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The Animals in My Life: Stories of a Country Vet
The veterinarian shares anecdotes about the animals he has encountered, including a puppy with a handicap, an attacking goose, and Hollywood's horses
- GenresNonfiction
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 17, 2018
The only trouble with this book (or shall I say with me), is that I compare every book written by a veterinarian to works by James Wight (aka James Herriot). That being said, I enjoyed this book, and felt that it was well written. There is a sequel out there, but I don't think I will be reading it.
December 7, 2020
I absolutely loved this book!!
The stories were both entertaining and very informative at the same time. A few even had me laughing out loud and I almost never do that. It's just that most stuff that other people find funny I don't think is funny but some of the incidents in here with unruly animals are indeed funny! And they are very easy to read too. In fact I read this entire book in just a few hours. In one sitting.
The book covers cows, chickens and roosters, horses, donkeys and mules. He really didn't like mules at all.
One thing I really liked is that I have learned some new things about horses from this book. I've learned about the Coggins test, about twitch and also that horses can cow kick. And since I see real horses every week I do find this information very interesting!
I'm going to read the sequel too! I hope it's as great as this one is.
The stories were both entertaining and very informative at the same time. A few even had me laughing out loud and I almost never do that. It's just that most stuff that other people find funny I don't think is funny but some of the incidents in here with unruly animals are indeed funny! And they are very easy to read too. In fact I read this entire book in just a few hours. In one sitting.
The book covers cows, chickens and roosters, horses, donkeys and mules. He really didn't like mules at all.
One thing I really liked is that I have learned some new things about horses from this book. I've learned about the Coggins test, about twitch and also that horses can cow kick. And since I see real horses every week I do find this information very interesting!
I'm going to read the sequel too! I hope it's as great as this one is.
May 24, 2023
Veterinary episodes in the life of an American vet who mostly does an equine practice but he also includes tales of ducks, cats, cows and pigs. Not as funny as the famous british vet but an easy read.
January 29, 2024
An account in the life of a veterinarian.
November 29, 2016
It is an enjoyable read, not as good as James Herriot but interesting.
August 5, 2016
What I love about The Animals in My Life is that Grant Kendall's recollections ignite a mixed bag of emotions. Some stories made me laugh out loud, some almost had me in tears, and at times I was even sick to my stomach. In essence, there wasn't a dull moment in this book.
The reason I gave this a four-star rating instead of a five is that despite Kendall's strong personality and the variety of his stories, the narration was often painfully "obvious." One chapter begins with: "My mobile phone made its sound signifying an incoming call. It was something between a ring and a buzz. I answered." The line "I didn't understand so I said, 'I don't understand'" appears in one chapter and is only one of countless lines throughout the book that contain unnecessary narration that interrupts you as you're being sucked into Kendall's world. Kendall does a fairly decent job at using imagery in his stories, so to stumble upon writing like this was just frustrating.
Kendall's book paints a fascinating picture for animal lovers of all types. It also makes me glad I'm not a country vet.
The reason I gave this a four-star rating instead of a five is that despite Kendall's strong personality and the variety of his stories, the narration was often painfully "obvious." One chapter begins with: "My mobile phone made its sound signifying an incoming call. It was something between a ring and a buzz. I answered." The line "I didn't understand so I said, 'I don't understand'" appears in one chapter and is only one of countless lines throughout the book that contain unnecessary narration that interrupts you as you're being sucked into Kendall's world. Kendall does a fairly decent job at using imagery in his stories, so to stumble upon writing like this was just frustrating.
Kendall's book paints a fascinating picture for animal lovers of all types. It also makes me glad I'm not a country vet.
September 26, 2010
In this collection of short stories, Grant Kendall shares his experiences as a veterinary student and a veterinarian, both in Virginia and in central Kentucky's horse country. He tells of amazing animals, such as a two-legged dog with a love for life and for every person he encountered, and an extremely fertile cat, named Cat, who had a batches of new kittens back-to-back-to-back-to-back.
Not all the stories are warm fuzzies, though. Dr. Kendall shares stories of some behind the scenes aspects of the race horse industry that aren't all pleasant, and he includes a highly depressing story of someone keeping a horse in a small lot behind their apartment, too ignorant to realize he was slowly starving the horse to death.
I'm thankful that nowadays most animal owners are a little more educated, and most of the stories in Dr. Kendall's collection are humorous and inspiring. He has lots of good stories to tell, and while no one can match James Herriott, I'd read Grant Kendall's book again.
Not all the stories are warm fuzzies, though. Dr. Kendall shares stories of some behind the scenes aspects of the race horse industry that aren't all pleasant, and he includes a highly depressing story of someone keeping a horse in a small lot behind their apartment, too ignorant to realize he was slowly starving the horse to death.
I'm thankful that nowadays most animal owners are a little more educated, and most of the stories in Dr. Kendall's collection are humorous and inspiring. He has lots of good stories to tell, and while no one can match James Herriott, I'd read Grant Kendall's book again.
March 7, 2011
Very entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews