Once Bitten: The Adventures and Misadventures of a Young Veterinary Surgeon

by Nick Marsh, Harry Petrie (Narrator)

When Alan Reece qualified as a veterinary surgeon at the dawn of the new millennium, he had a save the world, one animal at a time.



Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy, and Alan soon discovers he has far more enemies than he was expecting – aside from vicious pets, difficult owners, surly farmers, and children from hell, he finds himself working with an unhinged and jealous surgeon who makes it his personal mission ruin Alan's life.



Battling long hours, life and death decisions, tragic cases, a complaint from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and an unexpected love triangle, Alan’s hopes of saving the world are quickly replaced with a simple



Can he even last a year in practice? Once Bitten… is the story of a young vet’s first few months in practice, and how they changed his life forever.

Audible Audio

Published October 8, 2025

About the author

Nick was born in the sunny vale of Manchester, in North-West England, back when everyone else was busy wearing flared trousers and purple shirts. He has continued to be out of step with fashion ever since.

Thanks to a certain ‘Mr Herriot’ Nick’s childhood ambition was to become a veterinary surgeon, an ambition that was only strengthened after a soul-scarring week working in the Coronation Street Shop at Granada Studios tour for his school work experience. He still sometimes wakes at night screaming about a shelf full of Vera Duckworth mugs smashing, and to this day the sound of the Beach Boys (which was, for some reason, played in the shop on a 24-hour loop) brings him out in a cold sweat.

Several years later, after five years at Bristol University (during which time he was promoted from a lowly ‘one-pint wonder’ to an impressive ‘three-pint wonder), Nick found himself out in the real world, qualified as a vet.

Soul Purpose and Past Tense were written as a response to his first few years at the sharp end of veterinary life. He now works as a small animal vet in Plymouth, and is feeling much better, thank you. If he ever wonders whether he is in the right job, he hums the first few bars of ‘I get around’ to himself, and knows that things could have been much, much worse.

Reviews

[Gareth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir reminds me very much of This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay. It's a similar story of someone going into a profession they've dreamed of since they were quite young, only to find the reality very much different to the dream.

Nick has found some good little stories in his first two years of practice as a vet. While it perhaps lacks some of the shocks of the aforesaid This Is Going To Hurt, it is told with humour, compassion, and a voice that, while very occasionally avoiding self-pity by hair's breadth, keeps the reader interested.

There is a lot of humour, a lot of reflection on the vagaries of the life of a vet and excellently drawn characters. Oh and some terrible puns!

Well worth your time!

[M.H. Questus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not usually a fan of audio books, but this one was a delight. Engaging without demanding every shred of my attention, I joyfully listened while painting.

My only warning is that if you find medical stuff or cruelty to animals to be disturbing... yeah, there's some of that here (thankfully not by our protagonist, but still!).

Funny, heartwarming, and a lot of fun.

Oh, and the narrator is fantastic.