Sarah Irons

What is your position within the surgery?
Veterinary surgeon

What are your personal origins – how did you come to reside in Dorset?
I grew up in Salisbury and went to Cambridge to study veterinary medicine. I have worked in farm animal and mixed practice in Buckinghamshire, Devon, Somerset, Kenya and New Zealand before coming to Weymouth in 2001.

Why did you become a veterinarian? 
As a child I loved being in the countryside and was pony mad! The James Herriot stories were a big influence. But I was always interested in medicine and science and wanted to do a job which meant I could utilise my mind as well as my hands.

How did you become a veterinarian?
I went to a girls grammar school in Salisbury and then to Girton college Cambridge for 6 years.

What do you actually do as a veterinarian?
When I first qualified as a vet I wanted to travel and to improve the health and welfare of animals in under developed countries. After some years in Kenya (where I got married, had a baby and became less idealistic!) I became more interested in surgery and working with pets allowed more opportunity to do this. I still enjoy basic surgery and love doing a nice neat stitch up! A lot of my time is spent talking to people about keeping their pets healthy and what to do when they aren’t. I am interested in the holistic approach to health and how the environment affects physical health. Over the last 10 years I have become interested in cats and am passionate about understanding their behaviour and the impact this has on how we should handle and treat them. From this, my interest in feline behaviour has developed and I am now the person in the practice who gets asked about challenging feline behaviour.

Tell us about your pets. What are their names, ages, histories and personalities?
As a child I grew up alongside various Golden Retrievers. In Kenya we had 3 amazing dogs, 3 beautiful Jersey cows and various Masai sheep. They were not supposed to be pets but they definitely were! I don’t think any other dog could come close to Hovis, Jilly or Josh our so called guard dogs. I am now a cat convert and have two; Dusty an elderly, neurotic silver tabby and Mango a big fluffy lazy tortoiseshell. They don’t get on and live separate lives.

We also have 4 beautiful hybrid hens who give me more enjoyment than I thought possible from chickens. Of course they have names; Cornelia, Myrtle, Gwendolyn and Bathsheba (Thomas Hardy characters) and very different personalities.

What are your personal interests, and achievements?
I like to keep fit and active and am a leader of a local women’s running group. I try to cycle and swim regularly and have been known to compete in tiny triathlons. I enjoy skiing and windsurfing (only when the conditions are perfect) but as my kids like to tell me, I haven’t fully mastered either!