INTERVIEW: ‘Vet Life’ finds three veterinarians balancing work with life
The Vet Life, which airs new episodes Saturdays at 10 p.m. on Animal Planet, has been a hit reality series for the network, and the three veterinarians at the center of the show have become breakout stars. They are professionals who tend to the many dogs and cats that come through their clinic’s door, but they also head out of the office to help farm animals and exotic pets.
The doctors, including Diarra Blue, Aubrey Ross and Michael Lavigne, developed a friendship while attending Tuskegee University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. In Las Vegas, the trio began working professionally, and now they have branched out and started their own clinic in Houston, Ross’ hometown.
On the new season of The Vet Life, there are plenty of adventures to be had.
“The initial idea was to never do reality TV,” Blue said in a recent interview. “In fact, we were busy trying to be business owners, and we were new to being entrepreneurs. We may be old as veterinarians, but as business owners, it was something that was new. So our focus was making sure that we took care of the business side and understood what to do with taxes and keeping clients happy and dealing with payroll and dealing with staff and all the while juggling being veterinarians and fathers. It wasn’t really an idea to be on a TV show, nor were we OK with it because our assumptions about reality TV were not anything positive. So we were kind of anti that, but we definitely were blessed with being on Animal Planet because they represent such a good demographic of people that understand what we do for animals.”
Blue said the team definitely had their hands full this season. For example, Ross and Levine actually helped a hyena, which was quite a different case in their workday.
“I wasn’t there for that, and I’ll be honest, I’m happy I wasn’t there for that one,” Blue said. “That was a little bit much. There’s actually a camel that I actually saw. His name was Humphrey, I believe, and that was a pretty cool visit to have with Humphrey. I’m also doing a herd of vegan bulls that need to be castrated, and that’s a very difficult one. So those are some of the adventures we have. I know the first season, Dr. Ross and Dr. Levine actually got to see a tiger.”
There is natural competition among the friends and colleagues. They joke about which veterinarian will take which case, and one can bet that when a tiger or camel need help, there’s a bit of a scramble to be the first one on the scene.
For Blue, his love of animals stems from his early childhood.
“I could say 2, 3 years old, I said I wanted to be a veterinarian,” the doctor said. “I didn’t even know what it was. I didn’t even know how to spell it. It’s difficult to spell it now, but it’s something I always wanted to be, a veterinarian. I took care of the neighborhood dogs, my own dogs, the neighborhood alley cats. I just always had fish. I actually wanted to be a fish veterinarian as a child. That kind of changed, but now in life, I’ll be working to get back to that point. But my love has always been there for animals. I’ve always had a keen sense of just understanding them and being able to help them. I don’t get squeamish like I would if I saw a person that was injured.”
Blue talked to Hollywood Soapbox a short time after taking care of a cat covered in fleas, a common occurrence in the clinic. The case resulted in a fairly easy remedy, which is good news. However, as every pet owner and veterinarian knows, there are those days when bad news is inevitable.
“Anytime we have to lay a pet into its final resting place, it’s always difficult,” Blue said. “I think the most difficult part is being the person that has to be the strongest in the room to do that duty and being able to be there for the client or the owner of the pet. It never is easy to do it no matter how you cut it, but over time, yes, you definitely grow a type of understanding about why you’re doing it and the understanding of when to do it or when it’s appropriate. It’s something where during my tenure as a veterinarian, I’ve gotten much better in how to relay these types of events to a client, almost as a person that will run a funeral home and is able to say something at a funeral. Even though everybody is sad and down, it’s that profound word that makes sense and can get a laugh out of you. And I’ve grown in my practice to be able to do that for my clients because we all understand that with life comes death.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Vet Life airs new episodes Saturdays at 10 p.m. on Animal Planet. Click here for more information.
