Animal E.R.
Extraordinary Stories of Hope and Healing from One of the World's Leading Veterinary Hospitals
(amazon)Tufts University School of Medicine (View Bio)
Hardcover: Dutton, 1999; Paperback: Plume, 2000.
"At the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine is the Foster Hospital for Small Animals, one of the nation's premier animal hospitals and often the last hope for desperately sick animals. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, this hospital provides frontline care for veterinary emergencies, many of which are described in this behind-the-scenes view. . . . [T]he stories of their treatment and the staff's combination of medical expertise and obvious compassion make for captivating reading. Good background information and definitions of medical terms help in understanding the complex conditions and courses of treatment described in Croke's taut text. Veterinary books are always popular, and this one impressively fills a niche that no previous veterinary memoir has ever completely covered." — Booklist
"Intensive care units are intensive care units, whether they deal in humans or animals: they are places of extremes that play on the emotions like stringed instruments. Boston Globe writer Croke, with a seasoned journalists appreciation of pressure-cooker situations, relates here a sizable clutch of stories from the veterinary emergency room. The Foster Hospital for Small Animals at the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine is the kind of place you want at your disposal when your animal falls ill: gathered under its roof are the latest in veterinary medical technology and experts in animal internal medicine, dentistry, ophthalmology, and oncology. Croke spent a good amount of time in the Foster emergency room, talking to vets and experiencing the near constant, barely contained frenzy. . . . Croke has a way of writing that subtly allows readers to almost hear the vets train of thinking as they engage in high velocity medical sleuthing. . . . A breath-bating glimpse of animals in medical peril and the very beautiful emergency room choreography of those who attend to them." — Kirkus Reviews
