Wellbeing and veterinarians - thoughts from the New Zealand Veterinary Association's wellbeing symposium

The New Zealand Veterinary Association hosted its first symposium on veterinary wellbeing

I’ve just returned from the New Zealand Veterinary Association’s first ever wellbeing symposium, held in Christchurch. I was invited there to speak about ethics rounds, an intervention designed to help veterinary team members with ethically challenging situations that can lead to moral stress, moral distress, or even moral injury. More on that in a later post.

The reason for today’s post is to share a couple of the themes discussed at the symposium.

The MC, Dr Charlotte (Lotte) Cantley, opened the symposium with an incredible account of her recovery following a catastrophic and near fatal horse-riding accident (the horse was okay), and a grueling schedule of treatment and rehabilitation. According to Lotte, “resilience is not bouncing back to how we were but being flexible, adapting to and embracing the uncomfortable changes life throws at us”.

Given her account, uncomfortable is an understatement.

So here is my take on the major themes of the first day.

Collegiality and compassion

One thing that came through loud and clear was that one of the biggest impediments to the wellbeing of veterinary team members is, well, other veterinary team members. The way we treat one another, whether we are aware of it or not, impacts us. As speaker after speaker raised this issue, heads around the room nodded. Tears were quietly shed.

Sonja Olson, author of Creating Wellbeing and Building Resilience in the Veterinary Profession, argued that we need to stop referring to communication and people skills as “soft skills” and name them what they are – power skills, tools that improve collegiality, understanding, shared decision making, adherence to negotiated recommendations and ultimately, good clinical and policy outcomes. https://www.routledge.com/Creating-Wellbeing-and-Building-Resilience-in-the-Veterinary-Profession/Olson/p/book/9780367418793

Dana Carver, from GoodYarn (an evidence-based, peer-delivered mental health literacy program https://www.goodyarn.org/)  , talked about situations that negatively impact our mental health. As she said, when we suffer an obvious “sudden negative change or event” (like the death of a family member), people tend to be demonstrative in their care. They swoop in with offers of assistance. They make casseroles. But what happens when we experience other things that negatively impact our mental health? According to Dana, these include things like a lack of justice, a lack of life balance, relationship problems, poor physical health or chronic pain? In these situations, we aren’t good at asking for help…and people may not offer it. What we can do is make time, or make an effort to connect in some way. Its better to do something, ask the question, say something, than worry about looking like an idiot. I could recall plenty of missed opportunities to extend support to someone, to make that casserole.

We heard a lot about implementing wellbeing plans into practice, and ensuring that this was more than just promoting a token day. Stephen Hopkinson, the founder of a large dairy practice surveyed his own staff to ensure that the wellbeing plan subsequently developed would actually meet their needs. To his surprise, they found that gossip, negative comments, exclusion and not helping others were the number 1 things negatively impacting staff.

Sometimes this is coming from a place of anxiety or hurt. Those behaving this way may not even be aware that they are having this impact.

He argued that we need to ensure that the discussion about mental wellbeing isn’t just about vets. All team members need recognition. Hence his team celebrate:

• -        National Administrative Professionals day (April 26)
• -        World Veterinary Day (April 30)
• -        National Receptionist day (10 May)
• -        Veterinary Nurse and Technician Appreciation day (14 October)

Because winters are cold in New Zealand, they also run “soup days” in winter – providing staff with a small budget to buy ingredients on the practice account, so they can make soups and share with the team. According to them, this marries well with the “5 Ways to Wellbeing”:

1. Keep learning – learn a new soup recipe
2. Be active – dance and sing when you make the soup
3. Give – share the end product
4. Take-notice – mindfully sip your soup
5. Connect – rate each other’s soups, swap recipes, and cook together

The 5 Ways to Wellbeing bookmark, produced by the Mental Health Foundation https://mentalhealth.org.nz/five-ways-to-wellbeing 

Denise Quinlan, who acknowledged that everyone gets crispy, shared her strategies:

• -        Prioritise ruthlessly (so if someone asks you to do something new, which thing on your to do list do you need to bump?)
• -        Promote autonomy in the workplace
• -        Support one another
• -        Value each other
• -        Act fairly (avoid those perceived injustices)
• -        Provide clarity (lack of clarity about job roles was a big reason for people to be disgruntled at work)

Her colleague, Paula Davis (author of Beating Burnout at Work https://stressandresilience.com/burnout-book/ ), provided a list of “Tiny Noticeable Things” that we can do at work to help demonstrate that we value each other.

Source: Paula Davis, Beating Burnout at Work.

