What an enjoyable read! I simply could not put this book down. I both love and hate it. I love it because it’s really intriguing reading about a new vet’s adventures in the 1970s, but I hated it because of how poorly some animals were treated back then. We’ve come a long way since, but we still have a long way to go.

I can fully understand how a young Canadian man would think himself British, until he in facts moves to Britain, and realizes he most definitely isn’t British. These stories made me laugh. Harrods selling wildlife did not make me laugh. It made me angry. Luckily, those days are over.

I was happy to see that a young Canadian vet had a lot of sense, and was ready to make some changes. Old habits die hard, and especially working in the poshest areas with rich peoples’ pets taught a new vet many things about animals, but even more about people.

The book is well-written with interesting stories, which made it an excellent read. I highly recommend this book to everyone, not only to animal lovers. There are many lessons to be learned, stories to take in, and interesting phenomena in society, so no reader should get bored.

We only normally see the vet at times of happiness or sorrow. Rejoicing or worrying about the animal parts of our family. To take a look at the other side of the equation in to the mistique of the vet. Alongside human gp the vet is the animal equivalent. How attitudes and medical advancements have changed is fascinating and illuminating. Well written giving a whole person perspective from both professional and private life

Absolutely wonderfully enjoyable book. I've truly enjoyed every page of this book and would highly recommend it to any animal lover out there. Wonderful sense of humour throughout!

Really enjoyed this book.Following the life of this young vet in England in the seventies.Learning about what life as a vet was like the animals the people he dealt with.Eye opening interesting really enjoyed.#netgalley#callthe vet

Ever since I read James Herriot’s books as a child, I’ve always enjoyed reading vet’s accounts of their work. I would say that, on balance, this is more towards the autobiography side, than the account of veterinary work.

It took me a while to get into this book. To start with, I found the use of tenses confusing. The whole book takes place in the 1970s, but it kept switching from present to past tense, and back. Either this improves as the book went on, or I became used to it, as it stopped bothering me from about half way through.

I enjoyed reading this account of the author’s life in the early 1970s. It contains just enough of the animals to keep it interesting to me. I appreciated the candour and honesty when mentioning the ethical side of a vet’s job, at the time. It’s interesting to compare that to current times, and see the improvements that have happened in animal behavioural science, especially.

The book also paints a picture of 1970s London as the background. I’m not particularly interested in this, so I occasionally found it a little tedious. However, if you are interested in recent history, this will add to your enjoyment.

Overall, I felt this was an honest look at a snippet of historical veterinary work, with plenty of interest from different aspects.

I was given a free copy of this book, my opinions are my own.

Young Canadian newbie vet, Bruce Fogle, arrived in Britain in 1970 on a scholarship at London's Regent Park Zoo and becomes assistant vet at the exclusive Knightsbridge Woodrow and Singleton veterinary practice, with its aristocratic upper class, film star and other wealthy clients. He harboured the delusion that he was British only to find he really wasn't, they were different, as he sees its addled class divisions, the prominence of the stiff upper lip, as when a man, with his nanny, displays no emotion when his labrador is put down. However, he is to find himself turning native through time, appreciating the British habit of understatement and use of irony. Fogle immerses himself in London and its different communities, the politics, such as the EEC referedum, getting over his horse allergy by riding Euripides, a horse, on the city streets, engaging with the culture of the period, going to the theatre and concerts

His boss, Brian Singleton, is ethical, with a great reputation in the profession, conventional and frankly, scary, to a Fogle who is to find he has a tremendous amount to learn, about himself, animals, their owners, London and its different communities, and that it is actually the veterinary nurses who really know and understand pets, clients, and the relevant clinical procedures. He goes on home visits, and weekly rounds at Harrod's pet department, which had skunks and even, surprisingly, a puma, for whom tragedy lies in the future. It will not take long before exotic animals no longer featured in their department, although the pet department does not close until 2014. Fogle eventually finds an American girlfriend, Rose, at Speaker's Corner, and on her return home, meets and within 2 years marries actress Julia, who has a daughter, Emily, and sets up his own practice near Marble Arch.

The 1970s had the veterinary profession operating in the dark ages, with huge improvements and developments to come in the future, moving from practical utilitarian practices towards the more necessary shifts to take account of animal welfare, coming with the increasing number of women joining the profession and their more empathetic approaches. Fogle admits he had a big learning curving when it came to taking care of animals, and he would never have thought about a number of issues, such as pain management, if it hadn't been for the nurses. There is much that made my blood boil when it came to the treatment of animals, particularly how they were treated when Fogle was training in Canada. There is much about the 1970s that made me feel grateful that those times are over, the sexist norms, such as nurses being fired if they got pregnant and the greater prevalence of sexual harrassment, the class divisions, to the dreadful ways animals were treated.

This is an interesting and fascinating memoir that highlights the Britain of the 1970s and the state of veterinary science and practice in London from the perspective of a Canadian vet. Many thanks to HarperCollins for an ARC.