You’re the first person who’s read that,” he says. I tell him I thought it was a very powerful ending. I can’t think of anything else to say. This book hit very hard and very strong. It even made me cry a couple of times. Within this book, Noel describes loosing his beloved dog, Kiera. He also takes the reader through his sexual abuse as a child. Understanding Noel's emotions and the way he has dealt with his demons. Secondly, how the author draws on the qualities he sees in animals – particularly pet cats and dogs, including his own.

I listened to Noel's book now three times. Finally I took up medication myself. As a freelance writer of several books and carer of 6 cats, 1 turtle, 1 rabbit and two dogs, who a the light of my life, I have built up so much stress, I finally realised, if I don't do anything about it, stress will kill me. Once again in my life I took up meditation. I realised that I hardly breathe, not into my belly. As if nothing existed below my head ... I loved reading about Noel's surgeries and how he has overcome issues and come up with new tools to help our beloved animals. As someone with a cat, who loves that cat more than most people, reading about the ethical struggles that others have had was very hard. I found myself imagining being in their positions and honestly, I would do anything to make sure that my companion survived.

Summary

I believe that my overpowering sense of willpower to push things forward was temporarily affected, so that I connected with something deeper,” he says. “And in that sense it was a profound wake-up call. Also in the physical sense, that I was millimetres away from death. Had the vertebra shifted more, apparently, the fatality rate from an asleep fall down 13 steps into a wall is not good.” I’ll tell you what,” he says. “I have to rationalise how I’m gonna pass on what’s important to the next generation before I’m too old and incapacitated to do it. I’m trying hard to create a mechanism by which that’s possible.” This, I think, is his way of saying he needs to delegate more. Read with my daughter who is a fan of Supervet and very much enjoyed the author’s previous book which I think was more conventionally biographical. The book made me pretty anxious which is kind of how I feel when I watch Noel. I have said he would be difficult to work for and that hypothesis was confirmed somewhat. I just found myself not knowing what the purpose of the book was other than to make money and as someone who has seen most of the animal cases he talked about on the programme not even that was new. I wasn't aware he knew so many celebrities but I guess that makes sense when you're the best at something and the majority of people would struggle to afford your services. Noel, I only can repeat, what I said in my review to your fist book:You have saved the lamb times over. Thank you for being exactly who you are.

The book features several cases of previous patients of the four legged kind - some survive, some don’t – and that must be very hard.That first book also covered his struggle to get himself into and through vet school, his days as a large-animal practitioner in rural Ireland and his eventual relocation to the south-east of England, including a parallel career as an actor, with roles in Casualty, The Bill and a low-budget film called The Devil’s Tattoo. He even played a vet on an episode of Heartbeat, although he almost didn’t get the part because the casting director didn’t think he looked like a vet. But the book begins with a letter from the RCVS or the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons informing him that a complaint has been made about him by 4 other vets about his treatment of a tortoise called Hermes. They had deemed it an experiment, unprofessional cruel, unethical and unjustified. Noel had fitted prosthetic limbs to Hermes who subsequently died. This casts a shadow over the book as does the perfect storm of coronavirus.