A Test of Patients
- the experiences and musings of a veterinary surgeon
A Test of Patients
- the experiences and musings of a veterinary surgeon
Martin Atkinson - BVSc MRCVS
veterinary surgeon
© Astoria Publishing Limited
No reproduction without permission.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2014 by Astoria Publishing
Astoria Publishing Limited
7 Arden Court
Arden Road
Alcester
Warwickshire B49 6HN
ISBN: 978-1-903802-05-2 (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-903802-07-6 (Kindle)
ISBN: 978-1-903802-06-9 (ePub)
eBook conversion by Vivlia Limited. www.vivlialtd.co.uk
Introduction
I qualified from Liverpool University in 1975 and spent the first five years of his career in mixed practice in various parts of the country. After a spell as an assistant in small animal practice in Middlesex I bought the branch surgery from the previous owner and set up sole-charge in 1981. After five years the building was extensively modified with a large purpose-built extension into a state-of-the-art clinic and re-named St Martin’s Veterinary Clinic after the local parish a stylised image of a church appears in the practice logo to signify this link.
Contrary to popular belief I haven’t entered self- anointed sainthood. When naming the clinic, I just wanted to signify our link with the local community, albeit a little tongue in cheek, but to add relevance, St Martin was known as a carer of animals – St Francis light if you like. In addition to my writing, I developed a special interest in feline cardiology and internal medicine.
Like most vets I chose the profession because of a compassion for animals and the desire to help them. Couple that with an interest in science, and becoming a vet was an obvious choice. But, even before I realised that this was the direction I wanted to take, I had a love of writing – I wrote a home newsletter about my toys and pets at a very early age and initially had thoughts of becoming a journalist.
As a vet, journalistic outlets have obviously been somewhat limited, but I satisfied my urge to write by preparing articles for local newspapers and magazines, being a long-standing editor of the local Rotary Club Bulletin and, later, by writing articles for veterinary journals. ,
This book is a collection of short stories recording some entertaining aspects of my life as a veterinary surgeon. It is by no means a definitive account of my career – that is something I’ve never felt the urge to record; I fear my life has not been interesting enough for that.
In general, the content of the stories is true, although some characters, times and places may have been modified slightly to enhance the plot and protect those who may wish to remain anonymous!
The time span between the stories is spread over many years, however most are timeless and as relevant now as when I experienced the events which inspired them.
Some are records of my personal experiences, but many are a record of my more interesting patients, colourful owners and some of the more interesting, entertaining cases I have seen. I confess that one or two are fantasies or musings on matters with apparently little veterinary content, but even they are loosely based on real events or make a relevant reference and it should be obvious which they are.
The chapters are in rough chronological order, but this is not absolute and, because the stories were not originally written in sequence, a few events mentioned in passing in one story are then expanded in another. Consequently, although I’ve tried to avoid too much repetition, a little has been unavoidable. I’ve tried to make the content entertaining and relevant to both veterinary and non-veterinary readers and kept technical matter to a minimum – or at least explained its relevance as far as is practical in lay-man’s terms.
As all vets will know, some pet owners can be, shall we say, difficult or a little eccentric and I was concerned that a non-veterinary audience may think some of the stories are over-critical of my clients, but I believe that anyone who has worked with people, especially in a retail or professional environment, will recognise these types of characters and not take offence. However, sometimes it truly does seem that the animals are more sensible than their owners and probably the vet as well!
Finally, it had been my intention to donate any earnings I make from this book to my chosen charity VETAID. The last chapter tells the reader a little about the objectives of this charity and of the trip I made, along with a number of other vets, to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in order to raise funds and actually visit some of the projects on the ground amongst the Maasai.
Unfortunately, VETAID has recently ceased to function as a charity. However, I feel the account of our trip to Tanzania is still of interest especially as on most charity fund raising events the participants never get to see the fruits of their endeavours. To actually observe and participate in the projects we were helping to fund was both exciting and a privilege.
Earnings from the book will now be donated to a number of charities including Cats Protection, The Dogs Trust, PDSA and BSAVA Petsavers.
Martin Clive Atkinson, BVSc, MRCVS.
First steps
There are probably as many stories of my life as a student as there have been as a qualified vet, but they are likely to be more of ‘The Confessions of’ type and not really consistent with the tone of this particular book, so I’ll start the day after I qualified.
After registration, I’d barely got over the euphoria (and hangover) of qualification celebrations before I went straight into a sole-charge small animal locum virtually the next day. The job was originally intended for a fellow student, but unfortunately he failed his final examinations. He was aware that I hadn’t yet found employment and asked if I would cover for him, which I was glad to do, both to help out a friend, but also because part time employment was beneficial before I found a permanent position. I arrived at the practice on the first morning and the vet literally gave me the keys and said see you in two weeks with the parting words, ‘there are two bitch spays in this morning. I’d like you to do them by flank incision’. This would have been a huge leap of faith even in the originally intended employee, but he had at least been a student in the practice so they knew him, but to take on a new graduate they knew nothing about would be almost unbelievable today.
I had performed several bitch spays, but only by midline. ‘How hard could this be’? I thought to myself, ‘I spay cats via the flank, so this will just be like a big cat’, and got on with it without a second thought. This is something that would just not happen these days. The requirement of practice development phase (PDP) and the mentoring system would not encourage it and probably quite wisely too. But the faith of my first employer was not without foundation. – I had had more than adequate experience from uncrowded university classes, which again is barely possible with today’s large class sizes, and from seeing practice with a vet who was an amazing mentor and had allowed me to perform many procedures that students would rarely get the opportunity to practice these days.
The freedom I was allowed, with little or no supervision from a qualified vet, in all honestly flew very close to if not crossed the line of what would now be construed as professional misconduct. But there was no better learning environment and I’m pleased to say that nothing suffered as the result of this. I am thus indebted to the late and very great Wyn Griffith Jones for the opportunities he gave me while seeing