Customer Reviews

Doc Halligan's What Every Pet Owner Should Know: Prescriptions for Happy, Healthy Cats and Dogs

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Interesting book! Information covers everything from dog's nose to tail. This book should be offered as a guide for new animal owner's! Doc Halligan writes in the vernacular, making the book easy to read for everyone! Ann

This is one of the best books out there. It is very thorough, informative and detailed. I could not put it down, took it on our family vacation last month and I learned so many things that will benefit our 2 dogs which are like our kids-A must have for everyone, and a great gift, I bought a few for friends and co-workers and they love it too!

2/18/2011 -- I'm amending my initial review because I think my original assessment was too harsh and unfair. Ironically, after giving 5 star ratings to other dog care books, I ended up keeping this one and donating the others when culling my library. I ended up keeping this one because it has a dog check-up list so you'll be able to assess the overall health of your dog, and get your dog used to being handled. As the author points out, dogs can't talk, so it is vitally important that owners remain observant of their pets so you'll know when they're sick. The book is easy and quick to refer to, and provides common a sense approach to dog care. I think the reason why I originally panned this book is because Doc Halligan is more of a mainstream, conservative DVM, representing the "establishment" vs. a vet with more wholistic philosophies. And I personally, prefer the more integrative approach, but that doesn't mean this book doesn't have good information.

My initial review:
While I'm no expert on dog care, I've read at least a dozen books on the subject and have talked with numerous pet owners about general pet care. This book, however, is perhaps best aimed at an audience that is less informed and less educated. I say this because in the introduction to this book, the author describes her early experiences of working at a vaccination clinic and treating numerous victims from hurricane Katrina. The author is also president of the ASPCA-LA. With this kind of background, I presume the author's experience is primarily based on worst case scenarios of pets that had been either neglected or abandoned by their owners. And this book is geared more towards that audience, who probably wouldn't read a book on pet care in the first place. If you really want quality information on pet care, buy another book and skip this one.

Doc Halligan has written a gem of a resource for pet owners; whether you own a cat or a dog, "What Every Pet Owner Should Know" is just that. A book of common-sense, basics that each pet owner needs to know in order to raise a healthy, happy pet.

Drawing on her years of experience as an ER and Animal Shelter Vet, Doc Halligan shares her wisdom on such topics as:

*Your pet is what he/she eats.

*Dental Disasters

*The Battle of the Bulge

*Preventive pet care

*How to Talk to Your Vet

*Avoiding the ER Blues

Dr. Halligan provides an indespensible reference for maximizing the benefits of pet ownership. My only complaint is that I feel she should have written one volume for dogs, and another for cats in order to tease out the information that is germane to each specie.

This is really the best book to read if you are about to own your very first dog! The advice and information in this book will make you the ideal parent to your pet.

I owned 3 dogs as a child: a German Sheperd, a Cocker Spaniel, and a Saint Bernard. I loved my dogs, but it was really my father who was taking care of them. He was the one brushing their teeth, taking them to the vet, feeding them etc... My sole job was to play with them. As such, I had no information on how to care for a pet before reading this book.

None of our previous dogs were spayed or neutered. My father always felt spaying or neutering a dog is cruel and unjust. If a dog could speak, he would say, he would beg you not to spay or neuter him/her. This belief stuck in my mind, and when I bought my very own first dog (a bullmastiff), I asked for it not to be spayed. However, this book convinced me otherwise. The author says that you would be doing your pet a favor by spaying or neutering him/her. She gives all the reasons why, among them: your dog will be less aggressive, live longer, and will be more caring of you and pay more attention to you. A dog in heat will ignore a burglar and run out of an open door to mate!

Dogs mate together not to have a family, like we do, but because it is a chemical and biological process. A dog can mate with his own mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother, auntie or uncle. They have no sense of family like we do. By spaying or neutering your dog, you are releasing your dog from this chemical and biological process, thus freeing your dog from its stress. As a result, your dog will live much longer! (`Stress causes premature death even in humans.'). Though the book is full of information, this piece of information was the most important to me. You guessed it, my dog was scheduled for spaying.

Another important piece of information is the kind of food to feed your dog. As a child, we fed our dog from our meals, including cakes and chocolate. The author cautions against this. Chocolate in large quantities can kill your dog, and other table foods can cause serious diseases to dogs. Bones should never be given to your dog. Bone fragments can cause internal bleeding! Dogs should only eat pet food! Make sure it is from a reputable company and that it has not expired. Avoid giving your dog pet foods sold in grocery stores.

Another important piece of information was concerning a dog's dental hygiene. A dog with good teeth lives much longer than a dog with bad teeth. Some bacteria that live in decayed teeth can cause serious heart problems!

The book is full of information and great advice that it would obviously be impossible to name them all in this review. Some important topics are: prevention pays, neglect costs; how to talk to your vet; avoiding the emergency room blues; traveling with your pet; disaster awareness and preparedness; seasonal disturbances; and health insurance.

After reading this book you will be ready to be a great parent to your dog.