Rewarding career … Sydenham Vet Darrell Gust loves nothing better than giving his clients good news. 60035 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Natalie Gallenti
The Sydenham vet never tires of treating animals and said it is perhaps one of the most rewarding careers.
“It’s a fun way to spend your life,” Mr Gust said.
An animal lover as a young child, Mr Gust said he always knew he wanted to be a vet and was inspired by the work of James Herriot – an English veterinary surgeon who wrote a number of autobiographies.
But despite public perception, Mr Gust said being a vet wasn’t particularly glamorous and there were many hard and challenging moments.
“It can be a very emotional job. Only last week I had to euthanize two animals that were dearly loved. That’s a very confronting part of the job.”
However he said the gratifying moments far outweighed anything else.
“It’s lovely to deliver nice news to people, especially the elderly and young children. Their pets are such a big part of their life. For older people a pet is often their only companion.”
And he is never far from animals, with a house filled with an array of creatures including cats, frogs, fish and insects.
He said while most of his patients were dogs and cats, pet owners were being a lot more creative these days and he recently treated a water dragon and was seeing a lot more reptiles.
Mr Gust said over the past 20 years he had seen huge improvement in pet ownership and believed the media spotlight on caring for animals has meant people are more responsible and take it seriously.
