Beyond Supervet: How Animals Make Us The Best We Can Be: The New Number 1 Sunday Times Bestseller

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To which the answers are (a) no, (b) pescatarian, and (c) eye roll. “I will neither confirm nor deny — you’d have to ask the lady who wrote the song,” he says (he used to go out with songwriter Cathy Denis 20 years ago).

He recalled how he came up with the idea of Vetman when he was just 10 years old, and said: “This is Vetman and all of the animals that he has saved by developing bionic solutions for them. He writes how “Christmas morning 2022, I woke up crying. Keira was dead. Mammy was dead... I wanted to drift away.”The point of this book is that life is full of ups and downs, but the unique quality of an animal companion is unconditional love,” he says. This is the remarkable story of one man and the animals he has saved, animals who have - in turn - saved him. She also wrote Kylie’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’, and ‘Measure of a Man’. Are they about me too? You could have an international scoop!”

How does he feel now that the book, and his very personal story, is out in the world? “I feel deeply blessed that I had enough time and enough nights till dawn to get it published on time at a time when I think the world deeply needs truth. I don’t think the world has ever needed truth more than it has today. I feel the sorrow of the world deeply. However, I do have hope because I see the light in the eyes of the people who come to see me. Do I feel a sense of unburdening? No. Do I feel a sense of sharing? Yes.” I tell him I think the book is beautifully illustrated and clearly heartfelt, but left me a little concerned for his mental health. He went on to establish Fitzbionics, a company that designs, develops and manufacture new implants to relieve pain and suffering of animals with bionic solutions. I’ve been blessed by the universe with these gifts,” he says. “I’m like an artist painting at 4am, except unlike the artist, I just keep painting.” There are lots of mentions of darkness, loneliness, not being good enough, and how he is saved by a sparky little dog whom he calls his best friend ever, “my little girl”.The Irish vet has often spoken of how Keira inspired his life work, and now, the bionic vet is releasing a children’s book based on his career. Honesty and truthfulness are huge themes in the book, from the practice of veterinary medicine and the difficulties his industry faces around money versus ethics, to the need to be honest with ourselves. “In my field, people don’t typically think a surgeon is going to be totally honest with people about his inner feelings and demons. I thought it’s really important that somebody like me tells the absolute truth because to look in that mirror and to be honest with oneself can go one of two ways: Sublimation and self-destruction, or ‘OK, I’m not perfect, I have very few of the answers, I’m just a bloke trying to do his best and can I help others do their best in a difficult situation?’ That’s the origin of the difficult album number three,” he laughs. He calls for closer collaboration and shared learning, for the benefit of both humans and animals, so that one day animal testing will be obsolete. And I hope the book shines as much light for children as Vetman has throughout my life, and inspires them to want to be working in a rescue centre, for example, or want to be a veterinary professional or a veterinary nurse.” She was my best friend ever,” he says. “Keira and I had a connectedness on a human level. I never use the term ‘ownership’ — I say ‘family.’” His current domestic companions are two Maine Coon cats.

In other words, if we could merge the two disciplines — human medicine and animal medicine — so that we have what he calls One Medicine, we could eliminate the savage cruelty of vivisection and lab testing on animals, while simultaneously advancing our medical knowledge for human outcomes. Famous for working 18-hour days and sleeping at his Surrey clinic after working all night on emergency cases, he insists he’s never done a day’s work in his life, and that his work is a blessing. I’m not into facade. I wanted to show an honest expression of sadness. We live in a world of half-truths. And I empathise with sentient beings.”

He also said he enjoys running between midnight and 2am with the quiet surroundings meaning he feels like it is “just you and the universe.” He does have some time for downtime though saying he enjoys watching the hit TV show Succession and was the “only thing” he watched this year.