Don't Look in the Freezer: The Very Strange Life of a Veterinarian's Wife

For James Herriot fans and pet lovers, a modern-day, funny-yet-poignant memoir about what it is like to be the only person in a small family not employed in the veterinary profession.

Patti Eddington should have known when she married her veterinary student boyfriend that she would spend anniversary and birthday dinners not sitting at tables at fancy restaurants but kneeling under a surgery table in a cocktail dress, desperately trying to mop up a steady stream of blood and urine with cheap paper towels. She should have guessed that every knock at the door or ring of the phone would mean her husband would be torn away from the family for hours--sometimes returning deflated, sometimes smiling. But she could never have dreamed that her beautiful, curly-haired young daughter would one day bathe and sleep with an inflatable tick (until the day it was mysteriously punctured by a salad fork) or that she would go through her marriage of forty-five years opening every freezer door with caution.

Don't Look in the Freezer is a humorous, poignant, loving look into the sometimes strange, mostly unglamorous, life of a veterinarian's wife. Patti's little family is not at all like that of famous veterinarian James Herriot's--but is still absolutely filled with compassion and love for animals and the people who adore them.

Author: Patti Eddington
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 04/28/2026
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.73lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.56w x 0.71d
ISBN: 9798896361305

About the Author
Patti Eddington married her veterinary student boyfriend, Jim, when they were in college. While she expected the focus of their life together to be on animals, she wasn't prepared for quite as many shenanigans as she has experienced; her life has been incredibly happy, but probably not as glamorous as some might expect. Today, the Mid-Century Modern design enthusiast, dance fitness instructor, and former journalist enjoys being dragged on walks by her ridiculous three-legged dog, David, and watching the sandhill cranes and bald eagles from her deck on a beautiful bayou in Spring Lake, Michigan.