My story isn’t one of flawless victories or a straight, unwavering path. It’s a story woven with threads of triumph and heartbreak, a testament to the beautifully imperfect human journey from the quiet fields of Gujrat to the fulfilling, yet challenging, world of veterinary medicine.

Born into a middle-class family, I was cradled in the simple rhythms of rural life. My father, a farmer weathered by sun and toil, instilled in me a quiet strength and respect for the earth. My mother, a teacher before marriage reshaped her path, kindled my love for learning and instilled a sense of endless possibility. As the eldest son, I carried their hopes and dreams of a brighter future, which had an unspoken expectation in medicine – a path of prestige and security, a way to elevate our family’s standing. I, too, embraced this vision, eager to prove myself worthy.

Our home, a haven of earthy scents and gentle sounds, was shared with the creatures that worked alongside us: buffaloes with soulful eyes, cows that patiently grazed. These animals weren’t just livestock; they were part of our family, their lives intertwined with ours. Even then, a quiet empathy stirred within me, a connection to their silent needs and unspoken vulnerabilities.

However, life, as it often does, took an unexpected turn. As I neared the end of my schooling, grief descended upon our family like a dark cloud. The loss of my mother was a seismic event, a rending of the fabric of our lives. The pain was a constant companion, blurring my focus and dimming my ambition. The dream of medical school, once so clear, now seemed distant and unattainable.

Disappointment gnawed at me, but fate, ever the unpredictable storyteller, nudged me in a different direction: veterinary college. It wasn’t the path I had envisioned, yet as I stepped onto campus, something resonated deep within me. The animals, often voiceless and vulnerable, drew me in and needed someone to advocate for them, to heal their wounds and ease their suffering.

The first semester was a rude awakening. I was adrift, lacking the foundational knowledge many of my classmates possessed. Doubt crept in, whispering insidious lies about my abilities. My grades reflected my inner turmoil, and I feared I was failing both myself and my family. It became a time when I questioned everything.

Despondent, I returned home, unsure of my next step. My father, a man of few words but profound wisdom, shared a simple story. He spoke of a horse race, not the spectacle of the leading steed, but of the quiet strength of the horse lagging behind, the one that seemed all but defeated. That horse, he explained, often held back its energy, biding its time, gathering its strength for a final, explosive burst of speed. It was a lesson in perseverance, a reminder that true strength often lies in the ability to endure, to rise from the depths of adversity.

That story became my lifeline. I returned to college with a renewed sense of purpose and a burning desire to prove myself, not to meet expectations, but also honor the memory of my mother and sacrifices of my father. I became a dedicated student, immersing myself in the world of animal health. I also made a conscious choice to embrace a more balanced life. I joined the football team, finding camaraderie and a physical outlet for my pent-up emotions. Our team’s victory was a testament to our collective spirit, a reminder that even in individual pursuits, we are stronger together.

Years passed, filled with late-night study sessions, challenging exams, and the heart-wrenching realities of animal suffering. Yet, with each obstacle overcome, my passion deepened, my resolve strengthened. I rose through the ranks, eventually earning a place among the top students in my class. This wasn’t just about grades; it was about growth, about discovering my own potential and finding my place in the world.

Now, as I approach graduation, I stand on the precipice of a dream fulfilled. I am poised to become a veterinarian, healer, and an advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves. My journey was not easy, but it has been profoundly human. I’ve learned that vulnerability is not a weakness, but a source of strength and the importance of empathy, of connecting with others on a deeply emotional level.

My aim in sharing this narrative is to offer solace and inspiration to those who may feel lost or discouraged. Even in the face of adversity, we have the power to overcome and transform pain into purpose. Embrace your imperfections, they are what make you uniquely you. Never abandon your dreams, and always, always remember that the greatest strength lies not in perfection, but in the courage to keep moving forward, one imperfect step at a time. Let your own journey, with all its stumbles and triumphs, be your greatest inspiration.

 is a fourth-year DVM student at the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pakistan.

He is an ambassador of dvm360 and aspires to become an excellent veterinarian, specializing in exotics and small animals. Suhair Ahmed aspires to become a certified board veterinarian for exotic mammals in the future.

Articles

A testament to the imperfectly human journey

From the fields of Gujrat to veterinary medicine

One day Tim Forgery, a client liaison at SafetyCall International, the company which Pet Poison Helpline is a subsidiary of, let out Suvi, his Italian Greyhound, outside but did not notice there were wild mushrooms growing in his yard. Before he could stop Suvi, she managed to ingest a few of the mushrooms. 