Imposter syndrome

Every speaker admitted that they have imposter syndrome. In fact, Sonja has given hers a name (I won’t share it here, you’ll have to ask her).

Imposter syndrome is well-documented among the general population, as well as veterinary team members https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32571984/ . It tends to flare when we try something new, or perform in front of our peers, or start a new job. In a profession where life and death and animal welfare and human wellbeing so often hang in the balance, imposter syndrome can serve us well, driving us to improve, not to rest on our laurels. No one could pin down a guaranteed way to manage imposter syndrome without throwing the baby out with the bathwater…but it helps to know that imposter syndrome is something that everyone struggles with – and probably gets worse the higher we achieve.

Massey University Dean of Veterinary Education Jenny Weston did remind everyone that we can ultimately be our own worst colleagues – engaging in critical, judgmental, and negative self-talk that we would never extend to anyone else. Not only did she have everyone up on the dancefloor – she commandeered a team of well-practiced back-up dancers.

Rather than worrying about our own imposter syndrome (she/he/they are, realistically, probably not going to leave us – as per above, they do serve us well on occasion), maybe it’s more productive to recognise that others are experiencing this too, and be aware of the way we might impact those around us by inadvertently reenforcing that, and perhaps not doing enough to show our appreciation.

Veterinary bibliotherapy: The Chloroformist, by Christine Ball

 

The Chloroformist by Christine Ball, pictured here with a stinger anaesthetic machine.

Have you ever wondered what the experience of undergoing surgery would be like without anaesthesia? In The Chloroformist, written by anaesthetist and Woodford Library Museum history of anaesthesiology laureate Christine Ball, provides some vivid descriptions as she tells the compelling story of anaesthetic pioneer Joseph Clover.

As part of my PhD research, I’ve been researching advances in veterinary care and associated ethical challenges (you can read more about that here). 

One of the most important advances in healthcare – of humans and animals – is anaesthesia. It is difficult for most people to comprehend surgery without anaesthesia, particularly major surgery. Aside from causing patients fear, anxiety and distress, it increases the risk of infection (it is very challenging to maintain a sterile field if the patient is trying to escape) and injury (to the patient and/or operators). Lack of anaesthesia means that surgeons must operate much faster, with less time to attend to finer details, and increased risk of error.

Clover, a surgeon, developed an interest in anaesthesia, and become one of the most highly skilled and renowned experts in its delivery – particularly chloroform - during his lifetime.

According to historical records, the first major surgery in a human patient involving an anaesthetic occurred in 1846. Prior to the routine use of anaesthesia, surgery was brutal. For example, Ball documents the surgical treatment of men with bladder stones. 

Bladder stones I removed from a dog via cystotomy, performed under a full general anaesthetic.

Having removed these from animal patients – all under full general anaesthetic, and all treated with post-operative analgesics – it is hard to contemplate doing so on a conscious being. As I read this book, I could not help but reflect on the history of veterinary medicine, and be grateful that I work at a time when anaesthesia and analgesia are utilised routinely (and are of course still being refined).

Clover, a breathtakingly conscientious doctor and scientist, described by an equally breathtakingly conscientious Ball, kept detailed records of his anaesthetics. He was known for his gentle manner, reassuring patients (fear may have increased the risk of anaesthetic complications), as well as his commitment to careful patient monitoring. As someone who had trained as a surgeon, Clover was able to cultivate close working relationships with surgeons, improving outcomes for patients. When anaesthetic complications occurred, he would trouble-shoot these, and he invented and refined various devices for administering anaesthetics safely to patients.

The book will appeal to anyone interested in the history of medicine, anaesthesia, analgesia and surgery, and animal experimentation – an unregulated practice at the time.

The Chloroformist is meticulously researched and beautifully constructed.

The brief, final chapter is a surprising masterstroke. I found myself crying on the bus as I turned the last page. Someone please turn this into a television series!

Reading this book has left me with a desire to take a tour of the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History when it reopens. What an extraordinary resource.

The Chloroformist, by Christine Ball, is available from Melbourne University Press, RRP $34.99.  

Anaesthesia, anaesthetic awareness, risks and opportunities

Hero couldn't stay away from my copy of Anaesthesia: The Gift of Oblivion. 

Do animals experience anaesthetic awareness? I don’t know the answer, but the question is more complicated than you think. When a colleague asked me this question a few weeks ago, I went looking for literature and found very little. What I did discover was an incredible book, Anaesthesia: The Gift of Oblivion by journalistKate Cole-Adams.

