Love is the Best Medicine by Nick Trout

It's a shame Love Is the Best Medicine: What Two Dogs Taught One Veterinarian about Hope, Humility, and Everyday Miracles has such a treacly title, because it offers some fascinating insights into the world of veterinary medicine. Nick Trout, a veterinary surgeon, is at his best when describing the nerve-racking minutes when a beloved pet is under the knife. It's filled with great factoids. Who knew that rabbits are so tricky to operate on because it's hard to trach them (all those teeth, little mouth) and they have irregular heartbeats?

But Love Is the Best Medicine: What Two Dogs Taught One Veterinarian about Hope, Humility, and Everyday Miracles is fundamentally a rumination on two special dogs Trout treated - a 14-month-old miniature pincher and an elderly spaniel. What he learns from them and his owners offers lessons on love, loss and grace. These are good messages. While I was impressed with Trout's writing ability, his metaphors occasionally run away from him, and I felt the memoir occasionally got bogged down in New Age-esque quests for meaning.

I would recommend this for animal lovers, and students who want to pursue veterinary medicine. I am planning to read Trout's first book Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing, and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon and would love comments from anyone with opinions on either book.