Alaska Employment Law

When your dog or cat (or bird or guinea pig or snake) is hurting, it’s easy to feel bad for the poor creature. Ever had to take your pet to the hospital? – not fun. Dr. Nick Trout, a veterinary surgeon at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, writes about his job in Tell Me Where It Hurts, which he subtitles “A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon.”

An Englishman by birth, the good doctor has put together a fictitious “day in the life” at Angell, using that day – not really a typical one, I hope, or the poor man will have a heart attack – to draw a picture of his clients, their ills, their human owners, and his feelings about trying to deal with it all. Viewed as a day in the life, it’s all a little overwhelming, but this story is really a memoir, too. Dr. Trout adds his ruminations about how he became a vet, why he likes being a vet, and why, even when some of those human owners seem crazy, he tries to do the best he can for man and beast.

Unifying the tale are Sage, a 10-year-old German shepherd seriously endangered with gastric dilatation and volvulus (“bloat,” or twisted stomach) and her owner, a sad old widower named Mr. Hartman. Sage’s drama is the best thing about this slight book, which is entertaining but a little disjointed. If you like animals, though, it’s a pleasant read. And it has a happy ending.