Heal the Beasts is a well-written, well-researched, engaging history of veterinary medicine. Exploring humankind's connection to "beasts" and the desire to provide them care, first for practical reasons, then for more emotional ones, Dr. Schott tells the stories of 22 different animal healers and veterinarians spanning centuries and continents. Some of the early treatments are astonishing now that we know better! Dr. Schott draws parallels between the evolution of human and animal medicine and shows how, over time, veterinary medicine went from a field of mostly shysters to becoming a respected field based in science. Written in a conversational, storytelling tone, Dr. Schott makes the information interesting and easy to follow, and his sense of humor shines through. I highly recommend reading all the way to the end, including the Sources and Further Reading, which includes numerous images relevant to the stories told in the main text, annotated with Dr. Schott's droll comments and observations.

This is a trip through the history of veterinarians and how they evolved from treating just horses and cattle to ministering to all sorts of animals, small and large. It's really interesting and if you have read any of the books by this author, you'll know that the author doesn't take himself too seriously.
I now have at least three more books that I want to read on the back of this.
Enjoy, it's a really interesting read.

I enjoyed this book. It was much more involved than I had anticipated. I wasn't expecting the book I got, I learned a lot.

A delightful interesting look at veterinary medicine across time.Well written very entertaining a great read.#NetGalley #ecw

From ancient elephant healers to modern celebrity cat doctors, this book explores the fascinating history of animal healthcare, revealing the evolution of our bond with animals across cultures and centuries. A mix of history and storytelling, it will appeal to those interested in the evolution of veterinary science.

Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Thank you ECW Press for this arc.

I have loved Dr. Schott's non-fiction books about his years in veterinary practice and jumped at the chance to read this book. Unfortunately, I find this is not for me. The opening section about horses in battle is difficult to read as is the (I will admit its historical truth) view of animals not suffering pain. For several chapters after this, Schott writes intro scenarios (and he is a very good writer) to illustrate various archeological finds and historical information we have about veterinary treatments for animals. It all seems a bit scattershot and I find my attention flagging. I enjoy his modern vet practice memoirs but this one isn't working for me. DNF

Hits with a few misses for this lay reader🤔

I am a big fan of author Philipp Schott's veterinarian sleuth series and that drew me to this book. I knew it would be a mix of fiction and nonfiction. In fact, most of the illustrative fictional stories that lead into the chapters integrated well with the history facts and once I got to the Renaissance era when popes worried about the spread of cattle disease I settled into the book pretty well. And the initial eye opening segment about the 1815 Battle of Waterloo and the toll it took on the horses used in combat: horrifying but gripping.

As a lay reader not involved in the sciences or veterinary medicine, I found the first third of the book (before the pope section), when care and remedies were so hit and miss, and then the genesis of schools of veterinary medicine, a bit dry and hard going. But I persisted and I am glad I did, really enjoying the chapters after the profession started branching out more into pets as well as farm animals. For instance, I never knew there were vets who specialized in just one species of pet, like cats, and the practicality of cat house calls. Schott also highlights the growing presence of female practitioners and even weaves in a jaunt to the forests of Africa.

Another segment I really enjoyed: that Yorkshire vet made world famous by a popular television series(now two!) and how he and his colleague cohort bridged the gap to widespread use of penicillin, antibiotics and the preventive treatments used today. The photos and illustrations at the end were a good feature too.

Not a quick read for me but it was informative and does a good job illustrating the way care about and for animals has evolved over centuries.

Thanks to ECW Press and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Review shared on 6/30/25 on Waterstones and Goodreads, and with Barnes & Noble and BAM. To be shared with kobo and Google Play upon publication.

A treat. This is both educational and fun. Schott has chosen 22 veterinarians from across time and nations to highlight, each with a contribution to the mission of helping animals. While there is sadness, there are also some chuckleworthy bits. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Heal The Beasts is an exploration of the history of veterinary medicine by Canadian veterinarian and author, Philipp Schott. He takes his reader back some fourteen thousand years, introducing a pup whose bones, found in the same burial as human bones, indicate it was treated for distemper. Yes, that long ago, people were caring for their animals.

But if the idea of fourteen millennia of veterinary history seems daunting, fear not! As he hops all over the globe, Schott presents the interesting tidbits of how Veterinary medicine came to be, and he prefaces each chapter with a fictional vignette that illustrates the point of including that particular person.

He describes how the motive for treatment fluctuates between practical, emotional and spiritual, often being a mixture of two or three of these, and tells us “Much as in ancient times, throughout the Middle Ages veterinary medicine was a hodgepodge, with a few sound practices mixed into a breathtaking range of unsound ones.”

Thus, for example: “When “murrain” struck flocks of sheep in medieval England, it was common practice to gather the sheep to listen to a priest read the appropriate curative psalms to them.”

He also notes that in early publications, treatments are generally “the expected mix of the useful, the useless, and the downright bizarre”, many of which he describes for the reader’s entertainment. Not until the Enlightenment, was everything “thrown open to question and inquiry. Reason was replacing superstition. Science was replacing theology” and some healers “saw more similarities than differences between the maladies of humans and animals.”

