How Animals Saved My Life: Being the Supervet

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Lovely book written by a man who has many worries about his own life but concentrates on making animal lives much better. The book also gives an insight into the pressure the vets are under to make the right decision and find the right treatment for their patients over and over every day and the toll it takes on them. I do respect all he does and his sensitivity is painful but perhaps another book needs to be more carefully planned out.

Secondly, how the author draws on the qualities he sees in animals – particularly pet cats and dogs, including his own. Throughout this book, we get more of an understanding of how Noel connects with animals on a deeper level and his love and caring of all animals that he comes across is extraordinary. The narrative of "if you work for it you will get it" was so pervasive I found myself despairing and shaking my head numerous times. The journey to that point has seen Noel treat thousands of animals - many of whom were thought to be beyond help - animals that have changed his life, and the lives of those around them, for the better. There’s some great messaging in there and some really interesting aspects but because of the writing style, it kind of got sucked into a hole of tediousness.He is absolutely entitled to hold those opinions of course, but for me it often felt out of place in the book given the assumed subject matter. I learnt a lot about the veterinary industry, and took a lot from his outlook on life and how to be more grounded when times are tough. Noel should be applauded for his strong, life long desire to meld human and animal health into a single scientific endeavour. I loved the idea of “one medicine” which is a common theme in the book - whereby human and animal medicine need to collaborate for the greater good. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

This was a tough read, especially as his beloved Keira was still alive but died whilst I was reading this. For years experimenting on animals has resulted in new treatments for humans so surely it makes sense to use these results for the good of both humans and animals. What I got was a book verging on despair; full of one part arrogance, five parts low self esteem and damage from bullying as a child. This is at times a rambling, in the best possible way, account of his childhood on a farm in Ireland and his burning desire to become a vet, the long years of study and then his passion and vision to help animals with innovative techniques. It has been 30 years since Noel Fitzpatrick graduated as a veterinary surgeon, and that 22-year-old from Ballyfin, Ireland, is now one of the leading veterinary surgeons in the world.I really, really love Noel, he's the best kind of human and I really enjoyed his first book which is why I opted to read this. It definitely needed better editing as it was very repetitive in places but it was a very interesting and humbling book.

I got a self help book and a philosophy book as well as a book on transcendental meditation and buddhism. This book was so interesting and at times a little sad, but for many animals that come to Noel they are given a second chance because they had been deemed beyond help by others. I think Noel has made great waves in the veterinary community and did find interest his discussions on one medicine, ethical implications of surgery and treatment and the process of said treatments. whereas I always thought 'you wouldn't allow an animal to suffer, so why allow people to suffer' but after reading this I do wonder if euthanasia is the 'easy option' for some vets. Whilst this made sense, with the book being set during the COVID pandemic, it was not as much of an interest to me as much as Fitzpatrick's work was.

He also touches on the mental and emotional toll that being an animal caregiver has, something that I truly connect with as I work with exotic animals myself and have had my own battles with self-worth and worrying each day about doing enough. This added a depth to the book and intertwined the human/animal relationship that forges his ultimate passion of "One Medicine" - something I knew nothing about before reading this book but strongly agree with. pages on how animals show this trait more than people, and how his dog and cat show this trait to him every day without judgement. The overall structure of the book wasn't what I was expecting, it was split into chapters on personality traits/virtues, mostly explained through lessons he has learned from animals in his care and his two beloved pets.

His life is dedicated to the animals he treats and his compassion for both animals and humans is heart warming. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

It was just a bit too political from what I was expecting and having another person's politics preached at me is not what I personally enjoy in a book. His plan of "one medicine" that sets out to help both animal and humans equally without the (current) expense of a healthy animal's life should be the goal of both human and animal medicines. The book features several cases of previous patients of the four legged kind - some survive, some don’t – and that must be very hard.