Don't Call Me Catty

We go to the conference. We attend the mental health session. We come back inspired. Then someone calls in sick, the surgical board fills up, and everything goes back to normal. So what actually changes? Recorded at the CVMA convention in Charlottetown, this episode features Charlotte Fahy, business development manager at Kelowna Veterinary Hospital and co-founder of The Practitioners' Lounge...

Veterinary medicine asks a lot of people clinically. But what about the human skills that determine how we handle mistakes, conflict, vulnerability, and each other? Dr. Ellen Nicklassen is a veterinarian, practice owner, trained counsellor, and founder of The Practitioners Lounge. She joins Leilani and Jillian to talk about the parts of veterinary medicine that don’t always get taught in school. T...

What if the next generation of veterinary professionals got to test-drive vet med before they even graduated high school? Tamara Anderson, RVT, BA Sociology, is an instructor in the Veterinary Technical Assistant program at Olds College of Agriculture & Technology, where she teaches high school students through dual-credit programming. She joins Leilani and Jillian live from the 2026 CVMA Conv...

If your veterinary practice has ever answered a phone or an email, Dr. Chris Armstrong has news for you: you’ve probably already practiced some form of virtual care. So why does the idea still make parts of veterinary medicine uncomfortable? Live from the 2026 CVMA Convention, Chris joins Leilani and Jillian to unpack the resistance to virtual care, the fear that technology could disrupt the veter...

What happens when you stop accepting “this is just how vet med works”? Marina John, RVT, joins Leilani and Jillian at the CVMA Convention in Charlottetown to talk about building a veterinary career on her own terms. Marina shares her path from 17 hour ER shifts and veterinary martyr culture to GP, acupuncture, locum work, research, management, and eventually technical services at the Atlantic Vete...

What does it look like to build a veterinary practice around the life and workplace you actually want? Dr. Jennifer Hurford, owner of Foxboro Veterinary Hospital in Ontario, joins Leilani and Jillian for a candid conversation about veterinary practice ownership, leadership, motherhood, grief, money, and figuring things out as you go. Jen shares what it was like to buy a veterinary practice just mo...

Grief is messy and uncomfortable, and it seems no one really knows how to navigate it. We don’t always want to think about these topics... until suddenly we have to. They’re a brutal reality, and we can all do each other a favour by understanding what loving end-of-life decisions can look like, and how to actually support someone during and after a loss. Dr. Emily Hawrysio, DVM, CHPV, founder of H...

What happens when you realize you might have been part of the problem? Jen Cote, RVT, joins Leilani and Jillian for a candid conversation about nearly 20 years in vet med. They discuss the lessons that came from changing roles, getting uncomfortable, learning how to communicate, and becoming the kind of leader she wishes she’d had earlier in her career. Jen’s career has taken her from general prac...

What if the problem in veterinary medicine isn’t that we need to be more resilient, but that we’ve gotten really good at enduring things we shouldn’t have to? In this special episode of Don’t Call Me Catty , Leilani and Jillian sit down with boop co-founders Amanda Ensor, DVM, Ashleigh White, and Rachelle Richard to talk about how an idea for veterinary apparel became something much bigger. The co...

Season 2 is here, and we’re kicking things off with Dr. Serge Chalhoub: internal medicine specialist, professor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, co-founder of the Calgary Veterinary POCUS Academy and, apparently, Prince of the Nephrons. Serge’s path through vet med wasn’t exactly linear. After vet school, he thought he’d become a general practice owner. A near-fainting...

What happens when two veterinary industry leaders put themselves in the hot seat with actual hot sauce? 🌶️ In this special episode of Don’t Call Me Catty, hosts Leilani Saad and Jillian Carr take on a hot wings challenge while answering the questions they usually ask their guests. As entrepreneurs and passionate advocates for the veterinary community, Leilani and Jillian open up about the conversa...

What if veterinary care didn’t stop at the clinic door? In this episode of Don’t Call Me Catty , we’re joined by Ellyse Bacelic-Grgic (RVT & Founder) and Jen Gibson of Felix and Fido , a platform enabling Registered Veterinary Technologists to provide in-home support following veterinary visits . Built from a personal experience with a critically ill pet, Felix and Fido addresses a common gap...

What actually makes a veterinary hospital work ? It's not all about medicine.  In this episode of Don’t Call Me Catty , we sit down with Daniella Cox, Hospital Manager at Boreal Veterinary Centre, to talk about what really drives a successful, high-performing clinic, and why leadership, communication, and culture matter more than most people think. Daniella shares her journey from ER tech ass...