She became intrigued by the question many years ago, when she met a woman at a dinner party who recounted being conscious during a caesarean when she had been given a general anaesthetic. The experience was traumatic, and had an ongoing impact on the patient. Hearing this story prompted Cole-Adams to undertake a decade-long exploration:

Each day specialist doctors known as anaesthetists (or, in America, anaesthesiologists) put hundreds of thousands of people like you and me into chemical comas to enable other doctors to enter and alter our insides. Then they bring us back again. It is mind-blowing. But quite how this daily extinction happens and un-happens remains uncertain. Researchers know that a general anaesthetic acts on the central nervous system – reacting with the slick membranes of the nerve cells in the brain to hijack responses such as sight, touch and awareness. They have nominated areas and processes they know are important: the microscopic channels through which neurons blast their chemical relays; the electrical circuits that pulse and groove between different regions of the brain. But they still can’t agree on just what it is that happens in those areas, or which of those things that happen matter the most, or why they sometimes happen differently with different anaesthetics, or even on the manner – a sunset? An eclipse? – in which the human brain segues from consciousness to not.

In interviews with anaesthetists, psychologists, hypnotists, scientists and people who have had experiences of anaesthetic awareness, Cole-Adams asks some of the philosophical questions about anaesthesia, like whether pain occurs when we are unconscious (and what the impact of that might be), and whether if it does occur, but is forgotten, it matters? What is the nature of this awareness, is it all one big hallucination, or something else?

Anaesthetic awareness isn’t something that simply happens when you underdose a patient who sits up halfway through surgery and eyeballs you. The subject may be completely “locked in”, unable to move, and oblivious to the medical team. It is said to be extremely rare, but surely is something we should be concerned about – after all, anaesthesia is meant to stop the patient from feeling, experiencing.

As Cole-Adams explains, anaesthetic awareness may not be bad per se, but it may have long term effects on the behaviour of the patient. This, she says, “carries risks and opportunities”. Suppose, for example, you could have a positive impact on clinical outcomes if you said positive things to the human patient while they are anaesthetised? Cole-Adams doesn’t explore what might happen to animals, but I found myself asking whether some of the strategies explored by scientists might improve outcomes in animal patients. For example, if our patients can hear, would it be beneficial to talk in reassuring tones? Human patients feel better if their name is spoken to them as they emerge from anaesthesia – what about dogs and cats? (How do we know or not know?).

Cole-Adams explores the concept of consciousness and what this means for humans. Do we have a continuous self? Are our loved ones simply a working hypothesis that we test through observation? Why might things we don’t know we know – things stored unconsciously – impact our behaviour. 

(One of my favourite passages is where she declares that “Consciousness is a small boat on an immense sea. We may learn to row, we may even rig up a sail, but we can’t know what’s beneath, let alone control it.” It reminds me of a painting by Helen Norton, called He Was In Control)

Post-operative cognitive dysfunction is a documented phenomenon in human patients – does it occur with animals? How could we detect it and, importantly, how could we prevent it?   

While my questions about animals weren’t answered in this book (Cole-Adams focuses on human patients), it is a fascinating combination of science and humanities, covering some amazing experiments and explaining why – although they could be done in the 1960s – today’s ethics committees would not approve, exploring the history of anaesthesia, and linking this with the subjective experience of patients. As a veterinarian, we don’t have access to the latter even by self-report, and there are some major differences between anaesthesia of humans and animals. We don’t, for example, use BIS (bispectral index) monitors to measure brain activity, and as far as I know there are no long-term studies looking at animal behaviour pre- and post- anaesthesia, or indeed looking at the impact of anaesthetic complications on post-operative behaviour in any systematic way.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in medical journalism and pathography, philosophy of science, anaesthesia or psychology. It is beautifully written, well-researched, and represents the fruit of a truly multidisciplinary “slow-burn” project.

Anaesthesia is available through Text Publishing.

Interview with David Michie, author of Buddhism for Pet Lovers

Author David Michie with Princess Wussik.

This week we had a chat with David Michie about his book Buddhism for Pet Lovers: Supporting ourclosest companions through life and death. David is Australia’s most successful author on Buddhism, having his work translated into 26 language. He has sold over 250,000 books worldwide, probably of most relevance to this audience is his Dalai Lama’s Cat series of novels.

David is a medication coach, international speaker and corporate trainer. This was an interesting interview because I am the poster girl for yoga-class dropout. Every time I sit to meditate my brain thinks it’s the perfect opportunity to confront me with a to do list, which, being without a pen, sets my adrenal glands on fire. So it was an interesting interview! (Thank you David for being so patient).

What’s your day job?

