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 Weymouth, going to St. Andrews Primary School, Wey Valley School and Weymouth College. I loved Dorset so much after going to university in Liverpool we moved back, working as a mixed animal vet in Beaminster for 3 years, then as a small animal vet at Moorcroft in Weymouth for 12 years before joining Dave Cumber Vets.
Why did you become a veterinarian? I grew up loving James Herriot and always wanted to be a vet. It’s a cliché but I love animals and people and knew I would hate a desk job. It just made sense to me. Seeing practice just confirmed this (I remember the first time I saw abdominal surgery on a cow. I was amazed to see this creature chewing her cud while the vet rooted around inside her belly to correct her problem). I love the variety of our work, the feel good aspect of helping animals and people and especially the practical hands on aspect of the job. You can never get bored of this job, there is a new challenge around every corner no matter how long you have been doing it!
How did you become a veterinarian? At the age of 16 I started ‘seeing practice’ at Fielding and Cumbers. This confirmed in my mind that I wanted to aim at becoming a vet. I went to Liverpool university, graduating in 2002.
What do you actually do as a veterinarian? I love my job. I am essentially a GP. I love the day to day challenges of consulting, working through owners problems with their furry family and improving quality of life for the whole family. I also love surgery, I have always been practical and surgery is both rewarding and stimulating. My perfect day would be a good stitch up, perhaps remove a lump and neuter a dog or cat, then spend the rest of the day consulting.
As for continued professional development, I love learning more about any aspect of my day to day job. I’ve never really felt the need to specialise, just to be the best I can be at the job I do.
We use cookies on our website to make it easier for you to use. Read more.
Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browser our website and also allows us to improve our website. See our cookie policy.
We use 3 different types of cookies on our website. You can say which ones you're happy for us to use below.
These cookies do things like keep the website secure. They always need to be on.
These cookies store information about how you use our website, such as what you click on.
These cookies do things like tell us if you've seen our adverts on social media, such as Facebook or Twitter.