Opening with his award of Membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the book relates John's personal and family history from his English and Belgian parents and grandparents and their roles in two World Wars. His Belgian grandparents were evacuated to England in the first war: his father was shot at by the Germans during the liberation of Antwerp and his mother bombed in a pub in South London while serving in the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service in the second. Managing to get into veterinary college from a large comprehensive school in South London, John recounts tales from his studies and goes on to discuss various major debates which occurred during his career, including vaccinations and the anti-vaccine lobby. The role of badgers and TB is also discussed. The tale of his experience of meeting children with the drug-induced injury of thalidomide is both life-affirming and tear-jerking. His time in East Africa, including his experiences in Uganda under Idi Amin's dictatorship, is chilling but still funny and up-lifting. The tales of his experiences in general and specialist veterinary practice, with memorable farm, horse, dog and cat cases are enlightening, educational and sometimes sad but often very hilarious. The horrific experiences with foot-and-mouth disease will get any animal lover in tears and questioning what happened and why? But the option of a Vegan Utopia in a world without farm animals is dismissed as a sad alternative as demonstrated when large swathes of the United Kingdom were left without stock after the outbreak.

About the Author
After graduating from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) as a veterinary surgeon John went to East Africa with a research team and was the primary author of one of the research papers. His first veterinary post was in a mixed, mainly cattle practice in Gloucestershire, then a mixed high-standard dog and equine practice in Maidstone. He joined the Cranbrook practice in Kent, became a partner in 1980, taught local farmers and gained higher qualifications with the Open University and then in veterinary cardiology. He went on to lecture to vets on dentistry, practice management and cardiology as far afield as Australia, Portugal, Republic of Ireland and Norway as well as all around the UK. John volunteered and was highly active during the foot-and-mouth outbreak in the spring of 2001. He became sole owner of the Cranbrook practice in 2011, selling it in 2018, and continues to see cardiac cases and carry out breed heart certification.


Book Information
ISBN 9781912576289
Author John Sauvage
Format Hardback
Page Count 196
Imprint GB Publishing Org
Publisher GB Publishing Org