Inspiring personal and well-told memoir of a veterinarian’s expriences, education, and professional life.

I highlighted this book on my Booktube channel. The video can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/v5hTPt_UrA4

Written by a vet and animal lover/owner this is a must read for anyone who loves dogs and/or has been (or still is) broken hearted by their death.. I found it very enlightening and can understand why suicide rates are high in the veterinary profession when one of the pressures involves caring for the owner as well as their pet.
Several times I was moved to tears eg one day I was on the train to work and became a bit emotional as I read about Mimi the old cat. Rana’s story was amazing and sad.
I agree 100% that animals can fill empty places in our lives that humans are unable to occupy
Even though I shed a few tears I absolutely loved this book and think writing an pet obituary is a great idea to help ease the pain.
It was very interesting to learn about narrative medicine, veterinary acupuncture and anticipatory grief.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of the book in return for an honest review.

This is an easy to read book about a veterinarian's work, the author does include some biographical information in it. The book just did not pull me in, it was a bit matter of fact for me, with sometimes no sustaining interest in the narrative. I thank the publisher and NetGalley for the advance read.

I grew up on James Herriot so I am happy reading any book that is about a veterinarian’s life. The book was written in a dry, narrative manner, as if the author had been asked to “tell us a little about yourself.“ There was no hook, nothing to grab me and make me feel an emotion, any emotion. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

With many years of pets and veterinary medicine under her belt, Karen Fine delivers an entertaining, educational, and sweet nonfiction work about what it is like to be on both sides of the stethoscope. The author gives her background of what caused her to yearn to be a veterinarian and her pathway there. Despite being one of the groundbreaking few women to go into animal medicine, she tells us how her knowledge was done in college via “old school” methods. The education seemed to somewhat harden her heart to looking at the animals in an objective way, that is until she got a pet of her own. The remainder of the book is additional memories of her practice which are special in that she would go to patients’ homes to treat them. She also includes several chapters on euthanasia, which are eye opening and very thought provoking for those of us who face seeing our aging or sick best friends in pain daily or taking it upon ourselves bravely to end a life. What a kind, giving person Dr. Fine must be. Although I add a trigger warning for the euthanasia discussions, I will say that she has wonderful memories and anecdotes to accompany each point she makes. I loved this book, and highly recommend it to anyone who loves animals of any kind. Thank you to NetGalley and Anchor Books for this free ecopy in return for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and review this book. The Other Family Doctor is a memoir about Karen's career as a veterinarian and the role pets play in our lives. This is a heartwarming and cute story. If you love animals and pets you should give this a read.

I enjoyed the writing style and following Karen's character. I love reading books about animals.

Thank you Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Anchor for access to this arc.

CW/TW - cancer, pet death and euthanasia, puppy mills

I am among those who might say that at one point, they thought about veterinarian medicine as a career. I'd try not to monopolize anyone's time at a party in discussions of my pets. But I might ask more about holistic medicine or acupuncture. I expected the "How I became a veterinarian" section and the amusing anecdotes but once I discovered these other things were there, I was more interested in the alternative medical treatments and the thoughts on the importance of pets in our lives.


Lots of triggering things here.

There are a lot of things that might be triggering for readers that I've listed above but in addition the (hopefully on its way out) practice, that most vets who studied when Fine did, of doing a terminal surgery in order to learn the feel of performing surgery on a live animal is discussed. Other chapters focus on euthanasia and how doing these affects vet personnel, the increasing incidence of suicide in the profession, how one of her pets was diagnosed with cancer and the course of Rana's life, and how she, too, were diagnosed with cancer.


As tough as all these were to read about, I was happy to read about how she studied on her own time to be able to practice acupuncture and how this helped her link seemingly disparate symptoms in some of her patients, the importance of Chinese herbal medicine in her dog's care, and was thrilled with the list of resources at the end of the book to help with treatments, grief and mourning, counseling and mental health.


My pets have helped me through a lot. I take care of them and they take care of me. For most of the time I was reading this book, I had one of my cats sleeping on top of me, adding his dozing purrs to the experience. I appreciate the view into her professional and personal life. B

Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor, as well as NetGalley for an advance copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

The Other Family Doctor by Karen Fine is a good look into the life of someone who wanted to become a veterinarian. It begins with her as a young girl and follows her story through her schooling and career. Dr Fine tells stories of client's pets as well as her experiences with her own pets. There are stories of joy and heartbreak with a fair portion of the book being about her experiences with euthanasia, in fact that seems to be most of what I remember about this book. That may be because as a pet parent, I have dealt with this sadness many times with my own babies, bringing back memories of having to make that horrible decision myself.

Anyone that has or has had pets, or is an animal lover or is evening wondering what it might look like to be a pet parent will be sure to enjoy this book.

Dr. Karen Fine gives us an honest look at her life as a vet in The Other Family Doctor. Her stories are heart warming and so relatable when you know someone in the field.

4.5 stars

Karen Fine is a veterinarian and this is a memoir that includes her grandfather (human) doctor in South Africa, vet school, her marriage, and the lives and deaths of a few of her pets, in addition to a few stories of clients, as well as connecting with (human) clients, alternate medicines, behind-the-scenes being a vet, and more.

I really liked this. This was so much more than your usual vet stories of clients and their pets, and I especially liked that about this book. Of course, her pets dying had me sobbing, but that’s not a surprise.

