what a week

Victor Vassallo

Chatting on TV, and caring for both owners and pets, for vet Victor Vassallo.
Interview by Zillah Bugeja

I wake up late, quite late in fact, I’m fortunate. I have time in the morning to potter about. I try to put in half an hour of yoga, which I find really helpful. Now that the weather is nice, I do a bit of gardening and it’s off to work.

My wife Suzy still can’t understand that I can start off so late and not be in a hurry, so if it’s too close to ten she’ll remind me to get a move on!

I get to the clinic about 10am, and it’s usually chaos, ably controlled by our assistants.

While I do enjoy my leisurely morning time at home, while I’m at the clinic I give my full attention to my clients. By 12, 12.30 I start surgery. We carry out operations every day, but we do get challenging cases like orthopaedic jobs. The vets on TV have such sophisticated clinics, even better equipped than most hospitals for humans… that’s too expensive for us to cope with. So we have to use our limited resources, which keeps your mind working quite a lot.

50% of my job is taken up by the owners, reassuring them, explaining what’s going on. People want to know all the facts. In fact, they often go on the Internet anyway to look up stuff, but they get both bad and good information that way. It’s always best to tell all the details.

I’m fortunate that I get to talk to many people. Sometimes six people will come with one puppy, and I make it a point to talk to all of them. I’m a better listener, so I’ll listen to about 50 to 60 people a day. It’s always interesting, and some clients have even become my friends.

Lunch is always a quick affair, a sandwich and coffee standing up. In the afternoons we get our appointment clients. That’s when the day slows down, because I know beforehand what they’re coming in for. I try to leave by 6pm, so I’m usually on time to have supper with Suzy and the boys.

The boys usually take up what’s left of the evening until bed-time. That’s fine, I look forward to seeing them and spending time together.

The six cats and one dog at home don’t need much looking after, so I might do some floodlit gardening, and that’s the time when I do my share and prepare the boys’ lunches for the following day – that’s how I can get up late!

After that, I’m on the computer, listening to music or watching TV, and I’m told that I regularly nod off on the sofa soon after.

On Fridays I go on TV. It’s John Bundy’s ‘uncut’ talk show on Net, like a small Maurizio Costanzo show, with myself, a police inspector, computer wizard and the mayor of Valletta as guests. I turn up at 3pm and stay for an hour. I’m a bit of an environmentalist, so I have spoken out about circuses and our lack of animal welfare. We’ve discussed the effects of globalisation and modern technology, so it can get as interesting as it can get silly, like when people call in to complain about wardens!

I don’t like being in the limelight, but I am enjoying the fact that I can air my views in public, something I was never really good at.

I try to get together with my friends to watch football on Wednesdays and Sundays. I’m a big fan of football, Roma and my team Hamrun Spartans in particular. When we do meet in a bar, it’s at Joey il-Ginger or we’ll congregate at one of our houses when we’ll have a meal.

We wake up early, and then I’m out with the boys on Saturday mornings. They go to football nursery at Luxol so I spend the morning there, meet a couple of friends, it’s very relaxing. Year after year I’ve seen my sons improve so much. The youngest Ganni, is football mad, and is also my companion for watching football on TV. He’s very technical, at 7 he can tell what formation the team is playing, and quote statistics about goals and things. No surprise that he wants to be a footballer when he grows up. Thomas tries his hand at all sports, and has discovered a talent in athletics.

On the weekend I love to stay at home, to don my green wellingtons and do some serious gardening. We often go for a walk in the country, probably up north. Having been a government vet, I know Malta better than most, and even on a Sunday can find quiet spots.

Sunday morning last week I took the boys to tennis, because Suzy attended a Holy Communion meet for Ganni. In the afternoon Thomas had his final athletic meeting in Marsa.

Saturday is my favourite day of the week, two days away from work and with my family. We don’t often go out, unless it’s somewhere specific like for a meal.

The satisfaction I get from work is seeing the results. Unfortunately you only see the animals when they’re sick, but sometimes clients are nice and call to say that the animal is better, and that really makes my day, especially if it’s been a difficult one.

Pet owners feel genuinely distressed when the animals are sick. When I see that I can put their mind at rest, it’s a big achievement.

Experience really helps a vet. I’m always asking myself whether each decision is the right one. A lecturer I had summed up the job well: he said that diagnosis is a science, but therapy is an art. The difference between treating a 20 or a 25 kilo dog can be subtle, even their temperament counts.

When clients come who have a background in homeopathy or acupuncture, I will go along with it. Eastern philosophies take into account the temperament too, and with animals it’s easier than with humans to check temperament, we’re such devious animals after all. For example with a wild dog who has a broken leg, I have to decide whether to put a cast on, operate and put a pin, a muzzle, see whether the owner is capable of administering treatment – you can’t just go by the book.

The Maltese treat animals very well compared to foreigners. We tend to become attached and are reluctant to put them down. We are no more cruel than anywhere else. What we do lack are laws: for fighting dogs you may be fined only Lm10, what kind of deterrent is that? The new welfare act should improve things.

Hopefully animal husbandry is set to change, maybe industrial farming has learned its lesson after it has treated animals like machines and factories. What we do to animals is undignified. Sweden and Switzerland have banned battery farming of chickens and have found that you can get the same amount of eggs without battery farming techniques.

What we do suffer from here is lack of responsibility, often we don’t know what to do with unwanted animals. So we have cats all over the place? Other countries have rats, so we’re not so bad off. In Italy, people who live near the Coliseum are paid to feed the cats, because the government recognises that they keep the vermin population down.

Speaking about Italy, I lived there for eight years, and have made good friends who make it a point to participate in important events in my life, and I appreciate that. What I’d love to do later this month is go over and celebrate Roma’s win!