary surgeon in a state-of-the-art
veterinary hospital. If there are miracles in veterinary medicine--and sometimes
there are!--he occasionally gets to see them. But he is not the least bit
arrogant about that. He soul-searches diligently to try to determine if he is
doing the right things.
He also appreciates the qualities of dog and cat owners and what their
relationships with their animals mean. He expresses what we know about those
relationships, and clearly sees that there is much more to the relationships
than we can truly understand. He has great respect for the animals and the
people.
There are tears in the book, but not unduly. There is joy in the book. And
what he says about chocolate Labradors is very funny!
I'm so glad I got this chance to read this book. I'm sure you will be, too!
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