More recent history even brings up some names with which the reader may be familiar. Certainly, the statistics are, at times, mind-boggling. Informative, fascinating, and often entertaining.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and ECW Press

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I never thought I'd be so engrossed in a little nonfiction book about the history of veterinary medicine, but this one caught my attention and held it! The story-esque introductions to each chapter set up the information in a fun and easy-to-digest way, while the rest of the chapter provided information that was not too technical for this layperson to follow and understand.

Schott has such an engaging writing style and presents information in such a good way for your everyday reader. That being said, this is a great educational book too, and I could definitely see it used in introductory animal science courses and hope professors and the like see that potential as well!

Publication date: July 8, 2025

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with this brief but intriguing history of humans' connection with animals through the ages. The author is a Canadian veterinarian and writer. I enjoyed his three previous works of fiction,' The Dr. Bannerman Mysteries ', and have his 'Accidental Vet' books on my list. These are based on incidents in his career. He writes with wit, wisdom and empathy.

This book's format and tone were unusual. He uses a conversational style, speaking directly to the reader with humorous asides. The reader does not need much knowledge of science or medicine to relax and enjoy his engaging conversations. Each chapter begins with a fictional anecdote featuring a historic animal healer, then gives some facts about the care of animals at that time. He discusses the relationship of man and beasts through the ages, and in many countries. Some of the so-called cures were bizarre and shocking. Disease was believed to be due to evil spirits, bad air, or the punishment of an owner by the gods, by sickening and killing his livestock. He warns the reader when an upcoming section may be disturbing because it deals with the suffering of animals, giving the reader a chance to avoid it.
The Church and some philosophers in Medieval times insisted that animals lacked a soul, and many remedies, research, and learning by dissecting were forbidden. Scientific teachings declined in Europe, but at the same time, medical and scientific thought flourished in Arab countries.

Going back in history, we learn that the early healers treated animals for practical purposes, mainly horses and livestock, and later working dogs. Early veterinarians were known by their specialty, followed by the word leech. Thus, the titles of horse-leech or cow-leech. The keeping of animals as companions or pets was scarcely known, except possibly by the wealthy. As ordinary people began to acquire small animals as pets, they became beloved family members. This coincided with the opening of veterinary schools, animal clinics, and hospitals, where pets became the main patients of modern veterinarians. With the contagious germ theory, antibiotics, and the development of vaccines, human and animal medical treatment made great strides.

Throughout the book, we learn interesting facts and meet many significant people. Some facts will interest any reader. He mentions that 3,000 years ago, Indian fighting elephants were treated for their injuries. The horrifying fact that 12,000 horses were killed in a single day during the Battle of Waterloo is heartbreaking. James Herriot and others who established vet hospitals, taught veterinary skills, and opened clinics are mentioned. As small animal clinics became widespread, some veterinarians became specialists working with specific animals. Dr. Camuti specialized in treating cats in New York City and did house calls for over 60 years. He wrote a book about his practice titled ' All My Patients Are Under the Bed'. Readers will find ancient drawings and engravings depicting early cures, and later fascinating paintings and photos of noted veterinarians and their work.
"Heal the Beasts' is due to be published on July 8/2025.

I loved Dr. Schott's idea for Heal the Beasts but was disappointed in the execution. In the introduction he references other mono-thematic histories and his desire to do the same for veterinary medicine, with the goal of demonstrating the evolution of human's empathy for animals—a worthy effort. Each chapter opens with a story that Dr. Schott invented based on historical occurrences. Again, an interesting idea that shows Dr. Schott's creative side (Schott is also the author of novels), yet I found these stories somewhat forced and fanciful. The book is very much a history beginning from 12,205 BCE and passing through the ages to reach present day, reading at times like an entry in an encyclopedia, at other times, however, veering off in digressions and asides spurred by the mention of a curious figure. I struggled to see a clear link from one chapter to the next that would illustrate the evolution he described in the introduction. He states the sentiments and changes he'd like us to see but it felt more like I was being told what to think rather than being shown that evolution and left to draw my own conclusions. I did appreciate that he brought forth lesser known veterinarians and women vets in particular.
My niece is a veterinarian and I believe she, and her colleagues, would find Heal the Beasts interesting, general readers, less so.