"I knew mushrooms can be poisonous, so there was an urgent need for help. Because we are sister companies with Pet Poison Helpline and often work together, I happen to know one of their veterinarians, [Amanda Poldoski, DVM]. I called her directly to see if she could assist, and she knew immediately where to send me to identify the variety of mushroom so she could then determine if Suvi needed treatment," Forgery explained in an organizational release.

Following Poldoski’s advice, he contacted the resource she provided, and they identified that the Hebeloma mushrooms were what Suvi ingested. However, the resource was not able to provide Forgery with an assessment or treatment recommendations, so she reached back out to Poldoski. During their second conversation, Poldoski determined that a trip to the emergency hospital was not needed, and Forgery could monitor her at home.

According to Pet Poison Helpline, Hebeloma mushrooms are considered moderately poisonous.

 If ingested in a large quantity, it can cause gastrointestinal distress resulting in adnominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. In Suvi’s case, she was lucky enough that she did not consume enough mushrooms to develop any symptoms and did not need any medical intervention.

"Knowing I spoke with an expert from Pet Poison Helpline gave me the peace of mind I needed," Forgey continued.

 "I'm confident that if I had just taken Suvi into the emergency hospital, they wouldn't have known what type of mushroom she had consumed either, and it probably would have taken hours to come to the same result. It's nice to know firsthand how our company helps panicked pet owners."

Forgery is not the first employee of SafetyCall International to utilize the Pet Poison Helpline medical experts. Earlier this year, the wife of an IT employee called Pet Poison Helpline after the couple's miniature goldendoodle, Pawmento, ingested 2 containers of a nutrition shake that contained chocolate. 

Chocolate, which was Pet Poison Helpline’s number 1 on its Top 10 Pet Poisons of 2024, can cause vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, elevated heart rate, tremors, seizures, and abnormal heart rate if ingested too much. Too much chocolate can also cause death, but this is rare for pets who receive appropriate and prompt treatment.

"All calls are potential emergency situations, so all calls are important to us," said Renee Schmid, DVM, DABT, DABVT, a senior veterinary toxicologist and director of Veterinary Medicine at Pet Poison Helpline.

 "When the caller we're speaking to is a member of the Pet Poison Helpline/SafetyCall family, however, we have an instant personal connection. Staff like Greg and Tim are vital to fulfilling Pet Poison Helpline's mission of 'Saving Pets' Lives.' It's always rewarding to help one of your own."

Toxin Tails was created by Pet Poison Helpline to educate pet lovers and veterinary professionals on the poisoning dangers out there pets face, inside and out of the home. All of the pets featured in Toxin Tails, like Suvi, were successfully treated and fully recovered from the poisoning.

The Call Came from Someone Inside the Building. News release. Pet Poison Helpline. March 12, 2025. Accessed March 17, 2025. 

https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-call-came-from-someone-inside-the-building-302398901.html

Fellow Safetycall International employees experienced the helpline’s services firsthand

Pet Poison Helpline comes to the rescue for employees’ pets

In this interview, Jb Minter, DVM, MS, DACZM talks about amphibian metabolism, drug processing, and more

Understanding pharmacodynamics in amphibians

Pharmacodynamics is the study of how drugs affect the body. In this interview, Jb Minter, DVM, MS, DACZM, director of animal health and chief veterinarian at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, North Carolina, delves into this field of study in relation to amphibians, as part of a discussion on his lecture 

Navigating Amphibian Anesthesia and Analgesia

, presented at the 2025 Fetch dvm360 conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Below is a partial transcript, lightly edited for clarity:

So, pharmacodynamics in amphibians, again, very, very evolving field of study. So pharmacodynamics refers to the study of how drugs affect the body, including the mechanism of action, and the relationship... between the drug concentration and the effect of that drugs. So it's enhanced by a lot of different factors. So metabolism: amphibians have a low metabolic rate, and this is going to affect how the drugs are processed and eliminated, so got to take that into consideration.

The fact that they have permeable skin, so skin and amphibians is a key route for drug absorption. There's a lot of people that have looked at like topical drug absorption, so just dropping the drugs right on their back and how well it absorbs. So sometimes that can lead to faster onset of action. But also, there's been now some studies that have shown out there that obviously putting it on their back on certain species of amphibians don't really work at all, where you get this pretty varied absorption rate.

