'Speaking for Spot' book a health education for all dog owners

One of the most important – and often most difficult – jobs of a dog owner is to optimize the health of his or her furry friends. Unlike human family members who can tell you how they feel and take increasing responsibility for their own health as they mature, our dogs rely completely on us to keep them well throughout their lives.

If you have ever wished for a handbook to assist you in becoming the best possible caretaker for your dog, wish no more!

Dr. Nancy Kay’s new book, Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life, seeks to help dog owners navigate the often unfamiliar waters of veterinary medicine, especially during chronic disease or terminal illness.

This warm, engaging book, released in October 2008, offers oodles of information, including helpful lists and plain-English descriptions of treatment options for a wide variety of diseases. As an internal medicine specialist, Dr. Kay spends her days treating the most complex and difficult cases, giving her an in-depth working knowledge of serious illness, as well as the ability to see how hard the decision-making process can be for dog owners.

Dr. Kay teaches dog owners the most important questions to ask their vet, how to make choices in their dog’s best interest, how to help their vet be more effective, what options are available for cancer treatment and euthanasia, and more.

According to The Whole Dog Journal (WDJ), the list of “deal breakers” to employ in your search for the perfect veterinarian is alone “worth the price of the book,” touting the volume as one of their “favorite dog-care discoveries” of 2008.

WDJ also states, “At last! An accurate, thorough health book by a vet who promotes the best of conventional medicine and is aware of its shortfalls, too. Dr. Nancy Kay … explains the basics of responsible healthcare and what dog owners should know. But she also illustrates how owners must manage their vet/client relationship and be assertive advocates for their dogs, for the best possible results.”

I must admit that I have not read the whole book, but I have read excerpts and reviews and listened to podcasts with Dr. Kay. Speaking for Spot sounds like a wonderful book and one that I will likely add to my own library. (That’s saying a lot for me, as I generally prefer alternative treatment modalities to conventional medicine.) The only thing that could make this book even better (in my opinion) would be more information on alternative medicine, but at least Dr. Kay mentions these modalities as viable options. Many conventional vets will not even entertain non-conventional treatments, so kudos to Dr. Kay for that! As the owner of a dog with cancer, I can say from personal experience that trying to blend the conventional and the alternative is not always an easy task!

The book has received kudos from many dog-care experts, including Linda Tellington-Jones (creator of the T-Touch system), Dr. Marty Becker (nationally syndicated columnist and Good Morning America resident veterinarian), Janet Tobiassen (DVM and About.com veterinary medicine expert), The Bark Magazine and Modern Dog Magazine.

Dr. Kay is a board certified specialist in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and is published in several professional journals and textbooks. She is a staff internist at a 24-hour emergency/specialty care center in northern California.