Other important things to know about me? Let's start with the basics. I love animals; I have done since I was little. Many vets decide they want to enter the profession when they are children or young teenagers, and I'm no different. Inside almost every grown-up, serious-looking clinician, there's a small girl* who wants nothing more than to play with dogs and cats and horses all day. We're lucky enough to have jobs that mean we can do this, though it comes with a lot of heartache along the way.

 

I have pets of my own, and I love them dearly. And because I love them, I do my best to practice what I preach - I care for them in an evidence-based way, too. Of course, I'm not perfect, but I'm not going to recommend that you do anything that I don't strive to do, too. If you see me recommending something, I either already do it myself, or would do with my pet in those circumstances.

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I want to help sick animals get better. That's the main reason I got into the profession. The other big one was that I love science and I wanted to be able to put it to practical use, rather than purely studying and researching.

 

When a sick patient walks through my consulting room door, my aim is to try and help them get better. When a healthy one walks in, I want to try and keep them that way for as long as possible. I recommend the treatments I do because they work, and I'll try and dissuade you from any that don't, or that can actively do harm, because I want the best for my patients.

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I'm not involved in any vast conspiracy. I did my A-levels, went to university for six years, learned a bunch of science and some practical skills, then got a job trying to use it. I get paid my salary and that's it. I don't even get performance-related pay, so I don't benefit if my clients spend more money; it makes no financial difference to me if you listen to my advice or not. Nobody has ever coerced me into believing anything that doesn't make logical sense.

 

Cards on the table, I do get the odd free lunch from drug or pet food reps when they come to the practice to talk about their products. You will be pleased to hear that, to date, the odd Tesco Meal Deal has not provided enough of an incentive for me to abandon my principles and become a "big pharma shill" or whatever the current title is.

 

I've also turned picking holes in their presentations into a kind of hobby, so I'm not sure they're that fond of me either.

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I know that vets don't always make the best impressions. The language of science can sound cold and impersonal, especially, when we're talking about a sick pet. There are a lot of numbers thrown around, a lot of technical terms that can be confusing, and you're asked to make choices where you may not feel you really understand what's going on. The feel of a vet practice is often off-putting  - the clinical look, the chemical smell, and the noises of other anxious pets can all help to make it an unsettling place.

 

Believe me, vets are aware of this. Personally, I think it plays a part in driving people away from us, towards non-science-based options. We're not doing it deliberately, but our good intentions can only get us so far.

 

My bottom line is that I know that taking an evidence-based approach is the best way to look after our pets because it's the only way that's truly proven to work. I feel** that the more I can help you to understand the science behind your pet's health and wellbeing, the more that you can regain a feeling of control, and the easier it is to embrace evidence-based pet care.

 

Knowledge is power, so they say, and I hope this blog will empower you to make informed decisions about how you look after your pets.

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* Most vets are women in the UK; in fact, at the last count, more than two in every five vets are female and under 40, like me. If you're hoping for James Herriot when you walk into a vet practice, you're likely to be disappointed; only around one in seven vets are male and under 40. Sorry to disappoint. We promise we're still very good at our jobs.

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** Yeah, not a very science-based thing to say. Don't worry, there's plenty of evidence to back it up. But when I say I feel it, I mean that it resonates emotionally with me. I know it's true, I feel it, and it motivates me.

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