A fact-filled history of our treatment of animals, through sickness and health
In Heal the Beasts author and veterinarian Philipp Schott has written an impressive history of his profession from the earliest days of animal care. The book also follows humans’ relationships with animals and the role animals have played in individual lives and society.
Each chapter is centered around a particular animal healer or veterinarian and opens with an extended vignette about that person and their experiences. This is followed by a broader discussion of that page in history.
The tone of the book often reminded me more of conversation than a written work, and like many conversations it was fascinating and engaging. Each chapter was full of facts and descriptions about animals, their care, and various historical figures who were animal lovers (or not!). I learned that twelve thousand horses died in one day at the Battle of Waterloo. Rene Descartes described animals as “automata, mere machines”; on the other hand, Voltaire said that “one must never have observed animals in order not to distinguish among them the different voices of need, suffering, joy, fear, love, anger and all their affections”. The medieval European Christian church forbade dissecting animals or studying their diseases, but the Arabs did pursue the subject. On the other hand, the world’s first veterinary school opened about 1761, but humans did not get their first dental school until 1840. I learned about “attenuation”, the practice of passing a disease through another species in order to weaken it and make treatment in the first species possible. The recently deceased Pope Francis hinted that animals might be able to go to heaven! I could go on and on but will not. You will have to dip into Heal the Beasts to learn more! I suggest a chapter or two at a time for maximum enjoyment.
I received an advance review copy of Heal the Beasts from NetGalley and the publisher.

I hope that this book does well as it was much more entertaining than I thought it would be. I got it really for my grandaughter who would like to be a vet when she is older but found it fascinating with some really quirky entries.

“Heal the Beasts: A Jaunt Through the Curious History of the Veterinary Arts,” by Philipp Schott
(ISBN: 781770417830, Kindle, Pub Date Jul 08 2025, ECW Press) earns four stars.

OK, I knew people and “beasts” were inexorably connected, from my own experience with pets if nothing else. But, I happily found I learned much more about the connections between humans and animals throughout history…and we’re not just talking about cats and dogs. That revealed much about all involved. So, it’s an informative read, but it’s also a fun read…which left me saying, “Ahhhh, I didn’t know that,” or just laughing out loud. What a terrific read!

Thanks to ECW Press and Net Galley for making it possible to read this ARC.

“It is often the case that the history of one thing mirrors the history of many things.”

Heal the Beasts was an interesting and entertaining read. Through fictionalized anecdotes, the author made us travel through time and space and witness Veterinary Medicine’s birth, growth and evolution.
As a former vet and someone who loves History of Sciences, I particularly enjoyed that journey. With each little anecdote (based on facts, but adapted in short stories) we learn a concept and can see how Animal Health preoccupied humans since the dawn of time. Each chapter is completed with a discussion and an explanation, to show how Human and Animal Medicine were (are) linked since forever and how each helped the other to evolve. I also particularly liked the way the author decided to add empathy to the relationships between human and animals, providing some extra thinking to us by the addition of references (texts and painting). This is a thing many should remember nowadays in our relationship with other species.
All along, the author keeps things simple, though, and vulgarizes his subject as much as he adds some storytelling, which makes this book easy to read for everyone, no matter their background.

Thank you to the author and ECW press for the eARC sent via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

A Delightful and Insightful Journey Through Veterinary History

Heal the Beasts by Philipp Schott is a fascinating, heartwarming, and often humorous exploration of humanity’s long history of caring for animals. With an engaging narrative style and a knack for storytelling, Dr. Schott introduces readers to a diverse cast of healers—some well-known, others delightfully obscure—who dedicated their lives to treating creatures great and small.

The book is a treasure trove of surprising and often bizarre veterinary practices, from ancient elephant doctors to modern feline specialists. Yet, beyond the anecdotes, it highlights the ever-evolving bond between humans and animals, showing how our perspectives have shifted across centuries. Schott’s writing is both informative and accessible, making history come alive with charm and wit.

Whether you’re an animal lover, a history enthusiast, or simply someone who enjoys quirky, well-researched stories, Heal the Beasts is a joyful and enlightening read. It celebrates compassion, curiosity, and the enduring connection between people and the animals they cherish. Highly recommended!

This book offers a broad, accessible look at the history of veterinary medicine, blending informative research with engaging anecdotes. Though some sections felt dry, the fascinating historical insights and modern perspectives made it a worthwhile read.

Throughout history, the bond between humans and animals has been evident.
From ancient animal healing traditions to modern day medicine, Heal the Beasts looks at how humans have strived to do the best they can for animals in their care.

When I saw this on NetGalley, I did initially wonder whether the content may be heavy on the technical side and targeted more at people with medical knowledge, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it is aimed at a much wider audience. A lot of surprising information is presented here. For example, I did not know about Freud’s connection to eels or the existence of Bald’s Leechbook in 9th century Anglo-Saxon England.

Schott writes in a very easy-going manner, with tongue sometimes firmly in cheek! While the focus is on veterinary treatment, you also discover how people viewed the world throughout history and their changing beliefs, especially those connected to magic and superstition. The idea about elf-shot and some of the practices that were carried out are just mind boggling in today’s world of advanced medicine.

Overall, I found it fascinating and really hope that the use of the word veterinary won’t discourage people from reading it.

The history of veterinary medicine is a very interesting topic to me and there was lots of fascinating adjacent historical information covered. However, I dont see this being a book that a lot of people would be drawn to, although it was written in a way that would be easily accessible to the layperson. I would advise anyone considering this book to give it a try.