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Through A Vet’s Eyes
'A compelling account of the trials, tribulations and triumphs of life as a vet - and a lesson to us all on how we should treat the animals with which we share our lives.' - Stephen Moss, naturalist and author
Dr Sean Wensley is an award-winning vet and lifelong naturalist who has contributed to animal welfare and conservation projects all over the world. His debut book is about how we can choose a better life for animals, from the chickens we eat to the pets we keep.
As our societies become more urbanised, we are further removed from the reality of where and how our food is produced. Surveys suggest that nearly 1 in 4 UK adults don't know that bacon comes from pigs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the humanisation of our pets is a risk to their welfare; with over 60% of UK dogs being overweight or obese, we are effectively killing them with kindness. Through A Vet's Eyes seeks to redress this imbalance so that we see all animals as thinking, feeling beings not dissimilar to ourselves.
As he takes us through the years in which he trained to become a vet, and set against a backdrop of inspiring natural spectacles, Dr Wensley shares his first-hand experience of how animals are treated and used for our benefit. He interrogates the different levels of welfare afforded to them and reveals how we the general consumer can reduce our animal welfare footprint through the choices we make every day.
Dr Sean Wensley is an award-winning vet and lifelong naturalist who has contributed to animal welfare and conservation projects all over the world. His debut book is about how we can choose a better life for animals, from the chickens we eat to the pets we keep.
As our societies become more urbanised, we are further removed from the reality of where and how our food is produced. Surveys suggest that nearly 1 in 4 UK adults don't know that bacon comes from pigs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the humanisation of our pets is a risk to their welfare; with over 60% of UK dogs being overweight or obese, we are effectively killing them with kindness. Through A Vet's Eyes seeks to redress this imbalance so that we see all animals as thinking, feeling beings not dissimilar to ourselves.
As he takes us through the years in which he trained to become a vet, and set against a backdrop of inspiring natural spectacles, Dr Wensley shares his first-hand experience of how animals are treated and used for our benefit. He interrogates the different levels of welfare afforded to them and reveals how we the general consumer can reduce our animal welfare footprint through the choices we make every day.
- GenresNonfictionAnimals
368 pages, Hardcover
Published April 28, 2022
16 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 16, 2022
Well-researched and well-written account of the welfare impact of livestock and poultry farming and pet-ownership. There's lots in here that I'd not really considered and (for me) some new information – it’s thought-provoking and insightful stuff. I've been a very careful consumer of animal products in the past, but having read this book, I'll definitely raise my game and try to find welfare- friendly products wherever possible and avoid anything that isn’t labelled as such.
The format is to sandwich the author's nature-watching experiences with his real-life experiences as a veterinary student and vet gleaned from the mandatory farm and abattoir work that veterinary students are required to do, married with his post-graduate clinical experiences. I wish he’d set down some timelines for his observations as some of the management practices he reports having seen on farms are now restricted by legislation or becoming less prevalent due to consumer-led pressure for more welfare-friendly animal products; this does tend to lead to some over-statement of the author’s case
Really should have lost a star for this, and also because he doesn't consider welfare of farmed or trawled fish – one of my big concerns. (And, irritatingly, every time he goes bird-watching he seems to see something incredibly beautiful or rare, or both - and that seldom happens in real life!)
But these are minor quibbles that don’t detract from the value of this important book.
The format is to sandwich the author's nature-watching experiences with his real-life experiences as a veterinary student and vet gleaned from the mandatory farm and abattoir work that veterinary students are required to do, married with his post-graduate clinical experiences. I wish he’d set down some timelines for his observations as some of the management practices he reports having seen on farms are now restricted by legislation or becoming less prevalent due to consumer-led pressure for more welfare-friendly animal products; this does tend to lead to some over-statement of the author’s case
Really should have lost a star for this, and also because he doesn't consider welfare of farmed or trawled fish – one of my big concerns. (And, irritatingly, every time he goes bird-watching he seems to see something incredibly beautiful or rare, or both - and that seldom happens in real life!)
