Pitfalls in Veterinary Surgery

1. “Can’t You Do Anything Right?”: The Shocking Realization That I Was Not Perfect
2. Beastly Bellies
3. The Friday Night Special: Or Why Do Patients Become Critical Just Before the Weekend?
4. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: When to Refer and What Do You Do When Referral Is Not an Option?
5. Courage, Mystery, and Awe: The Intangibles of Being a Veterinary Doctor
6. Placed on Earth to Test Us: The Not‐So‐Humble Spay
7. “Oops!”: Not a Good Word to Hear During Surgery
8. Learning the Hard Way: Student, Resident, Teacher
9. “But I Don’t Want to Look Stupid …”: How to Let Others Help You
10. “It Didn’t Look Like That on Paper!”: When Textbooks Let Us Down
11. “It Will Be Interesting to See Whether That Works”: How to Be a Creative Surgeon
12. When the Unthinkable Happens: Mishaps, Mis‐steps, and Medical Errors
13. Things Went South – Now What?
14. “There’s Got to Be a Morning After”: Things Went Wrong – Now Live With It
15. One Leg Too Many: Patients Who Lost Limbs
16. Reconstruction Rescue: When the Hole Just Keeps Getting Bigger and Bigger
17. “Why Is Sam Straining?”: Iatrogenic Strictures and Stray Oddities
18. “An Alien in My Waiting Room”: Everyday Occurences of the Unexpected and Unbelievable
19. Rewind: What Would I Do Differently If I Had the Chance?

Pitfalls in Veterinary Surgery offers a candid examination of real-life mistakes and mishaps encountered while operating on veterinary patients. Describes a range of mistakes and mishaps encountered by a veterinary surgeon with 30 years of experience Provides an honest examination of the reality of operating on pets Offers the opportunity to learn from an experienced surgeon’s mistakes Discusses mistakes in a wide range of situations, ranging from commonplace to unusual Presents a realistic view of veterinary surgery, including how to live with mistakes