So there's a lot of species variation between how these drugs work and all of these different species. I said there are thousands of different species of amphibians. Now, not all of those are housed in human care or maintained by people that have pet amphibians and jumping what you may see in the literature for one species, the extrapolation between this frog and that frog, may not work as well as one may hope. So there's still a lot going on to the understanding that pharmacodynamics in amphibians requires some pretty careful attention, making sure that you're up to date on a lot of the literature and reaching out to friends and colleagues if you don’t really know the answer...

Videos

In this interview, Jb Minter, DVM, MS, DACZM, talks about amphibian metabolism, drug processing, and more

Dr. Broadwater talks about an alternative for senior dogs

Joshua Broadwater canine eyelide tumors

Joshua Broadwater, DVM, DACVO, discusses treating eyelid tumors in aging dogs. He explains the benefits of using laser technology to remove these masses, offering an alternative to traditional surgical methods that require general anesthesia.

: My name is Joshua Broadwater. I'm a veterinary ophthalmologist at a clinic in Charlotte, which is Charlotte Animal Referral and Emergency. I’ve been there for about 8 years now. I'm from Maryland originally, a little small town in western Maryland up in the mountains. I had to leave there as soon as I could, so I ended up in undergrad in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Then I went to vet school at Virginia Tech. I did my general medicine and surgery rotating internship at the time, which was Florida Veterinary Specialists in Tampa, Florida, and then I did my residency at a private ophthalmology practice on the other coast, on the east coast of Florida. Then I got tired of the heat, and I came back up here to North Carolina about 8 years ago, and have been here ever since.

In our field, we see so many dogs with eyelid tumors that are very invasive to the eye. They're very irritating to the eye. And of course, it always happens in our patients that are 14, 15, 16 years old with a lot of other health issues—heart issues or other issues that prevent them from undergoing general anesthesia. And so we still want to address these masses. So how can we remove these tumors from the eyelid without putting these guys under the risk of general anesthesia?

So my first talk is focused on that: how do we remove these masses without the risk of general anesthesia? This talk mainly focuses on the ways that we can do the procedure while these animals are awake, under very minimal sedation—sometimes no sedation at all—and how the procedure can be done with a laser to remove the masses permanently with a very low chance of regrowth. That way, we get them comfortable, prevent future irritation, but minimize any risk of anesthesia.

Whenever we are talking about the benefits and the risks of this procedure, the biggest benefit of doing the laser removal is by far the anesthetic risk, which is very, very minimal with this procedure. The aftercare is much less involved as well because we're usually not having to place any sutures in the eyelid. Without any sutures, they're able to go home with maybe an E-collar on for a day or 2. Because when I tell an owner they have to have a cone on for 2 weeks, you would think the world is ending. So if I can get away with telling them, 'Give me 48 hours and we can take that cone off your little puppy’s head,' then they’re going to be much better with that.

As far as risks, when we remove these with the laser, there's about a 90% success rate that this mass is done and gone forever. But there is about a 10% risk it could regrow because I'm not taking big, wide margins like I would do with a surgical resection. So that's probably the one risk that I do discuss with people if we go the laser route versus the surgical route.

With the surgical route, the advantage is a very low risk of recurrence because we're taking very wide margins on these masses. But we are also having to place several stitches, we are also putting them under general anesthesia, and they're going to have to have this E-collar on their head for about 2 weeks. So it is a much more involved, much more invasive procedure. Most owners, if I give them the option of A or B, are going to choose the laser removal almost every single time. And especially as their animal gets older, with more risks with anesthesia, they almost always choose the laser removal of these masses. That’s why it has become very popular. I would say it's actually the most common procedure I do in my practice eye wise.

Joshua Broadwater, DVM, DACVO, shares how laser technology offers an alternative to general anesthesia for removing eyelid tumors in senior dogs

Laser treatments for canine eyelid tumors

In this interview, Danielle Banks, BSc (Hons), RVN, GradDipVN, shares more on infection prevention and control in veterinary medicine, and her 20 years of dedication to improving infection control protocols in veterinary medicine.

