Vet Stories

\”Hello… Are you the vet who comes to peoples houses?\” the voice asked me gently over the phone. \”We have a lovely old wolfhound, and he\’s got a sore leg, he really seems to have become unwell very quickly. Could you come and have a look at him for us?\” My heart sank. Most old […]

While I was still at vet school, nearing the end of the marathon, I had to go and spend some time in various veterinary practices to gain \’practical experience\’. As soon as I had finished exams, and then had the obligatory celebratory beer(s) at the venerable pub which we all frequented whenever we had the

When I was getting my home visit business rolling, I had a part time job in a town about 45 minutes drive north of the sleepy little beach side village I lived in. Two days a week, I would drive through the canefields, tall swaying canes blocking out the scenery on both sides of the

\”My dog just had puppies a couple of nights ago, and suddenly she\’s behaving very strangely. She won\’t let the puppies drink, and they are hungry, and crying out. It\’s like she wants to let them suckle, but then she just doesn\’t, she jumps back out of the puppy box, and she seems a bit

\”Hello – I\’m wondering if you could help me?\” the voice questioned me over the phone. \”I just got this rescue dog a week or so ago – a kelpie fellow – I have another four dogs, but this one seems really disconnected. He doesn\’t seem to want have anything much to do with me,

Why did I become a vet, anyway? I remember as a child, the vet would fly in to do the tuberculosis testing of our cattle herd. I must have been only 5 or 6 years old. We would hear the plane in the distance, and all in a scurry run over to the shed to

Another locum job, in the grey and dirty outskirts of London. Ranks and rows of houses in the cold cloudy misery of an english winter. The wind trying to slip through any little cranny in your layers of scarves and coats and dance with your shivering bones. I remember, early one morning, looking out the

Just today I was heading back to home, when the phone rang. A worried voice was at the other end of the line… \”My little dog is really unwell, we think she has milk fever,\” she said. \”She\’s panting, and all stiff, and shaking, and her heart is racing. She had two puppies about 3

I wrote a bit a while back about an old fellow in townsville- a confirmed bachelor and passionate breeder of pig dogs. He was one of those special clients, the sort who have you clenching your teeth in frustration, and smiling in admiration. But mostly clenching my teeth with frustration, I\’m afraid. He could talk

The phone rang… I said to myself \”I just want to go home, really,\” sighed, and picked up. It had been a long day, and I wasn\’t feeling the best, body tired to the bones, aching for a hot bath, home and rest. I put on a cheerful face. Funny how you always feel better