“Oh, you’re a vet?!” Two things are happening in the head of the person you’ve just met: No. 1. They’re thinking of a question to ask you. About their horse, their granny’s cat, or their friend’s aunty’s designer Cockadoodlepoopywhip. No. 2. They’ve just labelled you. With that label comes a list of expectations that they... Continue Reading →
Compared to many other professions, veterinary science is not what you would call a high performer on the salary front. Depending on who you ask, vet wages fall somewhere between that of a plumber and a hat rack. But is this necessarily true? Over the 20-odd years of my career I’ve met a lot of... Continue Reading →
You, young doctor or nurse, living in your privileged society of excess, with your years of study and work in an industry that exists largely to minimise animal suffering, have certain expectations of what ‘taking care of an animal’ looks like. This is not a standard achievable by many. Suffering and death will come... Continue Reading →
Photo courtesy of Michael Weinhardt Photography: So Many Other Things. At work, as in life, what we think largely determines how we feel, and how we feel becomes how we act and interact. Through our actions and interactions we put out a certain energy into the world that those around us will absorb and radiate... Continue Reading →
I watched the frustration grow on her face as she struggled to lift the ovary far enough out of the abdomen to get a clamp behind it. We were all sweating in the sticky tropical heat, but she was sweating more. It was her first spay, and it wasn’t going smoothly. Eventually, despite a few... Continue Reading →
You can spend a lifetime learning about communication. Countless books, online resources, coaches and entire university degrees are readily available to educate and inform. Unfortunately most of us don’t have spare lifetimes to commit to this, meaning that the active improvement of communication skills often get relegated to ‘something I’ll do later.’ Yet the... Continue Reading →
It’s the weekend. You’ve had a challenging week at work, but you coped, and it’s over. You’re sitting in the sun with a few friends at your local pub relaxing with a drink when your phone lights up: work calling. A small crack appears on the edge of your previously contented state of mind.... Continue Reading →
