All My Patients Have Tales: Favorite Stories from a Vet's Practice

by Jeff Wells

Overview

All My Patients Have Tales is a charming, funny, and engaging collection of stories in the great tradition of All Creatures Great and Small by the late James Herriot. Jeff Wells works in a mixed practice where he treats both farm animals and house pets, with the occasional exotic thrown in. Among the many uplifting, life-altering, life-threatening, and hilarious episodes Wells relates are stories featuring a turkey attack, porcupine-quill covered terriers, a pregnant male cat, a heavy-metal Chihuahua with road burn, an ornery pygmy donkey, a giant hog, a constipated cow, and many others.

This perfect little gem of a book will appeal to anyone who has pets, all animal lovers, and anyone who has ever toyed with the idea of becoming a vet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312606398
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/13/2010
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.36(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

JEFF WELLS, DVM is a practicing veterinarian in the foothills of Colorado. A graduate of Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Wells has cared for many types of animals. All My Patients Have Tales was the winner of two Colorado Independent Publisher's Awards and a National Independent Publisher's Award.

Editorial Reviews

A wonderful account of the coming of age of a vet. Jeff Wells has written an honest and poignant account of vet school and his early years in practice. Dr. Wells shows equal parts compassion to both animal and human in his often humorous but always kind stories. May you be so lucky to have him as your vet and even luckier to call him your friend.” —Susan Richards, author of Chosen by A Horse and Chosen Forever

“What a treat it is to read tales from the tail-bearers. In this most welcome book we not only learn about animals in need, but also what it is like to be a veterinarian with a heart. This will be a better and more compassionate world if we listen to the stories animals tell us, for they are smart and passionate beings who have a point of view from which we can learn a lot about them and ourselves.” —Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, Wild Justice, and Animals at Play

“Anyone who has a pet will absolutely love this charming and humorous collection of personal experiences with animals. Jeff Wells is a veterinarian with heartfelt regard for both animals and their human companions, a compassion and respect too infrequently experienced in today's world. His poignant stories recall the tales of another veterinarian, the legendary James Herriot.” —John A. Hoyt, President Emeritus, The Human Society of the United States

“[H]umorous and insightful . . . [Wells's] stories would be suitable—and should be required—reading in even the most sophisticated veterinary school programs.” —Publishers Weekly

“Another winning veterinary memoir deserving of space next to the immortal James Herriot and his heirs.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

Wells, a practicing veterinarian in a rural Colorado clinic, delivers a humorous and insightful look at his life and work with a wide range of animals. His memoir begins immediately after graduation as he takes a job at a South Dakota clinic with "no idea" that he is in for a variety of patients, including a pregnant cow that needs a cesarean section, a trio of feisty Jack Russell terriers that keep pursuing porcupines despite getting their faces full of quills and a traveling circus that needs blood tests for its animals: "At no time during veterinary school had anyone mentioned how to go about finding a vein on an elephant." The author conveys not only the great joy he takes in helping animals but also his growing awareness of another aspect of his job that isn't taught in vet school-the role of "counselor/psychologist" a vet must play when dealing with someone who's lost a pet or recommending a tough treatment decision. While Wells's writing style is plain and straightforward, his stories would be suitable-and should be required-reading in even the most sophisticated veterinary school programs. (Apr.)

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Publishers Weekly

Adult/High School–Wells recounts his rigorous education and on-the-job training as a vet in rural South Dakota and then in a Rocky Mountain community in Colorado. As the junior member of a practice, it was Wells who had to answer the late-night emergency calls. His 36 stories range from treating circus animals to miniature pigs to yaks, along with a host of cat, dog, and horse anecdotes. Wells writes with compassion, humor, and wonder, and does a compelling job of engaging readers. No amount of education prepared him for the kinds of situations he faced, many of which were challenging, frightening, and often dangerous. Difficult situations that include euthanasia are included and yet, throughout his memoir, Wells’s love of animals and the personal satisfaction he feels shine through. Because mixed-animal practices are hard to find, readers learn of an almost lost profession. Teens who love animals or have enjoyed James Herriot’s books are the obvious candidates for this one. The short, down-home stories filled with heartfelt emotion and laugh-out-loud incidents will resonate with reluctant readers as well.–Jane Ritter, Mill Valley School District, CA

School Library Journal