A very straightforward memoir. Karen Fine loved animals from the time she was very young. This played a large part in her choosing to become a veterinarian. Her grandfather, of whom she was very fond, was a physician in South Africa and he was her idol. She struggled to become accepted in a field which until the 1980s, had long been dominated by men. Along the way, she took on pets that without her, would have died, either by death on the streets or by euthanasia.

Dr. Fine went a step further with her vet practice, and made much of her practice revolve around house calls for the pets. Getting better acquainted with the owners helped her give better care to the animals in her charge. One of her own dogs was Rana, and much of the book revolves around Rana and Rana's activities.

This would be a good read for someone interested in becoming a veterinarian.

Karen Fine's journey to becoming a veterinarian started with her deep love of animals as a child and culminated in a hard-won degree and the decision to follow her (physician) grandfather's example of a house-call practice. She has clearly gained an advantage over other vets in diagnosing and treating her clients (mostly cats and dogs, along with the odd potbellied pig and ferret) by seeing them and their owners in their home environments. Her memoir is full of anecdotes about these patients and about what she calls the "transcendent love between an animal and a person."

I enjoyed reading about Dr. Fine's international trips, including a visit to the Kruger National Park big game reserve with her South African relatives, her struggles to overcome her cat allergies, her quest to lead a calmer life through yoga, and her determination to explore new ways of diagnosing and treatment animals using acupuncture. We are also treated to personal stories about three of Dr. Fine's own pets and her marriage to Mike, who wasn't an animal person before meeting her and her fur babies.

There is perhaps more time devoted to Dr. Fine's experiences with euthanizing animals than I expected, which can be difficult to read, but her emphasis is always on giving our animals the happiest lives and the best deaths. Dr. Fine writes beautifully--I finished this book in a day.

My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

This is a lot more autobiographical than the title made it seem. I was expecting a lot more ties to what the subtitle mentioned but it was still a good book.

a hearfelt account of the authors training and life as a veterinarian. Tells of how she, her pets, patients, and their owners deal with the joys of pet ownership and sorrows at the pets end of life. Highly recommended especially to all animal lovers and those interested in a life as a vet

Dr. Fine’s memoir explores her lifelong love of all animals. She regales us with stories of becoming a vet, and experiences with animals and people once she’s in practice. I found many of the stories heartwarming and really enjoyed this book. I must admit I found it barbaric dogs were raised for the purpose of surgery then euthanized as did she. I love her relationships with animals, how she treats them as equals and shows how important our relationships with animals truly are. A must read.

To be honest, I was rather hoping for a James Herriot type of book. This one has some of those good stories, but also a lot of the education and life of the author as a vet, plus some of her ideologies. I liked how compassionate and caring the author is and I learnt some interesting things such as narrative medicine and how the health conditions of a pet can reflect that of their owner’s.

The writing is good and I was engrossed for some parts of the book. I would definitely recommend it for someone who aspires to become a vet or is a new vet.

Dr. Karen Fine shares tales from her life as a veterinarian, from the unique perspective of a vet who makes house calls. She shares stories of the love and loss she witnesses between her patients and their pets, as well as her own relationships with animals, humans, and herself.

I just loved this book. I think one of the reasons it resonated with me so much is because Karen reflects on the relationships between humans and their animals in such a respectful way. I love my cat a LOT and am often teased for being too obsessed, a helicopter mom or, as my aunt recently said, “codependent.” But I definitely felt recognized by this book. The author talks about how, despite society’s message that it’s “just a cat,” the bond between a human and a pet can be one of the most important relationships in a person’s life.

I’ll share this quote:

“Animals have an amazing ability to be who they are, in all their otherness, and at the same time to offer companionship and love to humans, adjusting to our lives in their own unique ways. They don’t care whether they are called ‘fur baby’ or not. Our pets don’t just give us unconditional love, they accept our love unconditionally, in whichever way we choose to give it.”

As one might expect in a book by a veterinarian, this work touches on the topic of euthanasia in some detail. It was a little hard to read at first because I am pretty afraid of death in general, and thinking of my cat dying makes me feel all sick and stormy inside. I have had the experience before, with a childhood cat, and it has stuck with me for a long time. But I felt like the author’s reflections on what she is doing for the animal and how they seem to react to her in the moment, without fear, helped me find more peace in the situation. I will likely be reflecting on this book again when that awful day comes. (Hopefully in many, many years.)

This book made me laugh and cry and cry some more. It was easy to read and I flew through it without getting bored. I wouldn’t change a thing, and I would highly recommend it to anyone with a love for animals.

The Other Family Doctor is a lovely memoir. Ms. Fine writes stories highlighting her experiences as a veterinarian that makes house calls. She introduces her readers to some of her patients, but the main thread of the book focuses on her relationship with one of her own pets, Rana, from puppyhood all the way to the end. This book does a particularly good job of addressing one of the hardest parts of pet ownership -- the demise of a beloved pet. It's compassionate and comforting . . .I really think Ms. Fine understands that she is treating human needs as much as the pet's health requirements.

The book is written in very straightforward language and is very accessible. Fans of James Herriott will most likely enjoy this book as well.

A beautifully written book about love for animals and what we can learn from being in their presence. The book speaks of resilience, unconditional love and strength to move forward, even after the loss of our beloved pets and our own unique challenges.