This book is for people who love animals and won't watch a movie if the dog dies.
Author Patti Eddington is a journalist, wife, mother, and dance fitness instructor who's been married to veterinarian Jim Moore for over 45 years. In this book, Patti shares stories about the couple's relatives, friends, pets, homes, jobs, memorable experiences, and more, but the focus of the book is Jim's veterinary practice, which has been a family affair from the start.
Patti Eddington and Jim Moore
In her introduction, Patti writes, "Please know this: there are certainly dark days in the lives of veterinarians and their loved ones...But I've tried to spare you the worst of such things and focus on the funny, the poignant, and the heartwarming."
Patti and Jim married in 1981 when they were students in Michigan: Patti in journalism school and Jim in veterinary school. After graduation, Patti became a journalist and Jim worked in a series of veterinary clinics until he opened his own practice in 1988, at the age of twenty-nine.
Jim's clinic, located in Spring Lake, Michigan, was called Harborfront Hospital for Animals. At the time, Patti was working at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, editing a magazine for patients, and she recalls, "We would initially rely on my income and hope to make a profit by the end of the first year. Jim would be the veterinarian, receptionist, and kennel boy, and I would dash back to town every night after work to help him clean the place and gather the dirty - often bloody and feces-covered towels to take home to stuff into our aging Kenmore washer and dryer."
Spring Lake, Michigan
From there, Harborfront Hospital for Animals went on to employ many dedicated helpers, and to treat countless animals.
I'll mention some of Patti's stories to provide a glimpse of the book.
🐶 The first hire at Harborfront Hospital for Animals was a young woman named Brenda, who'd always wanted a job working with pets. On Brenda's first day of work, she was observing Jim do a dog spay when she felt the room grow warm and fainted. The next time Brenda observed a dog surgery, Jim placed a chair near the table, for a joke, but Brenda was grateful.
🐶 Patti and Jim's first house was perched on the side of a picturesque wooded ravine. Patti recalls, "The late-afternoon sunshine drifting through the woods and into the family room brought tears to my eyes. It was heartbreakingly lovely...The night before we moved in, Jim and I picked up Chinese takeout and sat on the rust-colored shag carpeting...dining on our feast and reveling in our good luck. It's one of the more magical memories of my life."
🐶 Patti thought Jim was a bit impatient with middle-of-the-night 'emergencies', and decided to deal with some late-night callers herself. Here's a conversation with an obviously impaired woman:
Woman: Ish my dog. He can't eat.
Patti: What are the dog's symptoms. How long since he's eaten?
Woman (sobbing): I dunno, two or three days. He's just layin' there on the kitchen floor, starin' across the room at his food bowl.
Patti: Oh dear. I'm so sorry. So he can't actually get up and walk across the floor. Well, perhaps Dr. Moore can figure out....
Woman (crossly): Oh, I KNOW what's wrong with him. I KNOW what Doc needs to do.
Patti: You do?
Woman: Yesh! It's his toenails. They're so long he can't walk to his food bowl!
Patti (to Jim): It's for you.
🐶 When Patti and Jim's daughter Molly was born, she quickly became an animal enthusiast. The family would sometimes go to emergencies together, and "clients were often charmed when little Mol would hand her dad instruments or cuddle sick dogs or cats."
When Jim attended veterinary conferences, he would bring home souvenirs for Molly, such as T-shirts with the logos of pharmaceutical companies. Following one trip, Jim gave Molly a large inflatable tick, meant to be displayed in veterinary exam rooms. The tick became Molly's new everyday companion and favorite bathtub toy. Patti writes, "It was months before it - somehow, accidentally - got punctured with a dinner fork."
🐶 At the age of five, Molly started going to work with her dad, and Patti notes, "At Harborfront, our daughter fed baby ducks and opossums, learned at an early age that mopping up excrement is a matter-of-fact task...death is the natural conclusion of life, and compassion is the most important trait one can possess."
🐶 Patti tells lots of stories about pets that were adopted by her family or the clinic. For instance, the clinic cat Rupert (named because he looked like the actor Rupert Everett) - a gorgeous, silky-haired, orange polydactyl cat - was exceptionally smart. Rupert would turn on the lights at night, and "Jim grumbled about how much he spent on electricity simply because of Rupert."
🐶 Then there was the clinic cat Penny, an adorable kitten who couldn't get over her habit of chewing through expensive medical equipment. Jim was in the red to the tune of thousands of dollars before Penny was re-homed with a family with children..."a family smart enough not to leave expensive medical equipment lying about."
🐶 For Jim's 50th birthday, Patti decided to surprise him with a greyhound. To adopt a greyhound from a rescue organization, Patti had to supply several letters of recommendation from veterinarians and pass a home visit. Patti and Molly chose a brindle called Nut and Honey, and Patti's friend Cindy - who worked at Harborfront Hospital for Animals - offered to make a fake cocktail party where Jim could meet his new dog.
As it turned out, Cindy made a REAL cocktail party and barbecue for about twenty-five friends and clinic staff members at her million-dollar waterfront home. Patti remembers, "The huge celebration may have fazed Jim, but it didn't affect Honey in the least. She raced around Cindy's pool, pooped in her flowerbed, ate a hamburger, and then gracefully lay down to accept the admiration of her huge, new fan club."
Molly renamed Honey 'Gabbana (Gabbi) Huffington', because Gabbi would puff out her cheeks and utter small whinnies like a horse when annoyed.
🐶 There are lots more anecdotes about Gabbi in the book, as well as other pets - like Patti's rambunctious three-legged-dog Davey, who pulled her every which way during walks.
Patti also includes personal stories, but most of the book is about Jim's veterinary work. Some of the tales are sad, because where there's life there's death.
Patti concludes with Jim's retirement, a well-deserved rest after a lifetime of helping animals at all hours of the day and night.
Dr. Jim Moore
Patti Eddington
I enjoyed the book and recommend it. If you like All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, you'll probably enjoy this book.
Thanks to Netgalley, Patti Eddington, and She Writes Press for an ARC of the book.
Rating: 4 stars
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