PLUGGING a camel’s nose and x-raying an axolotl: it was all in a day’s work for Dr Nick Scott.
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The long-serving Bathurst veterinarian retired from his role at Stewart Street Veterinary Hospital last week after a lifetime of care for animals big and small – and the occasional Mexican walking salamander.
While his career began in large animal care, Dr Nick has worked with creatures of many shapes.
“I’ve loved doing large animal work but enjoy working with small animals from cats to dogs and even lizards,” he said. “The weirdest I’ve worked with is probably camels. I once plugged a camel’s nose.”
The camel, he said, was brought to Bathurst as a pet and its owner got the nose-plugging idea from an Afghan practice in the Northern Territory.
But it didn’t take a visit from a ship of the desert to make an interesting day at the vet hospital, Dr Nick said.
“Some of the quite small animals have the most unusual cases,” he said. “They can be the most involving and interesting out of anything you do. A routine animal might have some unusual disease or injury.”
Graduating from Sydney University in 1970, Dr Nick started working in a mixed practice in Goulburn, during which time he married his first wife and had three children.
He then set up his own practice and purchased a small farm, breeding Australian stockhorses and running sheep and cattle, before moving to Canowindra and then Parkes, working at different practices.
It was in Parkes where Dr Nick met his future wife, Gai, and he moved to Bathurst to be with her and set up his own practice in 1992.
He joined Angus McKibbin in partnership at Stewart Street Vet Hospital in 2005.
“The practice has changed a lot in terms of advancing technologies,” he said. “When I graduated from university, we were just starting to use x-rays. Now we can do so much more for our patients thanks to the advance in technical infrastructure.”
He also spent a great deal of time working with WIRES to care for native animals.
“The highlights are the things you can do well, when you can make a difference. The lowlights are the times when you can’t make a difference,” he said. “It’s sad and frustrating not being able to save an animal, but at least it feels gratifying when you can help an animal when it’s their time to go, but that’s always a terrible time for the owners.
“The generations have changed at Stewart Street Veterinary Hospital and it’s an exciting time. I’m going to miss the nice people and nice animals. I have a lot of chores to do at home and once I’ve made my way through that big list, we’ll see what happens next.”
Dr Nick will enjoy time with family including eight grandchildren, a miniature Schnauzer and two Australorp chooks.