A Country Practice : Scenes from the Veterinary Life

Rating:
Summary: An in-depth view of the personalities and procedures
Review: There are plenty of cute, endearing animals in Chuck Shaw's Walpole, NH, veterinary practice. Hobbs, for instance, the clinic cat, an obese fellow who gorges on junk food, perhaps in memory of his feral days, and reverts to wild ferocity whenever the whim strikes him. But these animals afford mostly comic relief in Whynott's behind-the-scenes portrait: a serious tale of human drama; of passion, ethics and personalities.

Chuck Shaw is a focused man who chose his work after serious deliberation and before going to Vietnam as a bomber pilot. He wanted a well-lived life in a profession that involved physical activity, outdoor work, and the prospect of working with people and helping others. He also wanted to be independent and own his own business. Veterinary medicine fit the bill and after two years in practices that didn't quite fit him, he bought a "mixed practice" in bucolic, beautiful Walpole.

A mixed practice is unusual these days and growing more so, involving both large animals and small. Chuck might spend the morning checking a dairy herd for pregnancies, the afternoon treating cats and dogs at the clinic and be called out at midnight for an emergency lambing or an "HBC" (dog hit by car). Over the years Chuck had gone through eight associate vets who stayed from a few months to four years.

Roger Osinchuk, the best fit, is beginning his fifth year in the practice as the book ends. Osinchuk, a Canadian from Alberta, grew up wanting to be a veterinarian. His experience with horses is extensive and he quickly builds an equine practice and embarks on a side business breeding and training horses of his own.

Roger, exhausted by the long hours and the on-call weekends, convinces Chuck to hire a third associate - not an easy task for a mixed practice in a rural community. Erika Bruner, a new graduate from a suburban, academic background, wants to work with cows. She likes getting mud and manure on her boots, enjoys the placid, wise look of the cow, and doesn't flinch at being shoulder deep in the animal's anal tract. Enthusiastic and determined, she lifts everyone's spirits. At first.

Whynott spends long days with each of these people, getting them to talk while they work. They talk about the work, and Whynott describes it in details that range from fascinating to gross, often at the same time. They save animals and lose them and Whynott shows us their jubilation and sadness - and sometimes their self-doubt. Inexperienced Erika has a lot of that, but no one is immune.

The patients can't talk, and, not owning their own bodies, have no say in their treatment or even their death. From cows who don't produce enough milk to dogs that bite, death is sometimes the only treatment the owner wants and this is a critical issue in the practice, particularly with pets. Though Chuck early on makes it a rule not to kill healthy pets, it's a rule he sometimes has to break. During Erika's first months a healthy dog is brought in to be put down. The owner refuses to have it adopted by someone else and so Chuck orders it done. Erika is shocked and furious, but Chuck explains that the owner would only have abandoned the dog or had a neighbor kill it. At least he had the power to end the animal's life humanely.

Ethical dilemmas are frequent in a practice where the doctors are surgeons, cancer specialists, emergency doctors, radiologists, dermatologists, obstetricians, etc., and the patients are property. Overwork and underpay (beginning associates with $100,000-plus in debts earn $45,000 a year) also fuel frustration.

Whynott's ("Giant Bluefin," "Following the Bloom) portrayals are moving and involving. He is a mostly invisible observer. Though it's clear people are talking to him, he makes no judgments and offers no personal comments. Traveling with the veterinarians through the beautiful Connecticut River countryside, he shows us the working farms, which each have their own owner-imposed personalities, and the hobby farms with their horses and pet pigs and sheep (which are generally cheerier places, even if the owners are sometimes clueless). He gives us the drama of daily life in the practice, and shows how the underlying dynamics change with the entry of a newcomer.

This is an absorbing inside look at a changing profession and the interplay of personalities between a veteran owner, an experienced young man with ambitions of his own, and a neophyte struggling to find her place. A book to be enjoyed by anyone who likes animals and a must for aspiring veterinarians.