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May 27, 2020

Celebrating Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month this May with Laura Ann Mc Donnell

This May we celebrate Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month. Laura Ann Mc Donnell, The Veterinary Hospital, Gorey tells us about her love for the profession as we Celebrate Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month.

My Journey into Veterinary Nursing:

My path to becoming a Veterinary Nurse was not straight forward.  Having completed my B.A. in Spanish and Geography in UCD, I went to work in T.C.D. I worked in the Senior Lecturer’s Area for approximately 10 years. I always had a love for animals and having animals at home I decided to return to college and undertake a Veterinary Nursing Degree.

I realised quickly it was going to be a steep learning curve when I took out an A4 notepad while every other student produced a laptop or tablet.

My four years in the Veterinary college was amazing. It was a tough four years with the daily commute, looking after the animals at home and keeping up with my studies. My mum was diagnosed with cancer while I was in my final year and died 7 weeks later. Her gentle nature and love for animals gave me the strength to continue in my finals and my graduation was one of the proudest days of my life.

There can be a lot of pressure on young people to decide on their life long careers. It did take a lot of courage to return to university but the reward of nursing has made it worthwhile.

I had undertaken some of my placement in the Veterinary Hospital Gorey and I was delighted to be offered a job there when I graduated. The previous ‘new’ person had ‘only’ been there 13 years so it really was like joining a large family.

Although my work involves everything from providing surgical nursing, post-operative care, ordering medical supplies and setting up Nursing clinics, my passion is for small animal nutrition. An animal requires the correct nutrition to grow, aid recovery from surgery/illness and to live a healthier and longer life. I try to keep on top of new advances in nutrition so I can advise our clients on the best nutrition for their pets.

I also believe in pets having a stress-free experience when attending our practice. To that end I completed and received my Fear-Free Certification.

I am delighted to celebrate Veterinary Nursing month and am very proud to call it my profession.

If you are interested in completing your Fear Free Certification like Laura, Sign up with XLVets Skillnet HERE

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