Pet owners pay tribute to Liam’s legendary care

“ARE you going to faint?” The question seems reasonable in the circumstances.

"Some people pass out and we just need to know whether we will be picking you up off the floor."

The thought had occurred to me too, as I gazed at the boxer lying prone on a metal slab in Liam Guerin's veterinary clinic in Gilabbey Street, Cork.

"I think you'll be all right, though. Come in a bit closer," says Liam as he sticks a gloved hand in and whips out what looks like a bloodied walnut.

"This poor fella has had it rough," he says, pointing to a long series of scars on the dog's flank. "He has had other tumours and we don't know whether this one is malignant or not but it's better out than in."

Judging from this brief glimpse of Liam's legendary care it is little wonder he has been chosen for a Life Achievement Award in this year's Stronghold Veterinary Pet Care Awards.

The nomination is based on scores of testimonies from Liam's other patients the owners the animals he has cared for over almost half a century. He is self deprecating about the fulsome praise, "lots of them are probably libellous" - insisting that compassion is all part of the job. Even when it involves visiting farms, making house calls or putting a terminally-ill animal to sleep , "it's what we are there for".

Yet, he is proud of the practice and of his colleagues. Partner Pat Doherty shares his interest in exotic animals while Liam's son, Shane, is a much sought after orthopaedic veterinary surgeon.

When Liam isn't fishing the Blackwater or tending to his garden, he likes to spend three days working in the practice he opened in 1957. Everyone gets a word of praise, especially nurse Mairéad Deasey and the practice's Girl Friday, Mari (correct spelling) O'Sullivan. They, along with Karen O'Sullivan, Gus O'Herlihy, Louise Tollman and Deirdre Duggan help to make the practice perfect.

"They are fantastic," says Liam. "They make all the difference."

The exotic side of his work involves caring for the animals at Fota, along with Pat Doherty.

According to Neil Stronach of Fota, "Liam is Europe's outstanding veterinarian in the care of giraffes and he has few peers worldwide in the handling and treatment of cheetahs."

The latter wild and ferocious creatures are so dangerous they have to be anaesthetised fully for Liam to work on them. However, such is the charm of the man that if the cheetahs could write they would probably be nominating him for a lifetime achievement award as well.