Your four-legged friend may not love a trip to the vet, but veterinarian Todd Field and the dedicated team at Richmond Town and Country Vet certainly make sure they’re in safe hands. Todd shares with us what he gets up to in a day as a small animal vet.
6.00am - Our youngest kids Louis and Georgia come to check if it is ‘up time’ yet. My wife Kate manages to convince them to go back to bed, every minute of sleep counts.
6.15am - Alarm goes off, snooze it once before getting up to have a shower. Georgia and Louis manage to organise their own breakfasts while I make some toast and a coffee. Then we make the dreaded school lunches, which are usually a team effort in our house.
7.15am - Head into work. Lower Queen Street isn’t clogged today so get to work a little earlier to do some research and catch up on notes.
8.00am - Team huddle to make sure we are aware of what is on that day and what everyone will be doing. A great chance for us all to say hi as our team changes face day-to-day.
8.15am - The awesome nurse crew admit the surgical patients for the morning, we check them over to make sure they are healthy, and surgery can go ahead as planned. Each patient has their own anaesthetic, nursing and surgical plan checked.
8.45am - The order of the day is planned. Fixing an ACL/cruciate ligament is first up. We get Ted the labrador to sleep and then spend the next couple of hours operating on his shin bone and realign everything with a plate and screws.
10.45am - Grab a quick coffee before the team have a beautiful one-year-old boxer all prepped and ready for her spay.
11.30am - Next up is Beau, a pug that is in for his castration and surgery to open up his airway. Pugs are all personality, and this guy is no different. Waking up from airway surgery can be stressful so Beau has a small team watching him very closely – he wakes up like a champ!
1.00pm - Time for a lunch break today. Often we miss out on lunch. We have a big team, so getting a chance to catch up is great.
1.30pm - A quick chance to call clients and give updates on their pets, let them know lab results and answer questions.
2.00pm - Consults start for the afternoon – we see a huge range of pets with lots of different health issues. The afternoon rushes by with skin problems, vaccinations, sore legs and red eyes.
6.00pm - This is catch-up time where we can finish phone calls, notes, plan bookings and surgery slots over the next few days.
7.30pm - Home to see Kate and the kids. The hectic time of the day where Kate has far more skills at corralling the kids towards bed. Dinner and then story time for Georgia and Louis. Ems our oldest, reads Morrigan Crow to us.
8.30pm - Relax and catch up with Kate, often case study fits in here but not tonight.
10.00pm - Sleep time!