But these are minor quibbles that don’t detract from the value of this important book.
May 12, 2022
Through a Vet’s Eyes blog tour
Dr Sean Wensley is an award-winning vet and lifelong naturalist who has contributed to animal welfare and conservation projects all over the world. His debut book is about how we can choose a better life for animals, from the chickens we eat to the pets we keep. As our societies become more urbanised, we are further removed from the reality of where and how our food is produced. Surveys suggest that nearly 1 in 4 UK adults don't know that bacon comes from pigs. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the humanisation of our pets is a risk to their welfare; with over 60% of UK dogs being overweight or obese, we are effectively killing them with kindness. Through A Vet's Eyes seeks to redress this imbalance so that we see all animals as thinking, feeling beings not dissimilar to ourselves. As he takes us through the years in which he trained to become a vet, and set against a backdrop of inspiring natural spectacles, Dr Wensley shares his first-hand experience of how animals are treated and used for our benefit. He interrogates the different levels of welfare afforded to them and reveals how we the general consumer can reduce our animal welfare footprint through the choices we make every day.
I found this an interesting read, I am a huge animal lover, turning vegetarian at the age of 11. The thought of an animal suffering or just existing purely to be eaten honestly makes me feel ill. Due to this I found some of the book hard to read, the fact that we humans engineer different breeds of animals depending on wether we want to exhort products from them, Dairy cows, Laying Hens or to improve their ‘flavour’ blows my mind. The fact that cows are impregnated just to ensure they keep milking but the calves are an unnecessary byproduct!! I stopped drinking dairy milk over 7 years ago because I find the whole process heartbreaking.
Wensley does investigate into the most humane ways of farming and what consumers can do to help, even for your health cutting down on red meat is beneficial.
A well presented and thoroughly researched book, I think I’m way too sensitive to probably fully appreciate it, hence why I’m not a vet myself!!
Also, 1 in 4 adults don’t even know where bacon comes from??!!! Are people really that blind sighted?? 🤯
Thank you to octopus books and random things tours for my copy.
May 10, 2022
𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗚 𝗧𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪
𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 𝗔 𝗩𝗘𝗧’𝗦 𝗘𝗬𝗘𝗦
by Dr. Sean Wensley FRCVS
These are my thoughts on the truly eye-opening book Through A Vet's Eyes, as part of the blog tour hosted by Random Things Tours. Thank you for my spot on the tour and for the advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
𝗠𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄
To give the book its full title, Through A Vet’s Eyes: How we can all choose a better life for animals gives us a meaningful and thought provoking insight into our interactions and relationship with animals that live in the wild, those we farm for food, and those we invite into our homes and our families. It also focuses on how we treat animals very differently depending on what we want them for; from the closeness with family pets, and therapy animals, to the intensive farming, exploitation, and mass slaughter of animals to feed our appetite.
It was a worrying statistic that 6 out of every 10 dogs in the UK are overweight, one of which is my lab Cocker cross Wispa. I found the book to be engaging, eye-opening, and heartwarming, and then disturbing, shameful, and heartbreaking as the graphic truth of how we treat the animals we share the world with is revealed.
Overall, this is a book that should be in every school, every library, every home. I mean, seriously? 25% of UK adults didn’t know where bacon comes from? I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and for that reason, I gave Through A Vet’s Eyes, by Dr. Sean Wensley, five stars.
