City Pets: The Riveting Life of a House-Call Veterinarian

Source: Charles/Pexels.

Being a veterinarian is at once a very rewarding and extremely challenging job. When I first learned of the kaleidoscopic life of New York City veterinarian Dr. Amy Attas and read the description of her new book Pets and the City: True Tales of a Manhattan House Call Veterinarian, in which she "shares all the funny, heartbreaking, and life-affirming experiences she’s faced throughout her thirty-year career treating the cats and dogs of New Yorkers from Park Avenue to the projects," I immediately wanted to learn more about her unique practice. It reminded me of another veterinarian, Dr. Doug Mader, who practiced veterinary medicine in inner-city Los Angeles. Here's what Amy had to say about her landmark and inspirational book.

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Pets and the City?

Amy Attas: I wrote Pets and the City for two reasons. First, I wanted to share some of my unique experiences as a New York City house-call veterinarian, and, perhaps more importantly, I hoped that in sharing those experiences someone might find inspiration in my book the same way my life was changed by a book I read as a teenager.

Source: G. P. Putnam'z Sons/with permission.

I read All Creatures Great and Small when I was 13 years old, and it had a profound effect on me. Although I knew as a child—almost genetically—that I wanted to be a veterinarian, reading All Creatures propelled me to find a job in an animal hospital right then and there. Though the book was set in Yorkshire in the north of England in the 1940s and was about a vet who treated both farm animals (making farm calls) and pets, I identified with the deep feelings James Herriot expressed about caring for animals. I was also inspired by the relationships he developed with the farmers and pet owners—the unique Yorkshire folks—and the empathetic way he treated his patients. Something told me even then that this personal and compassionate style was the way I wanted to practice veterinary medicine.¹

Almost every day I return home after a full day ‘on the road’ and share with my husband an experience that happened that day, and these stories have turned into Pets and the City. I hope the readers of my book will smile and maybe cry as they read about my experiences, my patients and my insights not only into the animal world but also into the human family, which so plainly includes dogs and cats. And, just maybe, someone will be inspired by my book the way that I was inspired by that important book I read early in my life.

MB: How does your book relate to your background and general areas of interest?

AA: Becoming a veterinarian and practicing veterinary medicine has been the driving force in my life. Pets and the City is the story of that passion—my calling to be honest. Although many of the chapters are about both my patients (the animals) and my clients (the people), I have also shared some of my personal experiences from along the way.

In the 1980s it was extremely competitive to get into one of the country’s few veterinary colleges, and there were still lingering prejudices against women in the field, so getting into one of the top vet schools was very, very difficult. In Pets and the City, I describe the lengths to which I went to have an outstanding application for admission to veterinary school. Years later, when circumstances found me out of a job suddenly and unexpectedly, I pivoted from a ‘normal’ hospital practice and the following morning created City Pets, the first New York City veterinary house-call practice.

I believe if you want something badly enough, you simply must find a way to make it happen.

MB: Who do you hope to reach in your interesting and important book?

AA: Even though I have written this book about the experiences I have had being a veterinarian, Pets and the City is really about people. New Yorkers to be exact, people perhaps just as unique as Yorkshire dwellers. Not only will every pet lover enjoy these tales, but so also will those who appreciate insights into people and their behavior, not to mention those who want at peek inside Manhattan.

I also want to reach people facing obstacles in their lives. As a young woman, entering a profession that was dominated by men meant I had to be better and work harder than others just to be considered. So, I hope some will find my personal journey overcoming obstacles an inspiration.

MB: What are some of the major topics you consider?

• The extraordinary bond between humans and their pets.

• What unconditional love looks like.

• How animals provide remarkable enhancement of people’s physical and emotional conditions, which is now proven science.

• How people cope with their own vanities and often express them through their pets.

• And on the flip side, how we can get past our biases, such as those toward physical disabilities, through our pets.

• How our compassion for animals can make us behave more decently toward one another.

• That caring for animals teaches us important lessons.

• And sometimes animals are much more than pets.

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MB: How does your book differ from others that are concerned with some of the same general topics?

AA: I think I’ve read most of the books written by veterinarians, being curious to compare our experiences. I set out to write a different book, with my chapters organized according to themes and life lessons rather than along a simple timeline. While there is a touch of veterinary wisdom in Pets and the City, this is definitely not a “how to” pets book.

MB: Are you hopeful that as people learn more about what you do they will appreciate what you and your colleagues do and how important you and they are for increasing a dog's well-being?

AA: While certainly a reader will see on full display the complexities of being a veterinarian, from medical to moral, as a house-call doctor, I am frequently witness to the needs of humans, both emotional and even physical, and through an intimate presence in their lives, I often provide needed care for them, as well. You will find poignant examples of this in my book.

Truly, because I see so much more than does a traditional vet working in a sterile animal hospital, I believe I have been able to improve the lives of many of my clients, as well as of their pets, who are my true patients.