What inspired you to become a vet?

Early in my career I was intensely frustrated by the lack of options available to our animal friends. I felt powerless and helpless. I realised that I could spend the next 30 years feeling like that, or I could do something to make a difference.

I know it sounds evangelical, but this is what I believe – we really can save the world and the animals on it, both wild and domestic, if we really want to.

What drives you?

I want to give all of the animals all of the options all of the time and I want a team around me that genuinely believes that we can make the world a better place one animal at a time. It all begins and ends with one animal that is loved by one human in one moment in time. That drives me, because if I truly deliver for that animal and for the family that loves that animal then that really does matter. It really does matter that our little bit of the universe is OK, and by holding that golden nugget of life in our hands and cherishing the love it represents, we genuinely do make the world a better place and we make a statement that society should look after its animals and that unconditional love shared between a human and an animal represents the very best of the human condition.

What is your ultimate goal?

I want to create the greatest veterinary practice that ever existed on planet Earth, by virtue of the big hearts of the people within it, by virtue of the technology and environments we pioneer for the greater good of animals, and by virtue of the lengths we will go to always do the right thing for each and every animal entrusted to our care. It’s not enough to be able to do something – it must be the right thing to do.

On a larger scale though my ultimate goal is to make society aware that we cannot continue destroying species after species and habitat after habitat – that we must take collective responsibility for the animals on the planet – because otherwise the next generation will be impoverished and deprived of what could have been if we had looked after it.

It is for a well-trained veterinary specialist to sit at dinner with a well-trained human consultant surgeon and for both to have equal respect for each other, to learn from each other, to realise that all life is precious and to work together for the greater good of all animals – that’s humans, dogs, cats and tigers – the lot! It’s not so much to ask, is it?

I have founded a charity called The Humanimal Trust that aims to champion this simultaneous advancement of animal and human healthcare so everyone benefits.