My blog with additional book and author info is now live at johnsbookshelfsite.wordpress.com
#ad #gifted #throughavetseyes #drseanwensley #seanwensley #gaiabooks #octopuspublishing #hachetteuk #RandomThingsTours #frcvs #booklover #bookstagrammers #johnsbookshelf #bookstabloggers #bookreader #blogtour #bookstagram #bibliophile #bookshelf #bookaddict #igreads #bookblog #readabook #johnsbookshelfblogs #bookaholic #fortheloveofbooks #goodreadschallenge2022 #bookpost #blogpost #johnsbookshelfreviews
𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 𝗔 𝗩𝗘𝗧’𝗦 𝗘𝗬𝗘𝗦
by Dr. Sean Wensley FRCVS
These are my thoughts on the truly eye-opening book Through A Vet's Eyes, as part of the blog tour hosted by Random Things Tours. Thank you for my spot on the tour and for the advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
𝗠𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄
To give the book its full title, Through A Vet’s Eyes: How we can all choose a better life for animals gives us a meaningful and thought provoking insight into our interactions and relationship with animals that live in the wild, those we farm for food, and those we invite into our homes and our families. It also focuses on how we treat animals very differently depending on what we want them for; from the closeness with family pets, and therapy animals, to the intensive farming, exploitation, and mass slaughter of animals to feed our appetite.
It was a worrying statistic that 6 out of every 10 dogs in the UK are overweight, one of which is my lab Cocker cross Wispa. I found the book to be engaging, eye-opening, and heartwarming, and then disturbing, shameful, and heartbreaking as the graphic truth of how we treat the animals we share the world with is revealed.
Overall, this is a book that should be in every school, every library, every home. I mean, seriously? 25% of UK adults didn’t know where bacon comes from? I cannot recommend this book highly enough, and for that reason, I gave Through A Vet’s Eyes, by Dr. Sean Wensley, five stars.
My blog with additional book and author info is now live at johnsbookshelfsite.wordpress.com
#ad #gifted #throughavetseyes #drseanwensley #seanwensley #gaiabooks #octopuspublishing #hachetteuk #RandomThingsTours #frcvs #booklover #bookstagrammers #johnsbookshelf #bookstabloggers #bookreader #blogtour #bookstagram #bibliophile #bookshelf #bookaddict #igreads #bookblog #readabook #johnsbookshelfblogs #bookaholic #fortheloveofbooks #goodreadschallenge2022 #bookpost #blogpost #johnsbookshelfreviews
May 17, 2022
– Reported surveys have suggested that 1 in 4 UK adults don’t know that bacon comes from pigs. – Pretty mindboggling. Have we become so distanced from the concept of animals as a food source that we no longer wish to acknowledge the meat we consume are in fact carcasses of animals. Is that why it is so easy to push the mass production, the inhumane transportation and slaughtering to the back of our minds.
It is possible to put pressure on governments and they in turn on the corporate world to demand accountability in regard to animal welfare, production systems that minimise suffering instead of putting maximisation and profit at the forefront to compete with national and international markets.
This book is so much more than our moral conscience in regard to the world of wildlife and animals, indeed the world we inhabit. It is also a love song to the beauty we are surrounded by, especially the variety of species and life we tend to only acknowledge on the periphery or during a short moment of admiration.
I think that’s what I loved about it the most, the passion and the way the author embraces every single aspect of movement, sights and interactions. Taking more than just a Kodak moment of the space we are in, more than just a second to remember the joy is often in the small gestures and experiences.
In a way it’s a book that reminds us of the importance of remembering living beings deserve to be treated with compassion, but without doing it in a preachy flag waving manner, and simultaneously being a love letter to all creatures great and small.
It is possible to put pressure on governments and they in turn on the corporate world to demand accountability in regard to animal welfare, production systems that minimise suffering instead of putting maximisation and profit at the forefront to compete with national and international markets.
This book is so much more than our moral conscience in regard to the world of wildlife and animals, indeed the world we inhabit. It is also a love song to the beauty we are surrounded by, especially the variety of species and life we tend to only acknowledge on the periphery or during a short moment of admiration.
I think that’s what I loved about it the most, the passion and the way the author embraces every single aspect of movement, sights and interactions. Taking more than just a Kodak moment of the space we are in, more than just a second to remember the joy is often in the small gestures and experiences.
