My Patients and Other Animals: A Veterinarian’s Stories of Love, Loss and Hope
Coming April 10, 2018!
My Patients and Other Animals is a moving memoir of a life spent in the company of animals—a veterinarian sheds light on the universal experience of loving, healing, and losing our beloved pets, and the many ways they change our lives. Suzy Fincham-Gray dreamed of becoming a vet since she was a young girl. In 2000, she graduated, with honors from the Royal Veterinary College in London. Her journey in veterinary medicine has taken her from the English-Welsh border to an inner city Philadelphia ER to the U.S. West Coast, with thousands of stories collected along the way.
In this unforgettable and profound literary debut, we are taken into the heart of the relationship we share with the animals in our lives, and the decisions we must make when a loved one becomes sick. We meet Grayling, an Irish Wolfhound in need of intensive care. With Ned, a rescue dog from Mexico, we experience the joy of saving an animal from disease. And the story of Sweetie explores the lengths doctors will go to save a patient. Fincham-Gray is a rare breed—a clinician with an elegant literary style. She affords a view few can obtain and writes with the same tenderness she brings to her patients, whose needs she must meet with her mind, her hands and her heart. Rich in warmth and humor, My Patients and Other Animals is a memorable story of compassion, healing and hope.
“Suzy Fincham-Gray gives readers rare insight into the making of a compassionate doctor. Her passion for both science and the animals she cares for, combined with her eloquence as a writer, made me want Suzy as both my dogs’ veterinarian and my own friend.”—Teresa J. Rhyne, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Dog Lived (and So Will I)
“Affecting dispatches from the life of an animal doctor . . . In this affably written amalgam of pedagogic and heartwarming material, the author chronicles her early years as a medical professional . . . and the unique animals she encountered along the way. . . . Pet fanatics and animal lovers in general will savor these bittersweet stories exploring the enduring human-animal bond. A fervent, anecdotal memoir infused with heart, compassion, and a natural love for animals on every page.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Fincham-Gray explores in her candid debut the intricacies of her profession from inside the medical exam room, where she has worked for twenty-six years, diagnosing some of the most inscrutable animal illnesses. She describes the shock of encountering her first canine gunshot victim as an intern at an animal hospital in Philadelphia and recounts the frantic efforts to save a young dachshund suffering from pancreatitis after eating a hot dog. . . . Fincham-Gray explains the diagnostic practices, the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and the history of rabies, and outlines genetic disorders of purebred dogs (without sermonizing), all in accessible language. The medical aspects of the narrative will likely draw future veterinarians to the book, but it’s the tales of Fincham-Gray’s patients that will keep general readers hooked.”—Publishers Weekly
“This beautiful, tender, and magnificent read isn’t just about one woman’s love and care for animals and the people who love them, or about this veterinarian’s big heart and deep intelligence. It’s also about the ethical complexity of caring for other living beings, and a clear-eyed look at what binds us to other creatures of the world and why that matters.”—Emily Rapp Black, New York Times bestselling author of The Still Point of the Turning World
“A gem of a book . . . Fincham-Gray’s nonstop life taking care of all sorts of nonhuman animals in need is a deeply inspirational and personal journey and a model for all, filled with joy, sorrow, tears, love, and loss.”—Marc Bekoff, author of Canine Confidential: Why Dogs Do What They Do
“Fincham-Gray writes extremely well, and her enthusiasm shines through on every page. I enjoyed reading this book, and while doing so I was made aware of the author’s absolute dedication to her work. Like James Herriot, she portrays her profession in a very good light.”—Jim Wight, author of The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of My Father
“A beautifully written collection of memories, capturing the relationships among disease, humans, animals, and a veterinarian’s love to heal them all.”—Dr. Justine A. Lee, author of It’s a Cat’s World . . . You Just Live in It and It’s a Dog’s Life . . . but It’s Your Carpet
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