Hound Health Handbook: The Definitive Guide to Keeping Your Dog Happy, Healthy & Active

by Betsy Brevitz

Book Overview

America is going to the dogs. And, judging by the $7 billion we spend each year on veterinary services, and the $3 billion on prescription medicines, we will do anything to take care of our beloved pets. Now there's a bible that belongs in every dog owner's home--a clear, comprehensive, trustworthy guide that comes with the same pedigree as the What to Expect books, The Garden Primer, and The Wine Bible. Written by Betsy Brevitz, D.V.M., the resident...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076113526X
• ISBN13: 9780761135265
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Workman Publishing
• Length: 468 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

One of the best hound health guide books!

This is one of the best and aptly name guidebooks offering credible advise on health, nutrition, common problems and prevention for hounds. Written by a writer-turned-vet, the book did exactly what the author had set out to do: "To save people from making unnecessary trips to the vet, and yet rush them in when their dogs really needed to be there". Having three dogs of my own, I could recount ad nauseam first-hand horror encounters with vets who were either too commercial or inexperienced or mediocre or all of the above: there was this one vet who told me something as ridiculous as neutering my dog would give him testicular cancer (huh?!); another who misdiagnosed the onset of ringworm as a mere scratch on its paw (later developed into full-blown skin infection afflicting me in the process); another who wanted to jump into operating on my dog following a mere bout of vomiting (the book discussed at length many useful home remedies before resolving to show up at the vet's clinic!); and yet another who urged me to wait it out until my puppy had been through one or two heat cycles before getting her spayed for no apparent reason (the book brought to my attention this delay would increase the incidence of breast tumor by 28%, no different from a dog who was never spayed in her entire life!). More often than not, I have experienced vets who shoved me out of their consulting rooms in a little more than 5 minutes without first hearing out the history/symptoms in full or performed detailed enough physical examination before formalizing on some half-baked diagnosis. Call it a streak of bad luck but I have been through enough vets to know that the best thing you could do to your beloved pets is to equip yourself with as much knowledge as possible in both prevention - whipping up a wholesome diet, social and exercise program - and cure when the inevitable hits home - knowing how to tell the grass from the weed in your pursuit of a vet and the book does precisely that. In spite of my reservation over the author's advocacy over commercial pet food (fellow reviewers may wish to refer to Ann Martin's "Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food" and its sequel, "Protect Your Pet: More Shocking Facts" and learn why vets unanimously endorse pet food ad nauseam), as well as tune in on Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats for recipes and holistic/alternative medicine, this book is still highly recommended for its comprehensibility, readability and generosity of medical information from the viewpoint of a vet! A must-read!

One of the best hound health guide books!

This is one of the best and aptly name guidebooks offering credible advise on health, nutrition, common problems and prevention for hounds. Written by a writer-turned-vet, the book did exactly what the author had set out to do: "To save people from making unnecessary trips to the vet, and yet rush them in when their dogs really needed to be there". Having four dogs of my own, I could recount ad nauseam first-hand horror encounters with vets who were either too commercial or inexperienced or mediocre or all of the above: there was this one vet who told me something as ridiculous as neutering my dog would give him testicular cancer (huh?!); another who misdiagnosed the onset of ringworm as a mere scratch on its paw (later developed into full-blown skin infection afflicting me in the process); another who wanted to jump into operating on my dog following a mere bout of vomiting (the book discussed at length many useful home remedies before resolving to show up at the vet's clinic!); and yet another who urged me to wait it out until my puppy had been through one or two heat cycles before getting her spayed for no apparent reason (the book brought to my attention this delay would increase the incidence of breast tumor by 28%, no different from a dog who was never spayed in her entire life!). More often than not, I have experienced vets who shoved me out of their consulting rooms in a little more than 5 minutes without first hearing out the history/symptoms in full or performed detailed enough physical examination before formalizing on some half-baked diagnosis. Call it a streak of bad luck but I have been through enough vets to know that the best thing you could do to your beloved pets is to equip yourself with as much knowledge as possible in both prevention - whipping up a wholesome diet, social and exercise program - and cure when the inevitable hits home - knowing how to tell the grass from the weed in your pursuit of a vet and the book does precisely that. I do have reservations over the author's advocacy over commercial pet food (fellow reviewers may wish to refer to Ann Martin's "Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food" and its sequel, "Protect Your Pet: More Shocking Facts" and learn why vets unanimously endorse pet food and Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats for recipes and holistic/alternative medicine). Having said that, this book is still highly recommended for its comprehensibility, readability and generosity of medical information from the viewpoint of an ethical and knowledgeable vet! A must-read!

All Here!

Anything and everything you would want to know about the health of your pet. Use this book when going to the vet to educate yourself about the medications and issues the vet addresses. Determine if those tests are really necessary. Find out what medications are most often used for various ailments. This really is the definitive guide.

Simply the BEST!

Excellent book, answers all problems and potential problems of all breeds, from puppies to senior dogs... Betsy Brevitz has all quality to be an excellent writer as well as a doctor, most informative dog health book I've ever read, but still light, fun and easy to read even for dummies (like me), who doesn't understand many hospital's vocabularies... a MUST BUY for a dog owner, dogs owner or even a breeder!

Excellent Reference!

This is an excellent reference book on dog health. And, for those of you with a diabetic dog - it is `must' reading. I ranged far and wide, trying to find a reference book on pet / dog health that dealt with the topic of diabetes in more detail than a definition. This is the book! It answered all my questions, in layman language, and in the type of detail I needed, on my dog's diabetes, and what I could expect. Other diseases are treated in as much detail, so that you, the owner, might thoroughly understand all that is involved with your pet's care. Unlike other books of its kind, at the back, Hound Health provides resources on a variety of topics, such as health insurance, and what the owner should look for in insurance; alternative and complementary medicine, what it consists of and how to find a veterinarian practicing alternative health medicine; finding veterinary specialists; it also lists the veterinary colleges and their websits. This, to me, is the most helpful and complete book on the market of its kind. I would recommend it to anyone wanting a handbook on health for their dog; I suggest it as required reading if you have a pet with diabetes!