I try to inspire people.

In Buddhism for Pet Lovers, you devote the first 35 or so pages to establishing that animals have consciousness. Why is it important to establish this?

There is a dichotomy between what many scientific authorities say about animal sentience, and our own hands-on experience as pet lovers, and I thought it was important for the sake of intellectual and academic rigor to bring people up to speed with why these attitudes exist in science, where they come from, and what is the state of play. It was a bit ambitious to try to summarise that in 30 pages or so.

I like for people to have some sort of reassurance this is not just me David Michie spouting forth about what I think of the world, there is actually credibility to where I am coming from. As you know the CambridgeDeclaration of Consciousness is a significant milestone, so wanted to bring people up to speed about where that came from, so I can now explain why some more enlightened scientists are on the same page as some of the wise people from the East, in terms of what they say about animal sentience.

Its about bringing people along on the journey, and explaining why is it that many scientists still have the view that animals don’t have consciousness or consciousness that is very low on evolutionary scale, where these attitudes came from and they are why now starting to change.

Yes, I only found out about the Cambridge Declaration some years after it had been made.

I think it’s because the implications are so profoundly discomforting for the way Western society conducts itself with regard to animals.

One theme that comes through in your book is your emphasis that owners should be aware that we “exert enormous control over the circumstances of our pet’s lives” (p44). Why is this awareness important?

Well I suppose its because many people are not aware of how much their pets are completely depending on them. It arises from a lack of fully understanding the level of sentience of our pets, and not imaginatively trying to explore what it would be like to be your pet. I hope to inspire people to imaginatively explore what it would be like to be their pet, a non-verbal being living in this crazy world, whose circumstances are totally constrained by who owns them.

Even the most pampered of pets cannot just walk to the medicine cabinet and have a Panadol if they have a headache, or make an appointment with their dentist when they have a toothache, or pour a glass of wine to cheer themselves up. They don’t have access to the stuff we take for granted.

The hope is for people to become more sensitive and mindful about the needs of our pets.

On page 54 you describe “Dog Walk Lite”. What is this and why is it problematic?

It’s essentially that many people are no longer taking dogs for walks in way they used to. Now they take the dog for a walk secondary to the fact that they are engaged in social media feeds or texting friends. This is very unfortunate in terms of their dog’s perspective, not getting their full attention.

I wrote about a girl who was distracted by her phone when taking her dog for a walk and many times, unconsciously, she tugged on the dog’s lead with irritation, not even paying attention. The dog was almost an unwanted distraction. It’s unfortunate for the pet of course as they are no longer shown the kind of degree of empathy and understanding you would expect, but also very sad for the human being as their relationship with their pet is being eroded and becoming more and more superficial. What once would have been beautiful moments of enjoying nature with a pet are now not spent enjoying nature, but looking at facebook and the pet is a distraction. Our relationships with beings of all kinds are degraded when we only pay them partial attention.

I’m not one of these people who are anti these things like phones, I use them vigorously, but it’s all about the context.

You suggest that abandoning killing “is the first and only required vow” of becoming a Buddhist, and that karma applies to animals. Should pet owners feed their pets a vegan diet?

The answer to that is no, they shouldn’t. Pets are not designed for vegan diets [David is referring to dogs and cats here and not guinea pigs, rabbits or horses for example]. I know some people who say they can be, I am not a biologist, but reports I have read is that this is a very dangerous thing to be doing. That’s not to say that you couldn’t edge your way in that direction.

I struggled a bit with some of the content relating to veterinary care, especially euthanasia. For example you mentioned that “natural dying better enables our pets to come to terms with what is happening and mentally prepare for it”p159. There is also a claim on p161 that most vets are too busy to do housecalls and that euthanasias in clinic are less than ideal.

Euthanasia [of animals] is so mainstream now, and it is something we need to think about. I’ve been on the doing end of that [David has had some of his own animals euthanased by veterinarians in the past] and I know it makes a world of difference to have it done in the surgery with all the lights on than having your cat sedated in your own home. If you’re concerned about the mind of your cat or dog, it’s something you need to think about. Many people don’t think about it, but it isn’t really about us and what we want. It’s about them.

One thing I wanted to get across in the death and dying part of the book is that it is about focusing on the animal rather than ourselves.

I also struggled with the idea of telepathy. A lot of phenomena you described could be explained by picking up on cues like body language.

