My Patients and Other Animals: A Veterinarian’s Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope

A moving memoir of a life spent in the company of animals–a veterinarian sheds light on the universal experience of loving, healing, and losing our beloved pets, and the many ways they change our lives.

Suzy Fincham-Gray dreamed of becoming a vet since she was a young girl. In 2000 she graduated, with honors, from the Royal Veterinary College in London, and her journey in veterinary medicine has taken her from the English-Welsh border to an inner-city Philadelphia ER to the West Coast of America, with thousands of stories collected along the way. In this unforgettable and profound literary debut we are taken into the heart of the relationship we share with the animals in our lives, and the decisions we must make when a loved one becomes sick. We meet Grayling, an Irish Wolfhound in need of intensive care; with Ned, a rescue dog from Mexico, we experience the joy of saving an animal from disease; and the story of Sweetie explores the lengths doctors will go to save a patient. Fincham-Gray is a rare breed–a clinician with an elegant literary style. She affords a view few can obtain and writes with the same tenderness she brings to her patients, whose needs she must meet with her mind, her hands and her heart. Rich in warmth and humor, Chasing Zebras is a memorable story of compassion, healing, and hope.