The Veterinarian’s Touch: Profiles of Life Among Animals

I got to the last few pages of The Veterinarian’s Touch: Profiles of Life Among Animals by Lee Gutkind, and I realized that I may have read the book before.  It was odd though, because none of the book seemed familiar until I hit the epilogue, where author Lee Gutkind recounted the story of his German shepherd.  The dog was well-trained as a puppy, but as an adult because inexplicably and increasingly vicious and uncontrollable.  Gutkind writes about his experience viewing the dog’s euthanasia, and it’s been forever etched in my brain.  Perhaps Gutkind had published just that story before, or maybe it appeared in an anthology of other works, but it was nevertheless as devastating to read today as it was when I first read it years and years ago.  The rest of the book is pretty easy to take, and is more matter-of-fact than emotional.  Gutkind provides an interesting overview of the work of veterinarians in different fields --- he covers everything from the upscale, urban vet, to the farm vet, to the vet who works at the racetrack.  Parts of the book were a bit slow for me, and I’ll admit I’m biased towards stories about small animal practice.  While I love books by James Herriot, my eyes tend to glaze over a bit if I read too many tales of vets who spend hours with their arm stuck up a cow’s butt.  Still, it was interesting to read about the specialized work done on race horses, for example—I had no idea how specialized their care facilities can be.

While Gutkind’s main subject is veterinary medicine, his message is that physicans for humans should learn to employ some of the basic care techniques used by vets.  Medical doctors tend to treat the “body” but ignore the “person”, while Gutkind observes that vets are much more connected to the animal as a whole, and take the time to touch and comfort as part of their basic treatment plan.  I have to admit that when I go to one of my many medical specialists, I get good care, but I don’t really get the impression that the doctor is very interested in me.  I really do feel like I’m nothing more than the condition for which I’m being treated.  In contrast, when we take an animal to the vet not only does the animal get a scratch behind the ears, but as an owner I get to interact as well.  I can think of many times when I’ve felt that a physician wasn’t hearing my complaint, yet I’ve never felt that a vet wasn’t taking my observations seriously.  So, maybe Gutkind is on to something.  Maybe doctors for people need to at least learn to take a little more time to scratch their patients behind the ears.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/25 at 09:20 PM

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