Customer Rating: 
Summary: Sparky Fights Back
Comment: I thought the book was excellent and provided great insight into the emotional ups and downs when caring for and treating a pet who has been diagnosed with cancer. It also provided invalueable assistance regarding treatment and options for treatments.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Award Finalist
Comment: "Sparky Fights Back" was an award finalist (one of six nominees) in the annual Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) writing competition held in 2006. The nomination was for best "General Interest" book, a highly competitive category.
The authors were honored to be selected by fellow writers in this prestigious competition.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: sparky
Comment: i thought the book was just ok.it really bothered me to feel that the authors felt the need to almost apologize for going to what they thought was great lengthsto help sparky. i dont mean to imply that they dont deserve credit for all that they have done..it is just that i think this should be a given for dog lovers. i have 2 dogs fighting cancer..one has bladder cancer and 3 months after that diagnosis another was digonsed with lymphoma. i thought i would gain more insight regarding the specifics of the treatment and supplements...i was less interested in the personal anecdotes regarding sparkys life although they were cute..i just wanted more information. i thought the better book out there was helping your dog with cancer...a story about a siberian husky with lymphoma...a lot of technical information that helped me make my decision regarding treatment. on the whole i found the book to be too generic and insulting to dog lovers who shouldnt feel the need to apologize for treating their lovable dog with everything possible.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Inspirational story that made me feel hopeful
Comment: Update: 11/3/2008
I just reread this review and I thought I'd come back and say that my cat finished her entire (almost two years) of chemo treatments, radiation, force-feedings, prednisone, anitibiotics, etc. and she's still alive and kicking (and still sneezing snot all over everything.) I would recommend to anyone with a pet that has cancer that you buy a baby scale to weigh them on frequently at home, as weight changes are one of the easiest ways to tell that something is going wrong (or right!) Also, an in-ear thermometer is a great alternative to...erm...the good old-fashioned kind of thermometer if your vet wants to you to keep track of your pet's temperature.
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I have a cat with cancer, not a dog, but there isn't much info out there about cats and cancer (and taking my cat to the oncologist, we have yet to share the waiting room with any other cats...just dogs) so I have been reading books like this and "Preventing and Treating Cancer in Dogs", to supplement the reading I can find that actually refers to cats.
Sparky's story is very inspirational. The only other person I know who had cats with cancer...well...the cats died about four months after diagnoses, which didn't leave me feeling very hopeful. Reading this book was like having a friendly aquaintance tell you their positive story, which makes a nice change from what I usually get when people find out my cat has cancer...they get really quiet and act like she's basically dead already.
This book is well written and is an easy and enjoyable read that caused me to tear up a few times. It reminded me that it's worth fighting for my cat rather than just giving up, and it also pointed out to me that, although many people I know think spending many thousands of dollars trying to save a pet is crazy...there are plenty of other crazy people like me out there that would do the exact same thing.
The book was not really useful in terms of knowing what I was going to have to do with my cat...I thought it might be a sort of guide showing me the steps her treatment would follow, but it's probably a very bad idea to use this book that way because there are so many kinds of cancers and there are new research and protocols being developed all the time. My cat's treatment plan includes chemo and radiation and all that, but in a different order and it all seems very different. She also won't usually eat or drink on her own (she has a tumor in her nasal cavity, above her soft pallete and she can't smell anything or breath through her nose most of the time) and has to be force fed a few times a day and has had to have subcutaneous fluids a few times. She also sneezes out blood and mucus sometimes...really gross and scary. I'm glad Sparky never went through anything like that, but I wish more people would share their story like Sparky's owners did...maybe some cat owners, or at least some dog owners that had some different experiences. I'm sure there will be books like that eventually, and I do hope they are as well written as this one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A book of hope...
Comment: This wonderful book is a joyous read! My own dogs, now gone almost twenty-five years, were constantly in my thoughts (and, not a few tears) as I read about the authors' love for their Sparky and the courageous and intelligent approach they used to help him regain his health after a diagnosis of cancer. Every reader of this inspiring book will surely recognize the absolute honesty of the authors' story. Dog lovers will immediately feel validation of the love they feel for their own "best friends" and people who have faced profound medical challenges will be strengthened in their resolve to actively participate in their own care, seek out skilled professionals and seek to beat the odds. Most of all, those people fond of love stories will find love on every page of "Sparky Fights Back" -- the love of a trusting animal, the love shown by medical professionals who seek to treat and cure animals, the love of a community of friends and neighbors who shared in and gave support to the idea that the life of one small dog could be saved. I finished the book with renewed hope from Sparky's example, that we too can face our own challenges with new vigor, take great joy in small things and find our own way to undiminished dignity no matter the difficulty of the battle to be fought.
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