Vet on Call: My First Year as an Out-of-Hours Vet

I do enjoy books based on veterinarian experiences, so this was almost a slam-dunk. The author describes the trials and tribulations associated with starting up an after-hours veterinarian practice in Brighton, England. Well written, humorous at times and tear-jerking at others, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Reminiscent of the 'All Creatures' series, this book was is full of British terms that may be puzzling to Americans, but all-in-all, I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys animal stories.

I liked reading about Dr. Marc's experiences in this book. I am a surgical nurse for a 25 bed hospital in Kansas and know what it is like to be on call up to 27 days a month. His experiences in this book kept me giggling a LOT, but his writing style left a little to be desired. It was a book that I could put "on call", meaning that I could put it down for a while...and call it in when I felt I needed a pick me up. Once this fine vet writes more books I think his would become a book that I couldn't put down until the end. Good vet, so-so author.

Better than a lot of other vet books. Has self-effacing humor. Very hilarious at times. Hope he writes another book sion.

Humorous and touching tales about a night shift vet and his nurse. If you want an enjoyable read this book will provide it.

Good writing and wonderful animals and people in this book.This is a book that draws you in, but you can read a chapter, come back later and pick it up and be at home once more in the pages.

Really good, but what happened to the after hours emergency service after a year? C'mon Marc, write another book...least you can do once you got us interested.

This book is easy reading, with some laughter and sadness. Anyone interested in how a vet's life might be would find this enjoyable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's very reminiscent of James Herriot - a loving look at animals and the people who love them as seen through the eyes of a caring vet. I hope he's planning a sequel.

I'd like to start off gently by saying that I have great respect for Marc Abraham and his current campaign against puppy farming. I have great respect for him as a vet.As a writer, though? No. This is a terrible book. It's badly put together with careless continuity (at one point Ruth has a mug of tea, the next sentence it's changed to a bottle of water), and some of the anecdotes are left unfinished so we never find out what happens (the couple with the yorkie, for example). His sentence structure is appalling, and sketchy use of grammar makes it difficult to understand at times who is doing what and to whom. There seems to have been a half-hearted effort - in spite of it nominally being autobiographical - to make it up-to-date and having taken place in the last year or so, when clearly it must have been longer ago given Marc's blossoming TV career.The thing is that I really wanted to like this book; I love a good animal anecdote and a heartwarming and/or tragic pet story. I've even given it two stars for effort. I think I could have loved this book, in fact, if it had benefited from more judicious editing and proof-reading. In its current form, however, it is best avoided. I want to try his new book just to see if the editing situation has improved... But I'm not sure I can cope with the disappointment if not.Avoid.

Marc Abraham is one of those personalities who seemed to pop up out of nowhere - first he was on "It's Me or the Dog" for a very brief cameo, and then suddenly he was everywhere, even presenting Crufts alongside Clare Balding. But if you expect his first book to pander to our celebrity biography market, you'll be very much disappointed; everything that happens in this book takes place before his rise to stardom, back when he was a humble emergency vet.But that's not to say that the book is dull - in fact, I read it cover to cover in one day because I couldn't put it down. Marc successfully weaves ongoing sagas around little vignettes of encounters with miscellaneous clients, as well as telling the story of his own struggle to adjust to his new nocturnal lifestyle. He includes enough information about his personal life to flesh out his `character' and give his reader a real sense of who he is, but without divulging too much.Along the way, he includes some advice on good pet care, and how not to buy a car!There are also a few brief glimpses into the more negative sides of being a vet, including a tragic accident which leads to the death of a horse. Marc is not afraid to focus on the realities of his year in emergency surgery, rather than just romanticising it. Like any good writer, he achieves the right mix of humour and pathos to keep us interested, and his pacing is second to none - hence why I couldn't stop reading, even at the end of the chapter! That said, it is the kind of book that you could dip in and out of between busy times if you needed to.Unlike James Herriot, these are the stories of what it is like to be a modern vet. Because of this, I personally would have liked to have found out what happened to the work experience student Marc takes under his wing; does he decide that veterinary practice is for him? This volume does a pretty good job of portraying - albeit briefly - a modern family, too, in the form of snippets of telephone conversations and emails from his well meaning but nagging parents.This book also precursors Marc's current role as a campaigner for animal issues: when he refuses to carry out surgery to give a German Shepherd a fake testicle just to help it do well in the show ring, you know he is a man of solid principles. And he genuinely cares about his patients (and their owners) too, which is demonstrated when he performs a caesarean on a gerbil against all the odds, because he recognized that she was more than `just an animal' to the lady who cared for her. (As an aside, Marc is also a very nice guy when you meet him in person, and his favourite breed of dog is the Borzoi.)What this book will not tell you is how Marc went from lowly out of hours vet to the man in the blue scrubs gracing our television screens, but I'm sure that'll be covered in the next volume. I, for one, hope there will be many many more.

A fab little book that allows the reader to dip in and out of. Its a collection of stories told by a likeable chap- Marc, an out of hours vet in Brighton. Its ultimately about the animals, but it is also interesting to see how his relationships grow with his colleagues, family, friends and clients, especially given that he works permanent night shift. Some of the stories are terribly sad (Captain the horse), heartwarming (Bella the siamese cat), but often hilariously funny (Rapunzel the donkey) and mostly a combination of all 3 (Stock the dog).

I bought this hoping it would be like Harriot and it was! Well told and showing a deep love and respect for animals, this book tells the tales of many wagging tails in one seaside town. At some points you are laughing at him because he's only young and he's gonna have to learn how to use sun block, but then on other occasions it is clear that here is a man who knows his stuff. Well done and I really hope you get a second done soon!

Thoroughly enjoyable book from Marc Abraham which I read in a couple of hours. Each chapter deals with a specific animal or theme. There were funny, sad and moving stories, all written in an interesting and captivating style. I particularly enjoyed the correspondence between Marc and his Mother - very funny and typical of many mothers I know who are trying to look out for a son who works very long and challenging hours.Well worth reading - 5*!