The extraordinary healing nature of dogs is something that many people have felt, so nice to have a book that shares about the undeniable bond between dogs and their people.

Sit, Stay, Heal: What Dogs Can Teach Us About Living Well

by Dr. Renee Alsarraf

Dr. Alsarraf is a veterinary oncologist. Her training and profession put her in the odd position of knowing way more than most people about cancer in both animals and people. Even as she works with cancer patients and their pet parents every day, she is shocked when she is diagnosed with what she calls “the C word.”

Dr. Alsarraf’s story is quite properly told in the first person. She shares the struggles of some of her patients and compares them with her own battles. Because animals live in a present mindset, they don’t have a fear of the tomorrows of cancer. They have fewer side effects from treatments. For example, they don’t lose their fur. There are many similarities, however, in the unknown outcomes of treatments and the unpredictability of cancer.

I thought this might be a very dark book, but it isn’t. It is inspiring to watch Dr. Alsarraf and her team of assistants work diligently and with care and respect as they treat their patients. Dr. Alsarraf takes time to explain everything to the pet’s human parents and to answer their questions. She never hurries them or makes them feel guilty about their decisions assuring them that there are no right or wrong answers in treatment choice.

There is another situation in this dedicated vet’s life that doubles the emotional impact, but to share it would be a spoiler. I found tears streaming down my face and had to wait a day to finish the book. Sit, Stay, Heal is very well written. The Introduction sets up the reader to journey with the author through her personal battle and shares her philosophies about cancer, pets, and fighting back. Each of the ten chapters that follow focuses on the story of a pet patient, the pet’s family, and her interaction with them all the while enduring her own health struggles. Sit, Stay, Heal is a heart felt book with more smiles than tears for a dog owner.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Memoir, Nonfiction

Publication: October 18, 2022—Harper One

Memorable Lines:

All cats and dogs live in the moment, carefree. They do not waste the present, worried about what might happen in the future. Or how much longer they have to live.

Before the C word, I’d always thought that life was so under my control, and yet the disease has helped me realize that I was never in control of the really big things, or even the medium things.

It’s never easy to say goodbye to a loved one. Through good days and bad, our pets provide such unconditional love, support, and companionship. They’re with us for fun times, and also are there to snuggle with when the outside world seems too harsh.

A doctor is afflicted with the same disease she treats in her patients in Sit, Stay, Heal: What Dogs Can Teach Us About Living Well by Renee Alsarraf, a veterinary oncologist. The book juxtaposes Alsarraf’s experience as a cancer patient with stories of dogs in her practice. The differences between cancer treatment in dogs and humans are significant, Alsarraf explains, and not just because her patients come to appointments dressed in costume and drooling from the jowls.

Dogs receive relatively smaller doses of chemotherapy and radiation than humans do, with the goal of lengthening and improving life rather than curing the disease. As a result, dogs often breeze through chemo with no side effects. They may live an additional six months or six years in remission, but the cancer typically comes back.

The colorful variety of dog patients Alsarraf describes includes a police bloodhound, a mob boss’s German shepherd, and a cocker spaniel who alerts her family to their daughter’s seizures. Alsarraf methodically lays out the treatment options to each family, rattling off statistics on success rates for each alternative.

In Alsarraf’s descriptions of her practice, the book reads like a glossy brochure: animals receive treatment tailored to their needs, meticulously administered, and the staff adore each bundle of fur who trots merrily through their doors. The vet gives out hugs like prescriptions, and no one cries alone.

Stories of adorable, talented, and well-mannered dogs and their “pet parents,” as the author calls them, are interspersed with more sober episodes from Alsarraf’s own cancer treatment. Given her profession, Alsarraf is surprisingly squeamish about her disease, referring to it as “the C word.” Of all the upsetting consequences of the treatment, losing her hair bothers her the most. That’s another difference between human and animal chemo—animals don’t lose their fur.

Alsarraf has uterine surgery and then begins both chemotherapy and radiation for a metastatic lesion. Her husband and teenage son fend for themselves while she stays on the couch for hours at a time, achy and depleted. In a remarkable convergence of cancer in her world, Alsarraf’s beloved boxer develops a malignancy during her treatment, and she sends him for chemotherapy at her clinic.

Fully in control within the walls of her veterinary office, Aslarraf suffers from the uncertainty of being the patient. No doctor gives her outcome probabilities; no one suggests an array of other options. At her first treatment, she grills her chemo nurse with a list of questions, desperate to feel more informed and prepared for what’s to come.

