A Country Practice: Scenes from the Veterinary Life

by Douglas Whynott

Book Overview

Chuck Shaw is a vanishing breed--an old-style veterinarian with a quarter of a century of experience who runs a "mixed practice" in rural New Hampshire, treating everything from house cats to milk cows. Week after demanding week, he and his associate, horse expert Roger Osinchuk, make house calls and farm calls, and spend sleepless nights on call, to see to the well-being of patients whose only common denominator is an inability to speak. But the practice is booming, and Chuck decides to take on a third associate, Erika Bruner, fresh out of veterinary school. Whynott follows these three practitioners into the world of contemporary veterinary medicine, as a witness to memorable encounters and daily dilemmas. He watches as they play gynecologist to cows and horses, obstetrician to calves and colts, podiatrist to creatures whose feet are life and death to them. He captures the struggle to learn a difficult craft on the job, describes the confluence of skill and intuition that is the essence of diagnosis, and depicts the ongoing effort to balance the needs and desires of animals and owners without compromising his creed. "A Country Practice" is a vivid portrait of the rapidly changing face of an ancient profession.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0865476470
• ISBN13: 9780865476479
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: North Point Press
• Length: 289 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Excellant insight into a veterinarian and their lives.

I wholly recommend this to anyone considering a veterinary career - or a client who takes their vet for granted! Good reading - Dr Shaw is great.

An in-depth view of the personalities and procedures

There are plenty of cute, endearing animals in Chuck Shaw's Walpole, NH, veterinary practice. Hobbs, for instance, the clinic cat, an obese fellow who gorges on junk food, perhaps in memory of his feral days, and reverts to wild ferocity whenever the whim strikes him. But these animals afford mostly comic relief in Whynott's behind-the-scenes portrait: a serious tale of human drama; of passion, ethics and personalities. Chuck Shaw is a focused man who chose his work after serious deliberation and before going to Vietnam as a bomber pilot. He wanted a well-lived life in a profession that involved physical activity, outdoor work, and the prospect of working with people and helping others. He also wanted to be independent and own his own business. Veterinary medicine fit the bill and after two years in practices that didn't quite fit him, he bought a "mixed practice" in bucolic, beautiful Walpole. A mixed practice is unusual these days and growing more so, involving both large animals and small. Chuck might spend the morning checking a dairy herd for pregnancies, the afternoon treating cats and dogs at the clinic and be called out at midnight for an emergency lambing or an "HBC" (dog hit by car). Over the years Chuck had gone through eight associate vets who stayed from a few months to four years. Roger Osinchuk, the best fit, is beginning his fifth year in the practice as the book ends. Osinchuk, a Canadian from Alberta, grew up wanting to be a veterinarian. His experience with horses is extensive and he quickly builds an equine practice and embarks on a side business breeding and training horses of his own. Roger, exhausted by the long hours and the on-call weekends, convinces Chuck to hire a third associate - not an easy task for a mixed practice in a rural community. Erika Bruner, a new graduate from a suburban, academic background, wants to work with cows. She likes getting mud and manure on her boots, enjoys the placid, wise look of the cow, and doesn't flinch at being shoulder deep in the animal's anal tract. Enthusiastic and determined, she lifts everyone's spirits. At first. Whynott spends long days with each of these people, getting them to talk while they work. They talk about the work, and Whynott describes it in details that range from fascinating to gross, often at the same time. They save animals and lose them and Whynott shows us their jubilation and sadness - and sometimes their self-doubt. Inexperienced Erika has a lot of that, but no one is immune. The patients can't talk, and, not owning their own bodies, have no say in their treatment or even their death. From cows who don't produce enough milk to dogs that bite, death is sometimes the only treatment the owner wants and this is a critical issue in the practice, particularly with pets. Though Chuck early on makes it a rule not to kill healthy pets, it's a rule he sometimes has to break. During Erika's first months a healthy dog is brought in to be put down. The owner refuse