I have had the same veterinarian for my animals since my son was in grade school (he's 19 now). Dr. Gulliver has seen me through two dogs and several cats. I almost gave him up when the VCA Family Veterinarian Hospital moved in across the street from him. This lapse in thinking was inspired by the fact that VCA was open 24 hours, even if the off hours are horribly expensive.

Believe me. It was not due to their extra special care or bedside manner, because Dr. Gulliver is second to none.

A recent example of this special care is that earlier this summer, my lovely Tenterfeld terrier, Hachi, hurt herself and somehow caused a devastating injury to her spine. Money has been horribly tight for me but Hachi went from walking on all four legs to losing the use of her hind legs within days so I needed to get her seen and soon. It was not merely that she had lost the use of her limbs but it was also obvious that she was in a great deal of pain. If we so much as touched her rump area, she cringed and shrank away from us.

I called VCA but just to get her seen was going to cost me a large sum of money and they didn't take checks. Depressed, I hung up with them and then waited a few hours until Dr. Gulliver's office opened.

As soon as his office opened, I called to see if I could get her in and if they took personal checks. The receptionist assured me that they did take checks and that the doctor could see Hachi after his morning surgery.

I bundled Hachi up and took her down to Dr. Gulliver's office. I was on the verge of tears from worry and fear but given the care and love that Dr. Gulliver has for his patients, I had hope.

That's the big thing with Dr. Gulliver: He has this calming touch with the animals that is really wonderful and it is clear that he enjoys his job in all its unpredictable glory. It is why I keep going back to him. He loves the work and the animals.

I would love to say that there was a miracle at the end of this story, but there was not. After a brave two months of working with Hachi to help her regain the use of her hind legs, we had to make the difficult decision to euthanise her. The nerve damage was causing a prickling sensation in her back feet and it drove her to start biting herself. In the space of one evening, she had self-mutiliated herself by biting off the side of one foot.

Although Dr. Gulliver and I had discussed many options for her from a medical standpoint, he told me bluntly that I knew my dog

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