I get the feeling that you think telepathy is a bit out there and woo-woo. But if one was to mediate for a while [busted – David astutely observed that I haven’t done this, mostly because I am deterred by being confronted with the list of the things I am supposed to do but have not yet that floats around in my brain and ambushes me in quiet moments- Ed.], and experience a calm mind, what quite naturally arises sometimes is a moment of intuition and being aware of things. Even neuroscientists have documented a change in brain waves when we mediate. Whatever the biology, things go on when we’re in this particular state that don’t go on when we’re in other mental states. From a Buddhist perspective, telepathic and clairvoyant experiences are a natural by-product of a quietened mind. While I accept people might find telepathy and clairvoyance a bit woo woo and out there, keep an open mind on the subject, as our minds are subject to change. If it is the case that animals have more quiet minds than we do, it’s not really such a leap to say they have telepathy.

What non-humans do you share your life with and how did you meet?

Kahlua, who mediates who me, and Nala are rescue cats. There was also Princess Wussik, the inspiration behind The Dalai Lama’s Cat, along with Mumbo. Those are the most recent. We haven’t had any dogs as they are higher maintenance and we do a lot of travel. Growing up in Zimbabwe I had dogs, cats, cockatiels…and used to go and play with lion cubs and baby elephants at the Lion and Cheetah Park.

Any advice you’d like to share with veterinarians and future veterinarians?

Interesting one. The advice that I would give is take up meditating with pets, because I feel that there is nothing like direct first-hand experience of a phenomenon to convince you that there is something here.

I sometimes laughingly describe myself as a pussy magnet, because if I meditate the cats will come from wherever they are in the house and sit beside me. Once you have experienced that quietening of the mind, and animals being drawn to it, something in that relationship between you and those animals, a shared non-verbal experience, has occurred that is profound and pretty special. Once you have experienced that for yourself, nobody can really convince you that something special didn’t happen. That may provide a whole interesting new dimension in their experience.

Okay so I have tried that. But I don’t have a quiet mind.  

The challenges you describe are totally normal. Some people’s minds are completely out of control when try to mediate. Most people think they have their shit together, and think it will be really easy to focus on one thing for five minutes. You ask them to focus on their breathing and within 3 milliseconds they are thinking “this is a waste of time, I need to do x, y and z…”. [Um…yes].

It takes a huge amount of effort to nudge away from that and change our behaviour, but once we have a taste of being able to have a quiet mind it becomes really addictive. When we do that we get an inkling as to what it will be like to have the mind of a pet. They’re not so caught up in cognition as we are. If we can put ourselves on the same page as our pets, that’s an extraordinary experience.

Thank you David for your time. David’s book is available now from all major bookstores and from Allen and Unwin. 

You can read more about David at www.davidmichie.com

Interview with children's author Janeen Brian

Janeen Brian and one of her muses, Raff.

I’ve recently acquired a family member who I hope, in a few years, will be reading books. It’s something I don’t take for granted – my niece can’t walk, but she can already operate (to some extent) a smartphone. I’ve developed an interest in children’s books as my hidden agenda is to ensure she enjoys reading them. Of course the books I vet are about animals, people who work with animals or both.

Janeen Brian is an award-winning children’s author who also loves animals. Four of her books have won Honour Awards and twelve awarded Notables in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards. I’m a dirty dinosaur also won 2014 Speech Pathology Award of Australia in Early Childhood section. Other titles have been shortlisted, translated or distributed worldwide.

In 2009 she won a May Gibbs Children’s Trust Literature Fellowship and three years later, was awarded the Carclew Fellowship (Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature). So she’s a big deal in the world of kid’s books. She’s also an ambassador for the South Australian Premier’s Reading Challenge, The Little Big Book Club and Books in Homes.

Janeen spoke to SAT about her writing and the way that animals, and human-animal relations, inspire her books.

What’s your day job?

My day job is as a children’s writer. It’s a fulltime profession which I began in 1990 after many year’s part-time teaching and part-time writing.

Your latest book, Mrs Dog, is a children’s book about the relationship between a lamb and a retired farm dog. What inspired you to write about this interspecies relationship?

The two characters in Mrs Dog are so much a part of farm life; a sheep dog and sheep, or in this case a lamb, or a ‘little Woolly Head.’ An old dog like, Mrs Dog, is like the elderly in humans who often have more time to reflect and consider what’s important in life. Many things floated around in my head for a long time before the story evolved. I had a name I liked for a lamb (Baa-rah) and years later in New Zealand, I overheard an old lady call out ‘Come on, Mrs Dog’. A slow dog shuffled up behind her. So I had two names. That was all I had, really. Over time, I mulled about a story for these two creatures. Mrs Dog is the end result after many, many drafts.

You’re an Ambassador for the Premier’s Reading Challenge. Why do we need to promote reading?

