How Animals Saved My Life: Being the Supervet

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I loved reading about Noel's surgeries and how he has overcome issues and come up with new tools to help our beloved animals. As someone with a cat, who loves that cat more than most people, reading about the ethical struggles that others have had was very hard. I found myself imagining being in their positions and honestly, I would do anything to make sure that my companion survived. You’re the first person who’s read that,” he says. I tell him I thought it was a very powerful ending. I can’t think of anything else to say. Read with my daughter who is a fan of Supervet and very much enjoyed the author’s previous book which I think was more conventionally biographical. Another great book from the Supervet, more in depth this time, and yes it made me laugh and cry all at the same time. Hope Keira is recovering well. This is a lively book with moments of joy as an animal recovers or a new technique is a success but also of sorrow when a pet cannot be saved or succumbs to old age.

Noels’ two pets are on the cover ‘a Maine coon cat called RIcochet whose expression clearly says ‘I’m the star around here.’ and Keira the dog who looks excited and happy.

In between I learned a lot about running a successful veterinary surgery and how Noel develops his techniques. I really sensed his love and compassion, not only for the animals but also their owners. I listened to Noel's book now three times. Finally I took up medication myself. As a freelance writer of several books and carer of 6 cats, 1 turtle, 1 rabbit and two dogs, who a the light of my life, I have built up so much stress, I finally realised, if I don't do anything about it, stress will kill me. Once again in my life I took up meditation. I realised that I hardly breathe, not into my belly. As if nothing existed below my head ... This one is slightly different to his others, in that he has outlined 13 sections for his reasons as to what he thinks we all need to have about us to be a good person. And obviously what we gain from having animals in our lives and what they give to us and help us to do. Everybody agrees that it would be a good idea to reduce, refine and replace the role of experimental animals in the development of drugs and implants,” he says. “That isn’t my idea. That’s a globally accepted idea. My central life purpose is to make us realise that it’s foolish to ignore the lessons of nature, while we induce disease in otherwise normal animals that we could get answers for if we had a more joined-up approach.” I knew I was writing from a place of trauma,” he says. “But what choice did I have? Those were the cards that fate had dealt.”

In 2014, he founded the Humanimal Trust to champion the concept of One Medicine, a convergence of human and animal healthcare that encourages cross-pollination of medical research, and aims to reduce animal experimentation in favour of clinical trials using companion animals (pets) who actually need treatment. The trust only funds projects that don’t take animal life.In the end it wasn’t – and could never be – the book he set out to write at the start of 2020. Life saw to that. This book hits completely different to Noel's other books. Throughout the course of this book, Noel outlines what he believes are characteristics to make a good person.

Noel, I only can repeat, what I said in my review to your fist book:You have saved the lamb times over. Thank you for being exactly who you are.

That first book also covered his struggle to get himself into and through vet school, his days as a large-animal practitioner in rural Ireland and his eventual relocation to the south-east of England, including a parallel career as an actor, with roles in Casualty, The Bill and a low-budget film called The Devil’s Tattoo. He even played a vet on an episode of Heartbeat, although he almost didn’t get the part because the casting director didn’t think he looked like a vet. He also has plans for a new project, he says, which he hopes might lead to a reconvergence of his artistic and scientific selves. Sixthly in how up to date it is – the book’s themes drawing together in a very tangible and incredibly up to date way with a severe accident to his own dog in September 2020 (one month before publication). But the book begins with a letter from the RCVS or the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons informing him that a complaint has been made about him by 4 other vets about his treatment of a tortoise called Hermes. They had deemed it an experiment, unprofessional cruel, unethical and unjustified. Noel had fitted prosthetic limbs to Hermes who subsequently died. This casts a shadow over the book as does the perfect storm of coronavirus.