About Emma
I grew up in the Medway Towns in Kent and was, like most budding vets, absolutely obsessed with all things animals. I decided I wanted to be a vet when I was about seven years old. Over the years lots of people told me I should have a backup plan because it was such a difficult course to get into. I have always been determined (many would say stubborn!) and I refused to consider anything else.
I worked very hard through school and for my A-levels and was over the moon with my results. Sadly, even though I had the right grades I didn’t get a place at vet school because of the high demand. Undeterred, I took a year off and worked in the evenings to save to go to university and did voluntary work on farms and at my local vets’ clinic to get experience. When I applied the second time round, I received a number of offers and opted to go to Bristol. My five years there were some of the best of my life.
I worked in clinical practice for 12 years, moving from Devon to Cheltenham to York. I have always been passionate about animal welfare but my years in practice made me more acutely aware of many of the issues we have with our pet animals and my interest in ethics and welfare grew.
Even at vet school I had questioned our apparent acceptance of breed-related disease as ‘normal’. Exam questions on breed predisposition made we wonder why no one was doing anything about it. In practice it soon became clear that a large proportion of what I was seeing and treating on a daily basis were preventable problems that were man-made due to breed standards. You can learn more about this on the extreme breeding page.
Finally, I was so tired of picking up the pieces that I left clinical practice and started to focus on spreading the word in my spare time around my other work and my two children.
Over the years since qualifying, I have spoken at numerous conferences on breed- related disease, written seven books and co-authored another two, and written hundreds of articles on various animal-related subjects. Having appeared on BBC’s Vets in Practice many moons ago, I’ve also had the opportunity to use my little bit of notoriety to reach more people and animals that I could in practice. My life revolves around animal welfare and ethics, after all, that is the very foundation of veterinary medicine and surgery.
I hope you find the website useful and feel free to disseminate the information. It is a work in progress and there will be new content coming so keep checking back when you get a mo.
EMMA MILNE SPEAKER AND MEDIA CV
Photos of our dogs and cats
Remembering my boys, Pan and Badger, they were my world for 15 years. Also some of the beautiful cats that have graced our house over the years. Charlton, Brian and Nigel were with me for years. Brian adored Badger and loved him until the end. Steve was a foster kitten and Woody (the fancy spotty one) just used to come and visit. Stella is 10 now and, as you can tell, loves the kids, ‘helping’ with homework and sitting in boxes!
- ALL
- OUR DOGS
- OUR CATS
