This is not your “typical “ James Herriott kind of vet book. The author moves to America from Britain to do post-graduate work in vetinary internal medicine. So she experiences some culture shock and she is a specialist, not a general vet. This book highlights her transition from the “scientist “ to the more personally caring perspective of a treating physician. Filled out with case histories this is an enjoyable reading experience. Ms Finchum-Gray has an engaging writing style.
My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Having worked as a veterinarian tech for many years I have seen what goes on behind the scenes What the public is missing is the story of veterinarian internships, what they go through in college and on the job as new vets. The author is very frank and quite descriptive as she describes her life as a vet in training and a new vet on the job. She shows how dealing with actual patients and their families opened her heart to be more compassionate.
Don't read it if your upset by the reality of vet work behind the scenes. There are some gruesome parts to this book. Especially the first few chapters. A enjoyable read, not really,, but interesting. I
Thank you for the ARC which did not influence my review.

Great book, well written with a great plot and characters. This was an enjoyable read, it is about what the author experienced as a student, intern, and vet. I thought it was going to be about more along the lines of memorable patients, like James Herriott. I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Netgalley.

My Patients and Other Animals: A Veterinarian's Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope, is a great read and it really made me zone in on the life of a veterinarian, and how it affected the animals she took care of, the relationship between her and the patient's owners and how her being a vet affected her relationships with her own pets.

Suzy Fincham-Gray lived in England and decided to become a veterinarian. When she started out in college she lived in England, and she had to work on horses and other big animals, her first experience, euthanizing a horse was very hard for her. She then decides to complete her internship at the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School in Philadelphia, where her first patient was a doberman with a gunshot wound.

Suzy had culture shock of a sort when she first came to the USA and she is very lonely separated from her family for the first time. However she does her residency in internal medicine for animals and ultimately winds up with three cats, a dog and a husband! They move to San Diego and she learns a lot about herself, her pets, how to talk to other clients about their pets and how she handles all of her cases.

She devotes a chapter to each of the cases she writes about and through this we get to see how the life of a vet is, the lessons she learns, the lives she saves and has to end, and then ultimately her own personal life with her pets.

I really enjoyed her book and hopes she writes more about her life as a veterinarian. I gave this book 5 stars.

Engaging first-hand account of internship and veterinary practice years of specialist in first England and then California. Although the author first works with large animals, she ultimately works primarily with smaller ones that are household pets. Her capacity for caring really grows once she includes cats and ultimately, a dog, in her own household. While the book includes humor, the most impressive tales are those that share the resilience of animal and human health and behavior. A fascinating book for those with pets or considering a career in veterinary work. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

This book is perfect for everyone who loves animals! As a teacher, I think that this book would be loved by older students who read James Herriot's books, students who want to be vets, and those that just love animals.

Dr. Fincham-Gray is exactly the kind of veterinarian that you want for your fuzzy family members. She's committed to her patients and doesn't give up. At times this book reads like a medical thriller where you are pulling for the patient, but never quite sure how things will turn out. They are not always happy endings, as we have learned to expect when considering the life expectancy of pets, but it never gets any easier when the prognosis isn't good.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy for review.

Princess Fuzzypants here:
As a cat, I hate to go to the vet. My vet is a very nice lady but I still don’t like it but this book gave me a chance to see what things look like from her side of the table. Suzy, believe or not, grew up without a pet. No cat nor dog nor guinea pig. Yet, after helping a country vet in her home county in England, she knew she wanted to be a vet.
She studied on both sides of the Atlantic to become an internist, the vets who treat the animals who are most ill. At first she was very clinical in her outlook- it was the science that interested her but as time went by, she realized there was something very special going on between the humans and the animals that did not boil down to science or money or anything tangible. Then when she adopted her senior kitty, Monty, she had an epiphany. She was able to view the illness and the prognosis and the treatments through the eyes and emotions of the human and the pet. She understood the incredible bond humans have with their fur babies.
She wins some cases. She loses some. There will be smiles and there will be tears. Through it all, it was a touching and sensitive story of one woman’s journey to the true meaning of being a pet parent and a vet.
I give it five purrs and two paws up.