Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
WOW!, August 13, 2004
I ordered this book based on my familiarity with Dr. Brevitz' work on the urbanhound.com website, where she answers readers' questions. I expected more of the same in her book.
I got more all right, lots more. This book is an excellent primer on dogs, from how to/where to/why to choose them, to the things you can expect from a puppy, adult dog, and (as the author gently phrases it) dogs in their "senior years," including a chapter on grieving over your dog's loss. It's a true cradle-to-grave summary for dog owners.
Need more? How about a list of the breeds, with common medical issues the respective breeds face, and the potential costs associated? First aid for your dog, with a list of symptoms that should lead you "to put down this book and call your vet immediately"? Pen-and-ink illustrations of various medical issues, showing you what the problem in question looks like? A section on dealing with parasites (worms, fleas, ticks, and other nasties)? A how-to guide on traveling with your pet? Information on mental health and behavioral problems that's actually readable? There's even a section on cancer in dogs, for heaven's sake.
Don't ask for mollycoddling, either: Dr. Brevitz makes clear that she doesn't like pet stores (buy your supplies there, not your dog), doesn't have a preference for high-priced dog foods (all commercial dog foods that bear a particular designation on the label have sufficient nutritional value for a dog not on a special diet), and doesn't have patience for owners whose dogs have the same diet they do (she bemoans the obese dog, whose owner says, "But Rover/Fido/Fifi won't eat anything but people food!").
The book is clearly, cogently, and concisely written, and explains often difficult topics without talking down to the reader. The illustrations are lovely, too. Interspersed with straight text are Dr. Brevitz' responses to readers' questions, gentle, and often filled with humor. The book is both useful on an everyday basis and a pleasure to read.
Highly recommended.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Reference!, December 5, 2004
This is an excellent reference book on dog health. And, for those of you with a diabetic dog - it is `must' reading. I ranged far and wide, trying to find a reference book on pet / dog health that dealt with the topic of diabetes in more detail than a definition. This is the book! It answered all my questions, in layman language, and in the type of detail I needed, on my dog's diabetes, and what I could expect.
Other diseases are treated in as much detail, so that you, the owner, might thoroughly understand all that is involved with your pet's care.
Unlike other books of its kind, at the back, Hound Health provides resources on a variety of topics, such as health insurance, and what the owner should look for in insurance; alternative and complementary medicine, what it consists of and how to find a veterinarian practicing alternative health medicine; finding veterinary specialists; it also lists the veterinary colleges and their websits. This, to me, is the most helpful and complete book on the market of its kind.
I would recommend it to anyone wanting a handbook on health for their dog; I suggest it as required reading if you have a pet with diabetes!
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best hound health guide books!, February 28, 2006
This is one of the best and aptly name guidebooks offering credible advise on health, nutrition, common problems and prevention for hounds. Written by a writer-turned-vet, the book did exactly what the author had set out to do: "To save people from making unnecessary trips to the vet, and yet rush them in when their dogs really needed to be there".
Having four dogs of my own, I could recount ad nauseam first-hand horror encounters with vets who were either too commercial or inexperienced or mediocre or all of the above: there was this one vet who told me something as ridiculous as neutering my dog would give him testicular cancer (huh?!); another who misdiagnosed the onset of ringworm as a mere scratch on its paw (later developed into full-blown skin infection afflicting me in the process); another who wanted to jump into operating on my dog following a mere bout of vomiting (the book discussed at length many useful home remedies before resolving to show up at the vet's clinic!); and yet another who urged me to wait it out until my puppy had been through one or two heat cycles before getting her spayed for no apparent reason (the book brought to my attention this delay would increase the incidence of breast tumor by 28%, no different from a dog who was never spayed in her entire life!). More often than not, I have experienced vets who shoved me out of their consulting rooms in a little more than 5 minutes without first hearing out the history/symptoms in full or performed detailed enough physical examination before formalizing on some half-baked diagnosis. Call it a streak of bad luck but I have been through enough vets to know that the best thing you could do to your beloved pets is to equip yourself with as much knowledge as possible in both prevention - whipping up a wholesome diet, social and exercise program - and cure when the inevitable hits home - knowing how to tell the grass from the weed in your pursuit of a vet and the book does precisely that.
I do have reservations over the author's advocacy over commercial pet food (fellow reviewers may wish to refer to Ann Martin's "Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food" and its sequel, "Protect Your Pet: More Shocking Facts" and learn why vets unanimously endorse pet food and Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats for recipes and holistic/alternative medicine). Having said that, this book is still highly recommended for its comprehensibility, readability and generosity of medical information from the viewpoint of an ethical and knowledgeable vet! A must-read!
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