When newly qualified vet, Gillian Hick was first “let loose” on the unsuspecting animal population, it did not take her long to realise that “treating animals is never as simple as in the textbooks”.
In her biography/memoir, Vet on the Loose, she details her journey of starting in inner-city Dublin and then moving on to the wilds of Wicklow.
She gradually becomes acquainted with not only her patients but also their owners as she blunders “through a variety of cases that somehow never made the college lectures”.
Gillian Hick
Commenting on what it deems “the hair-rising adventure of an Irish vet, a spokesperson for the publishing company, The O’Brien Press Ltd, said:
“Whether castrating horses or dehorning cattle in the wilds of Wicklow, rescuing mangled cats from mongrels or tending to stoned guard dogs, vet, Gillian Hick’s sense of humour never deserts her in this engaging account of the challenging situations she encounters in the course of her work as a newly qualified veterinary surgeon.
“Not only does she have to deal with the animals and their ailments, she also has to contend with the perils of matchmaking mothers and macho fathers – not to mention the guys who want to know ‘Where is the real vet?’
She divided the book into the following four sections:
- THE STUDENT VET
Seeing Practice, College Days and Horse Practice
- INNER-CITY PRACTICE
My First Patient, Getting Stuck In, Learning On The Job, Practice What You Preach, among others
- LOCUM
The Christmas Cat
- MIXED ANIMAL PRACTICE IN WICKLOW
A Dying Breed, A Tale Of Two Sheep, As Sick As A Dog, The Bachelor Pad, A Job Well Done, Doctors and Vets, Menfolk, The Matchmaker, A Busy Day and much, much more
About the author/vet:
Hick was born in Dublin and has practiced as a vet both in Dublin and in Wicklow.
She lives in Co. Wicklow, where she has her own practice with her husband, three children, and a large assortment of four-legged companions.
In Vet on a Mission, she explores the struggle to balance motherhood and family life with the demands of being a twenty-four-hour on-call vet.
Read more in this news article.
