The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs

by Nick Trout

I thought I would try a little light reading for a change.  This is the story of a man, a veterinary pathologist, who was dismissed from his job in the southern U.S. and lost his license to practice.  He is in the midst of a wrongful dismissal suit.

His father has died and he has returned to Vermont to sell the family veterinary practice to fund his lawsuit and get some money.  However, he finds the practice is deeply in debt.  The local banker tells him his best bet is to sell the practice to a big chain of vet clinics.

However, he gets a reprieve from the bank, if he can make enough money, in one week, to show the practice is viable he may not to have to sell it to the chain.  His first patient is a man who wants his aged golden retriever euthanized.  The man leaves, doesn't sign the consent form, but throws $20 at the man to do the deed.  The man is puzzled by this behaviour and can't bring himself to kill the dog.  He takes it to the apartment on the second floor of the clinic.  He later finds that a mother and dauther are posting posters seeking the dog.... but he doesn't tell them he has the dog.

As the story moves along we learn that the man had become estranged from his father.  As a young man he was hurt by the fact that his father put all his attention to his practice and patients and had little time for his own family.  The boy is sent off to university and is distraught when he finds his mother had cancer, has died and his father didn't tell him until after she has been buried.  He is so furious he changes his  name to his mother's last name.

The man stumbles and bumbles his way through diagnosing and treating some of the local pets.  He ends up figuring out some very difficult diagnoses. He also saves a cat and her kitten performing a difficult delivery and then delivering the cat's owners baby when she goes into labour right after the birth of the kitten.  This celebrity is great for the clinic, but could be bad for him if it comes out that he is working with a suspended license.  Then he finds out that someone knows his past and is threatening to reveal the truth.

At the vet clinic there is a heavy smoking assistant who knows everyone in town.  She doesn't welcome the new doctor.  He is befriended by a part-time vet who has been working at the clinic.  This man gives him advice and actually reveals the truth to the man about his father and mother.  His mother didn't want him to worry about her, didn't want him to fail his vet exams, so got her husband not to tell the son she was ill or dies until after his exams.  He is understandably sad at this revelation.

By the end of the book he has become convinced not to sell the practice and an "angel investor" comes forward to help him meet his immediate financial difficulties.  The golden retriever is returned to its owner, and it looks like he has found a woman to love.  He leaves the clinic to settle his legal affairs.  We assume all will end well.

This was a fun, funny light read.  A great book for dog lovers.