Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing, and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon

As someone engaged to a Vet student, I was already pretty familiar with the world of Dr. Trout before turning page one. Even still, the author's clear style, sense of pacing, and ability to transport the reader made for a compelling book that I was eager to devour. Trout pulls back the curtain and invites the reader to see things through his eyes in the context of a fictitious days events, events based on his own actual experiences. While recounting the tale of this nonstop day, he manages to take compelling detours through his own recollections and memoirs, bringing in elements of learning, humanity, humor, and practicality. Best of all, at no point does he shy away from the realism. He talks about the actual science and medicine with show more actual industry terminology, but is able to casually explain everything to the reader without breaking the flow of the narrative.

Anyone with a love of pets, or a desire to see inside the realm of Veterinary Medicine would be well served by this book. show less

3.5 stars, but I just can't give it 4 stars. It is an interesting look at a modern vet & his hospital where he specializes in surgery on dogs & cats. There are plenty of references to Herriot & I think he wanted to write in that vein, but the tone was too uneven & he is too callous to carry that off. He didn't get the people the way Herriot did, although he does describe them superficially quite well.

Marg tried reading this, but put it down about a quarter of the way through, about the worst part of the book. He cheerfully tells a resident that it was OK to run hundreds of dollars in unnecessary tests because the dog's owner will be so thrilled that it doesn't have cancer! IOW, his true character really shines through. That turned Marg show more off completely. I continued on & am glad I did. It never wowed me, but it was worth it.

From a factual standpoint, it was quite interesting, if a bit scattered. Normally, I'd say that would help make the facts easier to digest, but he'd go off on tangents for too long, especially if I could read for only a short time. Still, many interesting facts & opinions came through. While I didn't agree with many the latter he made some wonderful points to ponder.

He is one of the people who is helping Americans spend an unprecedented amount of money on pet health care. He routinely did $5000 operations on animals that didn't have a great chance of recovery nor long to live. He's OK with that & explains his reasons. I didn't find those reasons very compelling, but it is how he makes his living, so I suppose he had to rationalize it. Still, he's against ear & tail docking, his case against it was not only superficial, but wrong in some of the facts & was entirely at odds with his case for multiple surgeries on a dog with mere months to live. I found that rather chilling as his ego overrides his professed compassion.

Overall, I don't like the author nor his type of vet practice. IMO, he's rationalized his hunger for the dollar just as some other vets have. I know the type & will use them. We have one near us & technically, they don't come any better. For tricky surgeries on one of the dogs, we will use them occasionally, high priced as they are. I don't doubt their surgical skills, only their common sense & compassion. For day to day pet care, we will stick with our regular group, a bunch of young vets who really do think their patients come first. show less

When beginning, one can't help but to compare any vet/animal stories to the omnipresent reputation of James Herriot's stories. He is the quintessential English vet and has set the tone and reputation. However I was determined to get through this narrative without comparing the two, if only because of the differences in time between the novels. I was both amused and surprised when the author himself decided to not avoid those comparisons himself, but embraced them, acknowledging the master, and unapologetically continuing with his own style.
The narrative comprises exactly one day, which we are informed of in the prologue, at first I was skeptical, how could any one typical day be packed with enough variety and interest to write a novel show more about? Surely there wouldn't be the range needed to cover the entire story in any one day that would be believable! The author addresses this beautifully with flashbacks and comparisons. The cases are typical and believable, but are integrated with previous cases, animals and people almost seamlessly. There were only a few jumps between subjects that felt slightly schizophrenic, but they didn't last long enough to be bothersome.
The stories here tend to be a little less pastoral and a little more technical. The author is not shy about sharing statistics and studies and quoting vocational journals. But, the jargon is kept to a bare minimum and is explained when present, so it becomes interesting instead of just confusing.
The stories run from entertaining to poignant, to downright tearjerkers. Life and death, and birth and illness, and everything in-between is explored in a way to cause the reader to ponder. Never preachy or pushy, Nick Trout has taken his place among the timeless animal stories, and steps side-by-side with Mr. Herriot on my bookshelf. show less

I know I can't do this book justice with a simple review. I flew through the 284 pages, simultaneously laughing and crying, completely unable to put the book down. The tales Dr. Trout tells are familiar enough to any veterinary professional, and if you have ever wondered what the profession is like, pick up a copy of this book. A modern All Creatures Great and Small that is almost certain to similarly inspire the next generation of aspiring veterinary students, myself included.

Who could walk past this book cover and not pick it up? "Tell Me Where It Hurts" is a memoir, a day in the life of a vet. You think you know, but you have no idea. (I couldn't resist)

The book is laid out as if all the events occurred in one day. The chapters are marked with timestamps in addition to the topic being covered. Within each chapter is the story of an animal that has come to visit Dr. Nick Trout. He tells many other stories within each chapter, covering his entire life with animals, related to each particular visit. The layout is fluid and an absolute breeze to read, considering the amount of information.

The stories are touching, he really manages to humanize the profession. He shows the ugly side people assume vets have, a show more money grubbing advancement stance to the profession. He also discredits that claim, stating his case and showing some excellent examples.

Dr. Trout also shows the bond between a person and their pet. He understand that bond better than most people and his novel shows how he has worked his entire life to understand and honor that bond.

He also shows the complexity of dealing with many species, from box turtles to persians. He jokes that at least human doctors only have to learn one species anatomy. He adds validity to the career of a Veterinarian by exposing the complexity of the profession.

The stories are downright charming, at times tragic. Most of us have a pet and can identify with the relationships featured in this novel. A must for pet lovers and non-fiction lovers alike. show less

"Tell Me Where It Hurts" is a greatly enjoyable read, from and including the expressive portrait on the front cover to the back. Nick Trout has condensed a library of interesting stories about his practice, his patients and their owners into a fascinating day-in-the-life of an animal surgeon.

I couldn't put the book down until I knew how the day ended, and friends and family have been regaled with clips from the book since. (Our thought that our Labrador -- not Fatador -- mix is smarter-than-most, has been confirmed!)

His writing style is engaging and warm, even when the story being shared is frustrating. A British ex-pat, he has weaved familiar American references into his telling (although he refers to "regular" paper as A4-size). He show more has successfully told stories within stories without losing the reader in following the plot.

The awareness and care that Dr. Trout puts into not only the pet's health, but the relationship with its owner is what every loving pet owner hopes for from their vet, and the examination of the vet-patient-client relationship is an integral part of the book's journey through this day-in-the-life story. Whether you are already aware of this complex relationship, or trying to understand why your friend/lover/spouse feels "that" way about their pet, the reader can learn something. show less

What a wonderful book! I grew up reading and re-reading James Herriott's veterinary stories, so I looked forward to trying out this modern-day vet's tale of emergency animal surgeries. I was not disappointed. He had me laughing and crying with every chapter. It was a fascinating read. I appreciated how, in between the anecdotes, he sprinkled up-to-date facts about the nature of veterinary practice today both in the UK (since he's originally British) and the US. I found that very enlightening. And some of the characters, both animal and human, had me chuckling out loud (loved the story about the macho Boxer owner whose male dog has a bit of a gender identity problem!). I recommend this to anyone who loves animals and medical tales; it is show more very inspiring, too, because Dr. Trout's love of animals and his deep need to save lives and care for our pets really shines through. show less