Reading is alive and well. The Reading Challenge and programs like it, however, are instrumental in bringing a full scale awareness to children who might otherwise have slipped the net and be less inclined to discover the joy of reading. These type of programs also help teachers with their busy schedules, by bringing a ready formed list of books which have been evaluated by those competent in the area of children’s literature.

Sadly, reading does face resistance at times; the tide of technology and interactive devices often require only a press of a button; whereby reading needs time and concentration. Also, there’s the horrific demise of teacher-librarians, who are being phased out of many schools to the detriment of children who need guidance with choice of books, awareness of new titles and encouragement; as well as teachers who simply don’t have the time to explore the library, or have the knowledge that a trained, experienced teacher-librarian has. 

Janeen confers with a colleague in the library.

What non-human do you share your life with?

We have a border-collie dog, called Raff or Raffy. Although he is black and white, our previous border-collie, named Nell was tricolour, much like Mrs Dog in the book. We also have two chooks, called Meadow and Rapunzel. Once, our then five year-old grandson named them. Now, whatever two chooks we have, they are always called by those names.

How did you meet?

I’ll speak here about Raff. When Nell died, we waited a while and then sought out the country breeder again. Her bitch had just had a litter and there was one little one left. We drove the hour and a half as quickly as we could, and picked up our new puppy from the farm.

What do you do to spend time together?

My husband and I take Raff for walks, throw balls to chase, pat and cuddle him and stroke his lovely soft ears. We also take him to our daughter’s property in the hills and let him have play-dates with his brother (from another litter). The two of them race around and have fun together.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about caring for the non-humans in your life?

For me, there’s more than one! How much love we can share together. How good non-humans make us feel. How they’re part of our whole existence - not just a life specifically for humans. How much they become part of your family. How extraordinarily important they are to nourish our senses.

What could we do to make the world better for non-human animals?

Treat them with care and respect, but give them good training. The whole adage about treat others as you’d like to be treated, can apply to animals too.

Any advice you’d like to share with veterinarians and future veterinarians?

Stock my book in your surgery! That way, children (and adults) can enjoy the story and sense the loyalty and compassion the two characters in the book had for each other.

The book is beautifully illustrated, with fine, realistic pictures that convey an enormous amount of expression and emotion by the very talented, Marjorie Crosby-Fairall and is published by The Five Mile Press.

Thank you Janeen. You can check out Janeen's website here, follow her on facebook here or tweet her @Janeenbrian. 

The Dog, Ray: Interview with author Linda Coggin

I love the cover of this book.

Linda Coggin is an actress, poet, author and animal lover. Her latest book, “The Dog, Ray” is a novel about a twelve-year-old girl killed in a car accident. She briefly visits “heaven” – a Government-run job centre – only to find herself returning to earthly existence in the body of a dog. I thought I could predict exactly how the plot would turn out, but it surprised me. And the book provides some interesting insights into the human-animal bond. Linda was happy to chat with us.

Linda Coggin with one of her muses.

What is your day job?

I don’t really have a day job. I write! But sometimes I make gardens for people. I have had lots of day jobs in my time though. I’ve been a mime, tv presenter, actor, stylist, gardener and cleaner. But I have always written.

Can you give us a short synopsis of your book The Dog, Ray?

The Dog, Ray is about a twelve year old girl called Daisy, who dies in a car crash and comes back to earth as a dog. But she retains the memory of being her twelve year old self so has opinions and attitudes and ideas that no one can understand. She meets a boy who is living rough called Pip, who gives her the name of Ray, and together they go on a journey to find his father.

You wrote that your dog Beezle was the inspiration. How did you meet Beezle and what about him inspired you?

Beezle is nearly thirteen, about the same age as the girl, Daisy, in the story. We have had him since he was a puppy. His mother was a lurcher and his father a very handsome whippet.

Beezle, as drawn by Linda's daughter Chloe.

Beezle let me into the world of dogs. He is always busy just being a dog. He likes chasing things, burying things, chewing things, having his head stroked and lying around a lot. He is a very gentle, loyal dog and because I’ve spent so much time with him I’ve been able to observe the important bits which I hope make Ray in the story believable. Like how his ears move. Beezle’s ears are very expressive.

Beezle with his expressive ears.

Your book highlights the ways (good and bad) that different people treat dogs. How do you think we should treat dogs?

I think we should treat dogs in the same way we should treat any sentient being. With love, kindness and respect. Never to punish but to show them what you think is right and to praise them when they do well. I think dogs can easily behave in the same way as their owners. I’ve seen nervous, neurotic dogs with nervous and neurotic owners. If something goes wrong with a dog’s behaviour it usually comes from the owner.

