lifestyle & living
For readers who haven’ t yet picked up the book, how would you describe
Unleashed in three words?
My first word would be‘ fun’ because I really enjoyed the whole process, and then‘ honest’ and, I guess,‘ vulnerable’.
Onderstepoort has almost legendary status in South Africa. What was the biggest shock for you when you left campus and entered“ real world” practice?
Onderstepoort prepares new graduates extremely well; I’ m grateful that I’ ve been able to study there. I wouldn’ t say it was a shock, exactly, but at first there’ s a steep learning curve to quickly process all the information the client gives you and to figure out what is important and how all the symptoms do or don’ t relate to each other. There are only a finite number of systems in the body, like the gastrointestinal, urinary, neurological, hormonal, etc., but they don’ t operate in isolation. All the systems influence each other and once you get the hang of that, everything gets a lot easier.
You write candidly about bluffing confidence as a young vet. Was there a particular early case that made you think,“ I have absolutely no idea what I’ m doing”?
I got called out on a weekend to a cow with a big tear in her udder. The farmer looked at me
with big eyes and handed me a dirty, ripped-off teat that he had picked out of the dirt and kept in his fridge for me! The teat was not viable to attach back onto the cow, and even though I had not operated on an udder before, the principles of surgery are pretty consistent – and Google was there to give me a few tips!
What’ s the most memorable chaos-filled day you’ ve had in practice?
Things tend to get chaotic when there are a lot of critical animals in hospital. When a person needs a doctor, they would book to see their GP for more routine problems or go to the emergency ward of a hospital for urgent care. Vets are both the GP and the emergency doctor, and that is where things can get a bit crazy.
Many pet parents only see their vet during short consultations. What do you wish owners better understood about what happens behind the scenes?
When a vet walks into the consultation room, they may have just diagnosed a pet they’ ve treated for years with a terminal cancer, or had to put down a young animal because it had a disease that was preventable with vaccinations. It can be tough.
Also, visiting goes a long way to cheering up animals in hospital, and snacks go a looong way to cheering up vets.
This book also touches on grief. How do vets cope with the toll of losing patients?
It’ s different for every vet. I remember one equine clinic in www. petpals. co. za 53