A vet who swapped Dumfries and Galloway for New Zealand has written a new book.
Former Lockerbie Academy pupil Rory Dean has released Adventures of a Country Vet, which shares stories from his career in both the UK and New Zealand.
Rory studied veterinary medicine in Edinburgh before heading to New Zealand, where he sits on the dairy cattle vets committee. He is also director at a traditional cattle practice in Northland.
Rory, who was born and went to primary school in Dumfries, said: “The content is focused on stories from my career as a vet in New Zealand and UK. I fell in love with the writings of James Herriot as a boy, and remember thinking I’d love to write from a young age.
“The content is a mixture of fun, somewhat bucolic stories and real life gory tales combining James Herriot with Adam Kay. I love the rural communities I am fortunate to have been involved with all my life, and a lot of my writing describes the characters (both animal and human) I have encountered in my career.
“My book was released before Christmas in Australia and New Zealand and readers have found the book to be an interesting insight into the life of a practicing rural veterinarian.
” It seems some of people’s favourite stories include replacing a cow’s prolapsed womb while suffering food poisoning in Devon, operating in the middle of the night on heroic pig hunting dogs and also listening to my stories of some animal owners who didn’t appreciate my efforts so much, including one farmer that threatened to shoot me.
“The book was completed over three or four years, while working full time, running a small business, captaining the local football team and sitting postgraduate exams.
“Scrappy, my fox terrier, features several times throughout the book – his misfortune seems to be typical of a vet’s pet.
For now, writing is a great hobby – I also write for Farmers Weekly UK and occasionally the Dairy Exporter NZ – but I’d like to consider writing another book.”
A proportion of the sales from each copy of Adventures of a Country Vet will go to Rural and Adult Literacy Trust, which Rory also volunteers for. The charity provides free coaching and support to people struggling with day to day literacy.
Copies are available from all good book stores and online retailers.