What other non-humans do you share your life with and how did you meet?

As well as Beezle, we have an Irish wolfhound called Pixie, who does not behave like a dog and was no good at inspiring dog like things for the book. Although she is very large, in her mind she is a lap dog. We also have two cats, Pocket (quarter Bengal) who features a lot in my blog as he’s always bringing some dead animal home. Well it’s usually alive when he enters the threshold through the cat flap. Also a black cat Nancy who we rescued. Then there are two horses, Harry a gypsy cob and Trude a rather aloof Friesian and seven Indian Running ducks. Last year we had a pet rook too who had fallen out of a nest.

Any advice you’d like to share with veterinarians and future veterinarians?

Advice – oh!  Only that I’ve learnt to try and be calm around animals. To be patient and non-threatening and not to force anything. We all have to gain their trust.

Thank you Linda. The Dog, Ray is published by Hotkey Books and available for $16.99. You can read more about Linda on her blog lindacogsblog.blogspot.co.uk, Facebook pages (The Dog, Ray; The Boy with the Tiger’s Heart; Linda Coggin), and follow her on twitter @LindaCoggin.

Biography of a Celebrity Chihuahua

Earlier this month, award-winning author Louis Nowra wrote a beautiful article about his dog Coco’s cancer. Coco, a ten-year-old Chihuahua, had a splenectomy and is undergoing chemotherapy. Nowra marvels at just how attached he and partner Mandy Sayers have become to Coco.

“Sometimes I cannot believe that for 10 years this canine, weighing all of 3 ½ kilograms, has dominated our lives. Because she’s a gregarious dog and adores humans she has gained friends everywhere she goes in and around Kings Cross. Those she especially likes she will greet with her version of a wolf howl. She likes to sit on laps and be patted. At our local pub she seems to know when people are stressed because she jumps onto their laps and, before too long, the human is absent-mindedly stroking her and, in the process, calming down. Since she has been sick we take her out rarely and I’m often stopped in the street by people, ranging from pensioners to drug dealers, asking how she is faring.”

Coco, like many dogs, is a social facilitator. She is better known in the neighbourhood than Nowra and Sayer, and has introduced them to colourful characters and incredible events that appear in their stories.

Nowra wrote her into the TV series The Straits. 

Sayer wrote Coco:Autobiography of My Dog. The latter is a revealing book, examining the lives of Coco, Nowra and Sayer through the lens of Coco (as viewed by Sayer). If you can get your head around that, it is actually a brilliant essay on the attachments we form to animals. The degree to which Coco is involved in the lives of Nowra and Sayer, from dog-friendly holidays and associated dramas to afternoons in the pub and visits to the local shops, is wonderful. She is a character, just as worthy as any other. 

It’s a lovely, very funny read. One of my favourite passages pertains to preparation for a veterinary visit that will involve a general anaesthetic. Coco has to be fasted to minimise the risk of aspiration pneumonia. As someone who co-habits with non-human species I know too well just how tricky it can be to fast an animal for a procedure, and I’ve been leant on to break the fast (if you think fasting a dog is hard, try fasting a cat who thinks he is a Labrador).

“On the appointed morning I noticed that Mandy was still half asleep as she was making tea. This was the best time to trick her, I realised, before she’d had her first cup and wasn’t thinking straight. As she opened the fridge for the milk I swooped onto my chaise lounge and began to beg in earnest. And when she glimpsed me beside her, gazing up intently with my best big moist dog eyes, she automatically fed me a treat…Later, at the surgery, the vet looked at Mandy reproachfully and shook her head; even a tiny morsel of food in my system, she explained, could result in post-operative complications, like choking. Louis glanced at Mandy and shook his head, exasperated, as if she were the most negligent dog owner he’d ever met…The surgery was postponed for the following Tuesday…Tuesday morning dawned and just before we left for the vet again, Mandy ducked out to withdraw some cash from an ATM. When I glimpsed a sleepy Louis wandering around the kitchen, making coffee and talking on his mobile, I knew it was the moment to strike. I leapt onto the chaise lounge again and began whimpering and high-fiving with both paws, as if in pain. I was making so much noise he couldn’t hear what his caller was saying and so automatically fed me a treat to shut me up.
When Mandy returned, an ashen-faced Louis confessed, ‘You can’t take her in this morning. You’ll have to cancel.”“What the hell happened?” demanded Mandy. “I’ve only been gone a moment.”

