As I come up to my first half century in the veterinary profession it gives me time to reflect on the huge changes that have taken place since those early days. Most usual practice then was to spend about 95% of the time in large animal orientated work, visiting farmers and stables, and only 5% with domestic animals, mainly dogs and occasionally cats. The knowledge we had gained in the postwar years in veterinary colleges was ahead of the expectations of the public and the animals they looked after, and it took a few years before the workload percentages started to alter.

Because of the commitment to farm work surgeries had to be held in the evenings, to attend to dogs and cats, and it also meant very long days for us to be available for the job. By 1970 anaesthetics had become much more sophisticated, and this opened the door for safe operations to be performed on all animals, particularly small ones. Whereas previously death from anaesthetic poisoning was always a great deterrent to to long operative procedures, now new skills could be put into practice. Staff had to be trained in order to accommodate this this new type of practice, and it was also necessary to spend much time reading articles and books on the developing subjects of surgery. This became very exciting, and in the 1980s courses at various centres and universities were available for all veterinary surgeons.

At present this updating is becoming almost compulsory and makes the prgress of the profession more exciting, whatever age you are. With the emphasis now on small animals, which includes many of the exotic species, you are just as likely to see a ferret or a rabbit, a budgerigar or a tortoise, or even a snake among many varied types of dogs and cats in the waiting room. It is paramount for every veterinary surgeon t o keep updating knowledge in this new millennium, and this is exciting and stimulating for us all.

During the next few months I will be writing articles on the health and care of most of the species of small animals which are presented to us nowadays, and this is a measure of the remarkable change that has occurred over the past fifty years.