Infection control today interview with Danielle Banks, BSc (Hons), RVN, GradDipVN

Infection prevention and control (IPC) is a critical part of health care, and veterinary medicine is no exception. Danielle Banks, BSc (Hons) RVN GradDipVN, is a registered veterinary nurse for Davies Veterinary Specialists, based in the north of London, England, in Hitchin Hertfordshire.

She is at the forefront of advancing IPC in animal care. With over 20 years of experience, Banks has dedicated her career to improving infection control protocols in veterinary hospitals, which traditionally lag behind human health care.

) to discuss her role and its importance, not only with animals, but with the broader One Health initiative.

 is a relatively new field, but it is gaining traction due to the growing concerns over antimicrobial resistance and the One Health approach—recognizing the interconnection between human, animal, and environmental health. While hospitals and clinics in human medicine have well-established IPC protocols, veterinary practices must often adapt research and guidelines from human health care to fit their unique settings.

“My role as an IP veterinary nurse is really rare. I'm fortunate to have this role. So, within the veterinary group, I certainly work for most clinics. Rather than having a dedicated IP nurse, we would have infection control representatives. So they're effectively, there's someone who champions IP within their clinic, and that might be a lead nurse or a clinician who has that additional responsibility on top of their existing role. They're championing hand hygiene. They will be the ones to help inspire and create that necessary positive culture around hand hygiene. They will be doing the training, the education piece, those compliance checks, and, of course, those gentle reminders, which are important."

Bank continues, "The other thing that I see certainly is that that leadership and management support, that that's right, vital, so that you know staff on the clinic floor can see leaders practicing that hand hygiene so then others follow, and it embeds IP and hand hygiene as part of patient and staff safety.”

A typical day for Banks involves staff training, policy development, environmental cleaning oversight, patient placement, and monitoring infection rates. She also works on outbreak management and collaborates with public health officials when necessary. Banks helps shape IPC strategies across multiple veterinary clinics as part of a UK-wide veterinary group, ensuring standardized best practices.

One major challenge in veterinary IPC is antimicrobial resistance. Banks emphasizes the importance of educating pet owners about responsible antibiotic use and the risks of overprescribing. She also highlights the need for improved hand hygiene adherence, an issue that parallels human health care settings.

Banks envisions a future where veterinary IPC is more structured, with dedicated training courses and professional networks similar to human healthcare. With increasing awareness and collaboration, veterinary infection control will continue to evolve, benefiting both animal and human health.

Danielle Banks, BSc (Hons), RVN, GradDipVN, discusses the growing importance of infection prevention in animal care, tackling antimicrobial resistance, hand hygiene, and adapting human health care protocols.

Veterinary infection preventionists: Who are they?

During this interview with dvm360, veterinary surgeon Brian Sutherland shares how he approaches conversations about a pet's surgery to make sure the client understands the risks and benefits

Video interview with Brian Sutherland, DVM, DACVS-SA

When a client finds out that their pet needs surgery, it can be a scary start to the process for them. To help ease their nerves, Brian Sutherland, DVM, DACVS-SA, explained in this interview with dvm360, that he tries to be as transparent as possible with clients in order to make sure they understand the risks and benefits of these procedures. 

Throughout the interview, Sutherland explains that he shares a risk-benefit analysis that he does for himself with clients to help them be fully informed, educating clients on high-risk and complex procedures, especially for those that may be rarely performed, to help veterinary professionals educate their clients to make the best decisions for their pets. 

I think my general approach is to be as open and honest as possible with owners. These are often challenging and sometimes high-risk procedures, and I think owners need to be very, very well educated on that. And a lot of times these procedures are things that aren't performed very often. And so despite someone being, you know, the most experienced, like my mentor in Colorado, one of the most experienced heart surgeons in the world for veterinary patients, still there are things that he has not done hundreds of, you know. So there are definitely certain procedures where we don't do that often and have less experience with and I think it's very important that we're...open and honest with owners about that, so that they don't have some, you know, notion that we have done hundreds and we know exactly what's going to happen and that sort of thing.

And so, as part of that, what I like to do with owners is go through that same risk-benefit analysis that I do for myself, and talk to them about what I think the benefits may be and what I think the risks might be, and then include them in that sort of discussion and thought process to whether or not they think they want their pet to have a procedure based on what they feel their pet's quality of life is, and what we think we can do to improve that quality of life with surgery. So I think the upshot is being open and honest and making sure they understand the risks. 

When it comes to discussing surgery with clients, transparency is crucial 