Eventually Coco was fasted for her operation. We hope that Coco goes into remission and we’re sending our very best wishes to Coco, Mandy and Louis.

Coco: Autobiography of My Dog by Mandy Sayer is available through Five Mile Press. You can also follow Coco on facebook 

In the Company of Animals

In The Company of Animals is a good thing to read when in the company of animals...

Inthe Company of Animals: A Study of Human-Animal Relationships, was first published in 1986 (the same year I scored Van Halen’s 5150 on cassette for my birthday, i.e. a long time ago). Written by James Serpell, this is an examination of companion animal ownership, in an era where the human-animal bond was seen still as a bit of an aberration. When I was growing up (that phrase makes me feel ancient), everyone's pets slept outside, they were referred to as "flea bags" and when I told people I liked cats they would brandish the then popular book "101 Things to do with a Dead Cat" in my face. There was no legislation, aside from prevention of cruelty to animals legislation, to govern the keeping of companion animals. They weren't microchipped, desexing was less common and pets were fed some frankly dodgy foods. Stray dogs would wander through the playground and no one really batted an eyelid. Getting sentimental about pets was something only slightly wacky types did.

As Serpell wrote at the time,

“Instead of questioning our supposedly objective, economic relations with other species, or the morality that governs our ruthless exploitation of animals and nature, we tend to ridicule or denigrate those who take the opposite view. People who display emotional concern for animal suffering, or the destruction of the environment, or the extinction of wild species are often treated as misguided idealists. While those who allow themselves to be emotionally involved with companion animals are considered perverted, pathetic or wasteful. And all of them are damned with the accusation of sentimentality, as if having sentiments or feelings from other species were a sign of weakness, intellectual flabbiness or mental disturbance.”p211.

This book, revised in 1996, presents a fascinating history of relations with companion animals through the ages. Things have changed hugely during my lifetime, but attitudes to animals through history have varied enormously, influenced by social, political, economical and religious trends. 

Serpell highlights our moral conflict in relation to the different way we treat different species and even individual animals from the same species:

“…because we anthropomorphise them and think of them in human terms, we are bound by the same code of morality that governs our interactions with other people. Except in exceptional cases, this has not prevented us from exploiting animals, but it has given rise to a profound moral conflict in our relations with other species. In our efforts to come to terms with this conflict, we have become horribly entangled in an extraordinary web of myths, rituals, fabrications and falsehoods, of which the Christian idea of human moral supremacy is just one of many.”p174.

His insights about the human-companion animal bond remain relevant today. In the following passage he argues pretty convincingly why many people are so enamoured with dogs and cats.

“…dogs and cats have maintained their popularity as animal companions not, primarily, because they are home-loving, active during the day, non-aggressive or easy to house-train. These things are important but they are not, in any sense of the word, companionable. The indomitable success of these two species is chiefly owing to their powers of non-verbal expression. By seeking to be near us and soliciting our caresses, by their exuberant greetings and pain on separation, by their possessiveness and their deferential looks of admiration, these animals persuade us that they love us and regard us highly, despite all our manifest deficiencies and failures.
However much we may regret the fact on occasions, we humans need to feel liked, respected, admired. We enjoy the sensation of being valued and needed by others. These feelings are not trivial, nor are they a sign of weakness. Our confidence, our self-esteem, our ability to cope with the stresses of life and, ultimately, our physical health depend on this state of belonging.

Without it, existence would be hollow and without purpose. Of course, all other things being equal, a positive, affectionate relationship with another person is more rewarding and satisfying than a relationship with a cat or a dog or, indeed, any other kind of pet. It has more depth, more scope, more complexity, and it is altogether more enriching.

But inter-personal relationships can be a source of pain as well as pleasure. We are potentially in conflict and competition with other people in ways that we do not conflict or compete with our pets. Humans are consummate actors, capable of concealing and disguising their true feelings and intentions when it suits their purposes to do so. For this reason we exercise extreme caution when choosing our friends for, otherwise, we would lay ourselves open to the possibility of deceit, manipulation, betrayal and rejection, and all the hazardous medical consequences that arise from these kinds of negative interactions. Our relations with companion animals may be shallow by comparison, but at least their affection for us is reliable and unconditional, and it is patently absurd to argue that this kind of constant emotional support is either inconsequential or unhealthy.”p142

This beautifully written book is good to read if you’re interested in animal studies, companion animals, the ethics of animal use or anthrozoology. 

Professor Serpell will be visiting the University of Sydney as a guest of the Human Animal Research Network (HARN) later this year.

In the Company of Animals is available through CambridgeUniversity Press.