Veterinarian and Mother

By: Kris August

It’s strange how life can lead us in circles. Since starting college at 18, my adult life has been a pattern of 7 year cycles. I spent my childhood running around the desert of my home in Tucson, Arizona, caring for all of the animals on our five acre “farm” on the side of a mountain. My days were spent with my rabbits, horses, cats, dogs, ducks, pet rats, snake….  So it is not surprising that since at least the 4^th grade all I wanted to be was a veterinarian. It took 7 years of college and working much of that time as a veterinary assistant, to complete my veterinary degree. I married my husband and vet school classmate, Radford Davis, in 1989 and we graduated together in 1991.  I brought him back to my hometown where we worked for the next 7 years honing our skills and learning what we did and did not like about our chosen profession. I worked in a variety of settings with a variety of clientele: an emergency clinic, lower income clinics, higher income clinics, families with young children, elderly pet owners, wildlife rehabilitators, zoo animals, they all supplied lessons to a young veterinarian.

Rad worked at an emergency clinic and soon decided to continue his education. He received his Master of Public Health in 1997, which led to our next 7 year cycle with a move to his new job at Iowa State University teaching Public Health at the Veterinary College. We moved the following summer from Arizona to Ames, Iowa with Skippy and Arthur, our 2 cats we each had when we got married in vet school, and our 4 month old daughter, Jordan. My Mom and Dad helped with the move and then flew home to Tucson. I was left in a foreign land with a little baby and a husband working hard to establish himself in a new career. In Tucson I had continued to work a few half days a week. This allowed me to nurse Jordan (she went with me when she was really little) and I could leave her with trusted grandparents or Dad.  I considered finding a part-time position in a clinic in Ames. This was the Midwest and a relatively quiet, “safe”, small college town, but I knew no one and was not about to leave my baby with strangers. Having a baby really affected my priorities: There was nothing more important to me than being there to care for and raise my baby (I was also a bit burned out on the veterinary world). Another aspect that made the decision to stay home much easier was the fact that my husband was earning the same amount that we had earned together in private practice in Tucson.

Years passed, we had our second daughter, Kira in 2000, and I continued to stay home. I tried my hand at technical writing, which did not come easy for me, and computer work, which never amounted to much. Even though I very much enjoyed being home with my children and was grateful for the opportunity, I still felt like I had lost a part of me. Though many aspects of veterinary practice had frustrated me, I missed being a veterinarian. I had devoted 14 years of my adult life to the profession and it was hard to let go. There were also people in my life wondering if I would ever “work” again, what would become of me after the children were grown, etc, etc. By this time, we had decided to homeschool our children and had met some wonderful people in our small local Waldorf community. I had been on the board for our Waldorf preschool, led Mom and toddler playgroups, learned many seasonal songs and crafts and really felt a part of this world. I call this my “de-tox” period. I spent 7 years as a stay-at-home-mom learning from and with my children. I found the creative side that had been sorely neglected during my “scientific” period. I also was learning how to integrate the creative and the intellectual/scientific worlds in a whole new way.

Watching our cats age, I felt more and more the need to be able to care for our own critters and to offer a service to others, especially those with cats like my Arthur, who hated to travel to the vet’s office and hated to be messed with during his dying days. I had planned a housecall business in Tucson during the last few years of that life. I had even named it Harmony Housecalls, influenced by the martial art, Aikido, that I studied for a time before becoming Mom. Now the vision of Harmony was even more clear. I hoped to be able to meet people at their own level, in their own homes and help them to care for their pets, teach their children to love and respect the animals, honor them without overburdening an already frazzled parent with more guilt. Since I started my business I frequently hear “It’s been five years since my cat has seen a vet – ever since we had children…” I hope I am able to offer a service to fill that need. I have a much more “wholistic” approach to veterinary medicine now and am learning about herbal medicines, trying to integrate conventional medicine with alternative options.

I am four years into this new cycle of Housecall-Veterinarian-<wbr></wbr>Homeschool-Mom. My Housecall practice is small and I like it that way, for now. I focus on care that I can provide in the home and refer surgeries or hospitalized cases to standing clinics. I see a few appointments a week at most; my husband comes along when I need an assistant. The girls often come too and visit with the other children while we parents talk, or all the children gather around to help asking and answering questions and learning about animals.

I try to keep mornings for school work and afternoons for other activities, music lessons, tae kwon do, vet appointments, playdates and as many quiet doing nothing days as we can squeeze in. I still struggle with the day to day routines, but it has been worth it. My daughters get an up-close view of the veterinary world and help with the family business. It allows me to be the veterinarian I always wanted to be and to spend my days with my children watching them learn and grow as I learn and grow with them. I wonder what the next cycle of my life has to bring?