Jillian sits down with Dr. Greg Andrews: equine veterinarian, industry leader, and founding force behind Mosaic Veterinary Partners, for a candid conversation on what it really takes to build a lasting career in veterinary medicine. With over 37 years in practice, Dr. Andrews shares stories from the early days of equine medicine—working out of a tin shack, relying on hands and intuition before adv...

Leilani and Jillian sit down at the 2025 CanWest Veterinary Conference to chat with the incredibly inspiring Dr. Heather Murphy, a Calgary-based veterinarian from Glamorgan Animal Clinic. Dr. Murphy, a 2016 UCVM grad, shares her unconventional and deeply moving 10-year journey through veterinary medicine. At just 23 years old, during her first year of vet school, Heather was diagnosed with stage f...

This week, we’re talking to Dr. Jodi Viste, and asking her how the heck she has 150 friends. She is a rural mixed-animal vet, mother, ABVMA council member, and a passionate community member. We’re diving into the "extraordinary ordinary" life of a small-town vet, including: The realities of the veterinary shortage,  The dark humour we use to survive the hardest parts of the job, and  Why...

We sat down with Liz Blake, Sr. Veterinary Sales Representative at Pets Plus Us , for a conversation that starts light but quickly gets real. From Halloween costumes to $10,000 emergencies and life-changing decisions, this episode dives into the reality of pet insurance in vet med. Liz shares her stories from over 25 years in clinic and industry including the moment that changed everything: a six-...

This episode is sponsored by Solvet Canada: https://solvet.ca/ We sit down with the one and only Shannon Gervais, RVT, at CanWest in Banff for a conversation about leadership, entrepreneurship, networking, and the future of veterinary medicine. Shannon shares her journey from RVT to a career that spans clinical practice, pharmaceutical sales, leadership, consulting, and founding multiple ventures...

This episode is sponsored by Solvet Canada. https://solvet.ca/ Recorded live at CanWest 2025 in Banff, we sat down with Kamryn Shaughnessy-Gervais: Inside Sales Rep at AniCell Biotech, animal-health industry “legacy kid,” and competitive barrel racer with serious grit. Kamryn grew up in veterinary medicine (trade shows, clinics, and all), then moved from Canada to Texas to compete and study at Tex...

We sit down with Dr. Candace Stuart, a veterinarian practicing in Whitehorse, Yukon, at one of only two veterinary clinics serving the entire territory. Dr. Stuart shares what it truly means to practice medicine in Canada’s North, where referral centers can be 10–14 hours away, emergency care is covered in-house, and veterinarians must rely heavily on teamwork, adaptability, and trust. From perfor...

Registered Veterinary Technologists are the backbone of veterinary medicine. But so many people (including pet owners) don’t fully understand what RVTs do, what they’re trained for, or how much they carry. In this episode of Don’t Call Me Catty, we sit down with Shea Lee, RVT, President (Vice-President at the time of recording) of the Alberta Veterinary Technologist Association (ABVTA), to talk ab...

Leilani and Jillian sit down with Ashley Nicholls of Reach Ag for a wide-ranging conversation that blends leadership, culture, and real-world agriculture experience with plenty of laughs along the way. Ashley shares his journey from Australia to Canada, including stories from Australian cowboy culture and what it was like entering the agriculture industry later in life. Together, they explore the...

Complaints are one of the most anxiety-provoking experiences in veterinary medicine. However, they don’t have to be a mystery, and they don’t have to define you. In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Phil Buote, DVM, Deputy Registrar and Complaints Director at the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association (ABVMA), for an open, human conversation about what really happens when a complaint is filed. Ph...

We sit down with Jerry Locati, an RVT whose full-time job is talking to pet owners when they’re worried, overwhelmed, and unsure what to do next. Jerry shares his path into veterinary medicine, what led him to become an RVT, and who he is outside of the profession (including his life as a bass guitarist while off the clock). We talk about his role at Animal HealthLink, where he’s often the voice o...

In this episode of Don’t Call Me Catty , we sit down with Dr. Jeannet Kessels, DVM, founder of Vets For Climate Action, to trace how one moment of concern turned into a worldwide effort to unite veterinary voices for the planet. From the frontlines of climate-driven animal welfare crises to conversations with veterinary organizations across continents, Dr. Kessels shares what it takes to build mom...