Despite the grim circumstances, despair never creeps into Alsarraf’s story. “I fight as a matter of principle,” she writes. “I will be the one who goes down with the ship, or at least knows when to man the lifeboats. Perhaps that’s a good quality to look for in an oncologist, whether for humans or for animals.”

Dogs, on the other hand, don’t fight their cancer, because they never know they have it. A lack of worry, Alsarraf suggests, is the biggest lesson to be learned from her canine patients, although one that seems particularly unrealistic for humans. Count Alsarraf as one who still worries. After her successful treatment, she describes checkups as stressful events “to face my mortality quarterly.”

Dog lovers will find some of the stories in this book charming, but insights about what dogs can teach us are few. Unlike dogs, humans suffer the anxiety of the future’s uncertainty, but we can also imagine ourselves away from the present. Alsarraf writes, “As much as I would like to emulate my animal patients’ ability to live in the moment, sometimes that moment is really hard to take.”

Perhaps dogs can’t teach us how to live but, by their joyful presence and abundant love, help us live better. The outcome of each cancer case, despite knowing the odds, is ultimately unpredictable. What stays consistent throughout Alsarraf’s stories is the unconditional devotion of each family to its beloved pet.

Sit, Stay, Heal: What Dogs Can Teach Us About Living Well by Renee Alsarraf made me cry and laugh. I recently lost my 10-year-old shepherd unexpectedly, and this book was sometimes hard to read, but it also brought me comfort in knowing I did well for my doggo. Especially encouraging was the first story of Daisy and the owner asking the vet/author if she did anything wrong to cause her dog to get sick. It was comforting to know that I did everything for my dog and that she lived a very good life.

I so identify with the author's comment that dogs give us unconditional love when the world feels harsh and how we rely on and even lean on our pets. We can learn a lot from our pets who truly live in the present and the deep bonds they create with us.

The stories were very heartfelt, and the story of the author battling her own cancer was poignant.

A very good book and a must-have for anyone who owns a pet. A 5 out of 5 stars.

#SitStayHeal #NetGalley @HarperOneBooks

A terrific autobiography about a oncology veterinarian who not only takes care of dogs with the big C, but also describes her journey with the big C and how her struggles are different then the dogs she treats. Even though the struggles are different, the stories of the dogs she takes care of are wonderful to read because even though the dogs come in sick, Dr. Alsarraf treats them to the point that they can go home and be happy with their people as long as they are able.
I couldn't put this book down. I found the stories very touching and I felt for the owners who loved their pets so much that they were willing to do whatever it took to save them and also had to be brave to let them go. There is one story that stood out about a client who would take no for an answer, and another that involves a rescue dog that was put into remission and was able to save more lives. Terrific stories.
I know this story maybe a little sad but this book is worth reading, it will make you happy to know that there is somewhere to go when a dog is ill and there are people who are willing do the job to help. I also learned that dogs don't have the same side effects from the treatment that people do and that makes me feel that the treatments are worth trying.

I want to thank HarperOne and NetGalley for this wonderful, heartwarming autobiography about the big C.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Sit, Stay, Heal is a hopeful and bittersweet memoir of a oncology veterinarian sharing her story of the powerful relationships her patients have with their owners, all while undergoing her diagnosis of cancer.

Having had a dog with cancer in the past, and having seen a oncology veterinarian, the author really did present a positive message that I had not considered before.

I was thankful to receive a digital ARC, courtesy of NetGalley and HarperOne, yet found myself delaying actually beginning to read it. Combining my love of animals with my great affection for the wonderful veterinarians that have blessed us with their talents and kindness, this book is a natural fit. The fact that this is written by a veterinary oncologist facing her own battle with C made me wonder if it might be too heartbreaking to bear. I was wrong about that last bit.

I read this cover to cover, and found it perfect. Renee Alsarraf has a clear and friendly tone as she relates her year of healing. While in treatment for her own C, she continues her work caring for pets who also have C and the families who love them. We get to know her family, her team, and significant stories from her clinic. I found it a perfect blend, and truly found the author likable. It’s no wonder that she is surrounded by a huge circle of people who care for her.

Yes there is sadness, but mostly hope and goodness. I highly recommend Sit, Stay, Heal, and would be happy to read anything Dr. Alsarraf writes in the future!

Even though this is an honest account of the author's dealing with a cancer diagnosis, I am afraid that this book will not be appreciated and loved by so many other people who are not in the veterinary field or who do not share their lives with animals. It is almost two separate stories intertwined, but that is life- all the different stories that make up our days. This is not a book that brings you down. The author keeps your attention through her sense of humor, her mocking of some of the craziness of life, and her stories of some of the people and animals she meets through her work, and those she meets through her illness. I thank NetGalley and Harper One for sharing this book.