Vet nurse Jade’s CREATURE COMFORT

Christchurch animal lover Jade Pengelly reveals the emotional toll of looking after pets at a veterinary hospital

- Linda Herrick

Even if you’re a doting pet owner, you probably won’t know much about what happens behind the scenes at your local vet surgery when your beloved companion goes in for care.

But a new book, Tales Of A Vet Nurse, goes beyond the public reception areas to explore the highs and lows of working in an animal hospital, where the unexpected can happen at any moment.

Written by Jade Pengelly, who works in a senior position in a Christchurch practice, her memoir is filled with illuminating anecdotes and insights from her service to animals in New Zealand and the UK over the past decade.

Jade, 30, recently moved to Canterbury after a two-year period of teaching vet-nurse students at Wintec in Hamilton, sharing the knowledge she’d acquired from working in practices across England.

Originally trained as a journalist, Jade switched to vet-nurse studies at Massey University while working in a practice.

As the book explains, the nursing side of the profession supports the vets’ singular focus on diagnosis and surgery. The nurses look after just about every other aspect of care, including making time for soothing cuddles and, importantly, monitoring pain relief.

‘It was too much for me. I wasn’t able to hold it together’

“The nurse will be the eyes and ears for the patients,” says Jade, talking to Woman’s Day from her Christchurch practice.

“The vets are so busy, they can’t have their eyes on a patient all day and they rely on the nurses to do that. It’s as if the nurses are talking for the animals all the time.”