Doc, I Needed You Last Night: The Country Vet

Ride along with a veterinarian through the eastern Illinois countryside. In the warm months, the corn and soybeans grow lush and green on either side of the road, and red-winged blackbirds perch atop cattails in the roadside ditches. The green trees growing along the creek bank will be rife with color in the autumn. Marvel at the idyllic timber pasture where our next patient is waiting to be treated. Or stand at the side of an examination table in the animal hospital as the vet treats cats, dogs, cockatoos, and snakes. In the subzero temperature of winter, with snow piled high along the road, you'll visit a farm where a female sheep awaits a Caesarean section to remove too-large twin lambs. Kneel alongside the vet as you observe surgery in a building with no heat. Later, visit an exotic animal farm, with a zebra, fainting goats, and potbellied pigs, and watch as the vet performs pregnancy exams on four yaks. In the tradition of All Creatures Great and Small, this heartfelt and entertaining collection of stories celebrates the life of a country veterinarian who has nurtured and healed God's creatures for the better part of his life. Packed with larger-than-life characters-both human and four-legged-Doc, I Needed You Last Night will appeal to animal lovers of all ages.

A.J. Day received his DVM degree from the University of Illinois in 1961. He practiced general veterinary medicine in Watseka, Illinois, for nearly forty years, and served as president of the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association in 1995. He and wife, Mary Jane, have three children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.