Pre-Owned Real People Don't Own Monkeys: And Other Stories of Pets, Their People and the Vets Who See It All (Paperback) 1570718229 9781570718229

These true stories evoke the hilarious, often poignant world of a veteran veterinarian where pet owners play as large a role as the pets themselves. Not only does Dr. Kiklevich treat traditional pets, she also cares for all kinds of exotic animals, from tigers to pythons and even tarantulas.

Some people, the author notes, love their pets more than the rest of their family, often for good reason. Some even imagine their animals’ have the same emotions in the same situations as they do. Most have questions about the care of their pets ranging from the practical to the bizarre:

o How do you keep a ten foot python from strangling you?

o How can you tell if your sick turtle has died?

o How can you prevent your dog from developing prostate cancer?

o Do cats commit suicide?

o Do pigs eat pork?

The authors themselves have lived with a miniature menagerie of pets their entire lives. Many of the stories are about experiences with their own animals. They have also teamed up for field research on animals in the wild and some stories come from the pets they acquired during their years living at a biological field station in the South American bush, or their encounters that only a veterinarian would have with big game in East Africa or with odd creatures lurking in the wilds of New Guinea.

These stories are interspersed with practical advice about pet and health care. Written in the tradition of All Creatures Great and Small, the reader is made privy to the secret world of those staid-looking veterinary hospitals—the jokes, the joy, the grief, the human drama and the catastrophes no one ever mentions.