Customer Reviews

Vet Confidential: An Insider's Guide to Protecting Your Pet's Health

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I had heard this book was great, but never expected it to be this brilliant! It is literally jam-packed with information that most pet owners would never know that is so useful in every day life. Not only this but Dr. Murray's writing is fluid and captivating. A great buy, I definitely recommend it!

I will be ordering several copies of this book. I have had the immense pleasure of meeting and getting to know Dr. Murray under very unpleasant circumstances. She helped save my cats life many years ago as the hands of a vet who botched surgery on him. She is a consummate professional with a mountain of knowledge and expertise. Truly an expert in her field, she gives practical advice backed by years of experience. In addition she treats animals with the love and respect they deserve. I just can't say enough to praise Dr. Murray. I will forever be thankful to her for what she did for my cat and me and I am so very happy to see her sharing what she knows with everyone. I would advise everyone to get this book. You won't be disappointed and in fact you may spare your pet a lot of pain and heartache by learning what Dr. Murray has to say. Get your copy soon. And if you read this Dr. Murray, thank you again from the bottom of my heart.

Dr. Murray was an ANGEL sent to our family when our precious 8 year old kitty, IPO, became critically ill in 1998. What our local vet diagnosed as liver failure was reassessed by Dr. Murray as being diabetes induced, as the result of a rare brain tumor. She brought him "back to us". Day and night, she watched over him, nursed him back to health, educated us on proper home care/treatment....and comforted us by phone AT ALL HOURS. Her love, devotion and expertise gave us two more years with IPO in which he was able to still live/love comfortably. Dr. Murray was gentle but honest when the time finally came that we had to say goodbye to our beloved kitty. She comforted us as we grieved and still took my heartbroken phone calls long after he was gone. Her compassion to IPO, our family and to ALL her patients makes her an Angel to all who have been blessed with her touch.....and NOW, she can touch so many more lives by sharing her expertise, wisdom and compassion through her book!!!
The book is practical, well-written and packed with very useful information you can't afford NOT to have if you love your pet! I have already ordered several copies of this book and will order more this week to give as presents to all my friends who love animals! I highly recommend the book......and hold deepest respect, gratitude and affection to the author!

Unfortunately, how you practice medicine in the veterinary world is still up to you. I choose to practice with the highest standards which are outlined in this book. I wish all pet owners would read so they know if they have a good or bad veterinary care.
I sometimes have to cringe when I hear from pet owners what other vets have done to their animals. There is still a lot of senseless death and improper treatment in the veterinary medical world. Often you get what you pay for, and the practices with prices a lot lower in cost then the competitors, are raising a red flag may be a warning sign of a quantity over quality practice.
Please read and protect yourself and your pets.

This book is really a 'must have' for any new or experienced pet owner. Dr. Murray demystifies veterinary medicine and makes the reader an informed consumer at the vet's office. She breaks veterinary medicine down concisely and effectively in this very readable book. I have never seen any book like it, it's a resource I am so thankful I have because will it save me both money and time. And it has kept me from wondering whether I am really getting the best veterinary care I can for my pet.

I have two favorite chapters; one is a breakdown of pet vaccinations. Basically, Dr. Murray explains that not every vaccination is necessary for every pet. Depending on the pet's lifestyle, tendencies, and age--certain vaccinations really may not be necessary! And Dr. Murray has some very easy to understand charts that allow you to determine which shots your pet really needs. Honestly, for this chapter alone the book is worth buying!

The other chapter I really love is the one which teaches you how to make an educated evaluation of your veterinarian. She explains what questions to ask your vet, what equipment a good veterinary practice should have, what kind of staffing and overnight care all good vets should have, and when a vet should refer your pet to a specialist. This is really life saving information, and I didn't realize the quality of care difference between some veterinarians.

Basically, this book is a great tool to help us protect our pets!

Frankly, as a mega-multi critter parent who has been-there-done-everything, I expected this book to be overly basic. Not so!! On the other hand, neither is it above anybody, with a nice, friendly, down-to-Earth style I really enjoyed. In fact, I found some truly laugh outloud spots, such as "And anyone who has ever tried it know that putting a cat in a carrier can be like trying to shove a panicked porcupine into a sock with your bare hands." (p. 28) How true!! Dr. Murray has definitely been around the block a few times.

She also deals deftly and straight forwardly with such topics as avoiding pet debt, vaccines, recourses if your critter was harmed by a vet, alternative medicine, and euthanasia. The anecdotal stories used to illustrate the topics are useful and enjoyable. I couldn't recommend this book more highly.

This book is a must have for anyone considering bringing a pet into their life. It's filled with useful information, practical checklists, and raises topics that I never would have considered before adopting a pet or finding a vet. If you're like me, and never grew up with a pet, but always wanted one, this book is an essential guide.

Choosing a veterinarian sometimes seems more complicated than we'd hope it would be. Our pets can't tell us how they're treated behind the scenes. We're unfamiliar with the options for treatment and medication. And we often have to make life-or-death decisions under emotional duress and financial pressure. Dr. Murray is here to help.

More experienced than the vast majority of practitioners out there, she's board-certified in internal medicine and is the director of medicine at the ASPCA (where she treats beloved pets, animal cruelty victims, and adoptable homeless animals.) In accessible (but never condescending) language, she guides you through the thought processes you should engage in, questions you should ask, and warning signs -- and explains where your hard-earned money goes when you make those sacrifices for the pet you love.

(Full disclosure: we went to high school together. She loved animals back then!)

I found this book amazingly comprehensive and informative with chapters on subjects like how to find a good vet, making the most of appointments, keeping pet inoculation records, when and how to find a specialist, even advanced technology and alternative medicine.
She tells pet owners what questions to ask and what to look for.
Checklists with objective criteria at the end of each chapter sum up the information and can be used over and over.
If you've had pets, you've probably taken them to the vet dozens of times. But that doesn't mean your animals have
gotten the best most up to date care possible. This book will help you be sure that they do.
Most pet owners just don't know how to judge the care their pets are getting either, or where to turn when there's a health crisis. And although there's a lot of information on the internet about health insurance and airplane fares,there's been no resource with objective information about choosing a vet.
People often choose the office that's closest to their home or because the staff is nice or the waiting room clean. But they'd never even buy a car that way-- leaving home and stopping at the first dealer they come to and buying the first on the lot --and people care a whole lot more about their pets than they do their cars.
This book can educate owners about getting the best care for their pets before there's a critical problem and it's too late because their vet didn't perform some basic routine test, like checking the animal's blood pressure.
There's never been a resource like it.

Dr. Murray has the rare combination of extraordinary mastery of her subject and an ability to explain it in a relevant, accessible way for her readers. Absolutely indispensable book for pet lovers--I've given copies to a number of friends and all of them have raved about how interesting and useful they found it!!