THE clouds threatened to let loose some rain as the intense cold gnawed its way through winter garments. Intermittent sprinkles of drizzle marked the morning hours when we met in a cosy eatery in Kloof. She led me to a table next to one where her toddler sat with their carer. A creased cover copy of her recently published memoir, one she sheepishly said belongs to her sister while apologising for not bringing an extra copy, lay on our table as we sat down for a talk about writing, motherhood and the cutthroat work of a vet.

Caitlin Venniker, the author of Unleashed: A Vet’s Memoir of Heartache, Hairballs and Hope published by Pan Macmillan, said she managed to get through the laborious process of penning her personal account thanks to the support of her husband Andy, working only part-time as a veterinarian and so fending off the concomitant rigours and pressures that come with the long hours, and taking a year-long breather after child birth before returning to her manuscript.

“I took it slowly. Though children are demanding and I did not want to neglect them but I am grateful I have a very supportive husband, that helped,” said Venniker, who also expressed finding fulfillment during the “busy time” of completing her book.

The award-winning writer humbly shared that at times she was seized by imposter syndrome during her writing process.

Unleashed, she said, is an accessible, light hearted read dotted with humour, but is essentially about the mental health crisis that has silently plagued the veterinary industry.

The arduous academic work, which demands a dogged ambition, often produces hard-on-themselves vets, perfectionists who enter a high-pressure industry already burdened by steep student debt.

“There’s a lot of pressure. The hours are long. Also, unfortunately we lose patients sometimes and in the age of social media, this may come with quite a lot of abuse from clients because emotions run high and people need someone to blame, sometimes we see the worst of people,” explained Venniker.

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“So, I think all of those things play a role,” she said, and added some vets sadly end up finding destructive coping mechanisms.

“So, there’s a whole lot of things at play and I think vets are tired, they are emotional and I think all of those factors kind of come together because it really is bad. I think vets have one of the highest suicide rates, they are always in the top three highest suicide rates in any profession in the world. So it really is a problem,” said Venniker.

An emotional experience punctured into her memory was made into a chapter in Unleashed.

“It’s a chapter about a dog I had to put down and I really didn’t want to and I think it was one of the first times, I was quiet a young vet, and I realised the responsibility that we have towards animals and sometimes we are unable to help them and it really broke my heart and I have never forgotten that dog, his name was Duke,” said Venniker.

Another chapter of significant weight for Venniker is about her own dog. Venniker has two dogs, Scollie and Blue.

“For me that was a very meaningful chapter, I loved writing it, I cried while I wrote it and it really means a lot to me just because it was so personal,” said Venniker.

The author of the well received memoir, with several nods including News24’s Book of the Month in April, and a place on Exclusive Books’ recommendations list, said that in the face of a rising tide of social media and an ebbing culture of reading, she had to stave off fears and concerns about putting out a book in such a highly distracting climate.

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