Author Description

Spend a fascinating, fast-paced week alongside an exotic pet vet as she races to find the source of a mysterious illness that is killing scores of lovable little pets—all while dealing with the remarkable daily challenges of treating a Noah’s Ark of exotic animals and their eccentric, loving, and sometimes demanding owners. Parrots and pythons, hedgehogs and hamsters, ferrets, turtles, and pot-bellied pigs—these are just a few of the many unique pets that world-renowned veterinarian Laurie Hess sees in the course of any given day. Like the New York Times bestseller Tell Me Where It Hurts, Unlikely Companions will take you inside the daily world of a noted veterinarian as she treats the perplexing symptoms and illnesses of her animal patients. Unlikely Companions chronicles a fast-paced week in Dr. Hess’s life as she struggles to solve a mystery affecting her practice and that of vets around the country: what is killing off the sugar gliders—tiny, affectionate marsupials who look like flying squirrels and love to snuggle? All the while, it’s business as usual at her bustling hospital outside of New York City, as she performs risky surgeries, makes life-altering diagnoses, and juggles puzzling patients and their quirky owners. Laurie has learned many lessons about the importance of caring for ourselves from her unique charges and from the profound bonds she witnesses daily between people and their pets. Part memoir, part inspirational self-help, Dr. Hess’s heartwarming, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting book is a James Herriot tale for a new era, an All Creatures Great and Small that celebrates the loving connections we make as human beings with each other and with other species.