Supervet Noel Fitzpatrick has taken healthcare for animals to new heights
The many-faceted professor has gained some diehard fans – among them Rebecca Armstrong
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Your support makes all the difference.There are very few things that my mother and father agree on, almost 25 years after they divorced. If you add my opinions into the mix, we could fail to see eye to eye on myriad topics until the end of time.
But there's one thing that unites the three of us. Well, one person. Noel Fitzpatrick, aka The Supervet, whose sixth TV series started on Channel 4 this week. Regardless of our ages and sexual orientation, I can safely say that we'd all like to marry him.
My mum first introduced me to him, telling me about a lovely Irish vet that she'd seen on the telly. If only his practice – Fitzpatrick Referrals, based in Surrey – was nearer to where she lived. She'd be there, dog in tow, at the speed of lighting, despite the fact that the only thing Daisy, her Westie, has wrong with her is a slightly sore paw. My mum would go for the bedside manner and stay for Supervet's brown eyes and brogue.
What first attracted my father to the world-class orthopaedic-neuro veterinary surgeon? His brain. Fitzpatrick has pioneered more than 20 new procedures and implant systems in the past decade and his work on "growth deformity correction, limb amputation endo- and exo-prosthetics for limb salvage, metallic-tendon in-growth and fracture repair systems and implants for spinal fusion and disc replacement" (don't ask me, that's what his website says) doesn't rival what's available for humans – it far exceeds it. Would that Fitzpatrick could be let loose on people willing to take a chance on his steady hand and endlessly imaginative approach to healthcare.
I love him for his kind way with near-hysterical pet owners and for the dignity with which he treats their animals. As someone who's sobbed her way through the death of two cats, Supervet's tenderness is really something special. Fitzpatrick is also working wonders for other vets, showing the importance of the work they carry out.
As the British Veterinary Association's junior vice-president Gudrun Ravetz says: "It's great to see colleagues from the veterinary profession on TV, not only demonstrating cutting-edge developments in veterinary medicine but highlighting the real value that vets offer their pet-patients and pet owners."
And while it's his empathy that I've fallen for – honest, guv – he's far from the only vet to offer support to animal owners. Ravetz says: "That vet/owner/pet relationship is a priority for us and the 20,000 practising vets across the UK who play a key role in the health and welfare of pets – offering owners advice before they even take on their pet and throughout their animals' lives, and helping to facilitate that human-animal bond."
Tell that to my family and other animals, though – all we want is to do is bond with the Supervet.
'The Supervet' airs on Channel 4 at 8pm on Wednesdays
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