EP #29: BOOK: "The Other Family Doctor: A Veterinarian Explores What Animals Can Teach Us About Love, Life, and Mo

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Lisa is joined by Karen Fine, DVM who chats with Lisa about her New York Times Best Seller, The Other Family Doctor: A Veterinarian Explores What Animals Can Teach Us About Love, Life, and Mortality.

Dr. Karen Fine (she/her/hers) is a holistic veterinarian who writes about the human-animal bond, holistic veterinary medicine, pet loss, grief, and narrative medicine. She owned and operated her own house call practice, Fine Veterinary House Calls, for twenty-five years. Dr. Fine currently practices small animal medicine in Central Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband and son and an assortment of rescues. She enjoys walking her dogs, eating chocolate, reading, writing, and horseback riding.Her website is www.karenfinedvm.com.BOOK DESCRIPTION

Karen Fine always knew that she wanted to be a vet and wasn't going to let anything stop her: not her allergy to cats, and not the fact that in the '80s veterinary medicine was still a mostly male profession. Inspired by her grandfather, a compassionate doctor who paid house calls to all his (human) patients, Dr. Fine persevered, and brought her Oupa's principles into her own practice, which emphasizes the need to understand her patients’ stories to provide the best possible care.

And in The Other Family Doctor, Dr. Fine shares all these touching, joyful, heartbreaking, and life-affirming tales that make up her career as a vet. There's:

• The feral cat who becomes a creature out of a fable when he puts his trust in a young vet to heal his injured paw

• The pot-bellied pig who grows too big to fit in the car but remains a cherished part of her family

• The surprising colony of perfectly behaved ferrets

• The beloved aging pet who gives her people the gift of accompanying them on one final family vacation

• The dog who saves his owner's life in a most unexpected way

Woven into Dr. Fine's story are, of course, also the stories of her own pets: the birds, cats, and dogs who have taught her the most valuable lessons—how caring for the animals in our lives can teach us to better care for ourselves, especially when life seems precarious.