In a way it’s a book that reminds us of the importance of remembering living beings deserve to be treated with compassion, but without doing it in a preachy flag waving manner, and simultaneously being a love letter to all creatures great and small.
May 16, 2022
Compassionate and compelling, the author shares his life experiences as a Veterinary Surgeon and shows how everyone can make a difference to the animals we share our lives with. The book is an intriguing mix of factual accounts of what happens in our interactions with animals, personal experiences of nature and scientific study. The observations of animals in their natural habitat are intimate and lyrically written and are a welcome contrast to some of the more disturbing facts about the lives of farm animals and other animals we as humans use to enrich our lives.
The positive take from this book is that everyone can help achieve better animal welfare, a life-affirming goal in itself, but for those less altruistic, there are positive gains for humanity in terms of better health and contributing towards saving the planet.
My interest in animal welfare drew me to this book, and I learned so much by reading it. Most people will be disturbed and saddened by some of the stories, but it's worth the discomfort to see how we can help. Whilst this book is an excellent memoir, it is also a practical guide on how individuals can help foster animal welfare, something that everyone should read.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
The positive take from this book is that everyone can help achieve better animal welfare, a life-affirming goal in itself, but for those less altruistic, there are positive gains for humanity in terms of better health and contributing towards saving the planet.
My interest in animal welfare drew me to this book, and I learned so much by reading it. Most people will be disturbed and saddened by some of the stories, but it's worth the discomfort to see how we can help. Whilst this book is an excellent memoir, it is also a practical guide on how individuals can help foster animal welfare, something that everyone should read.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
May 9, 2022
📚This book is a vet’s eye-opening polemic about our relationship with animals, how we treat them, how we get it wrong and what we can do to fix it. This nonfiction read is both interesting and educational, and will appeal to all animal lovers. It would make a great book club read as there is plenty to discuss and think about.
📚Dr Wensley’s passion for animal rights shines through in his writing, which successfully raises awareness and sheds light on issues and concepts that the general public might not have encountered before. This isn’t a preach, this is giving the reader the truth and allowing them to reach their own conclusion. Although one thing is very true, the way we treat animals needs evaluating.
📚I recommend this book to be read by all; however, there are parts that some readers may find upsetting.
📚Thank you, Random Book Tours and Octopus Books, for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. All opinions are my own.
📚Dr Wensley’s passion for animal rights shines through in his writing, which successfully raises awareness and sheds light on issues and concepts that the general public might not have encountered before. This isn’t a preach, this is giving the reader the truth and allowing them to reach their own conclusion. Although one thing is very true, the way we treat animals needs evaluating.
📚I recommend this book to be read by all; however, there are parts that some readers may find upsetting.
📚Thank you, Random Book Tours and Octopus Books, for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. All opinions are my own.
May 15, 2022
What a unique and beautiful book. As an already passionate animal rights advocate (and animal welfare of which this book is the main focus of), it was really important to be reminded of how horrific commercial farming can be, and the welfare of some animals (e.g. pigs) that I had no awareness of. This information is shared through the wonderful narrative of Sean's training as a vet and his innate love for wildlife. I've been vegetarian for 10 years with the aim to have hopefully reduced animal suffering, and this book has already convinced me to go further. Sean's love for animals and nature is infectious. I now take out my earphones on my daily coastal walk and appreciate the wildlife around me.
Essential reading for meat eaters who care about the welfare of animals.
Recommended reading for everyone.
Essential reading for meat eaters who care about the welfare of animals.
Recommended reading for everyone.
July 25, 2023
This is a very good book, but let me down by trying to be two books instead.
Half of it is a very illuminating, serious investigation into animal welfare particularly in the food industry but also covering elite horse sport. I learned a LOT and felt compelled to be even more vigilant in what I buy in supermarkets ( although I will give a 'smug alert' as I'm already very conscious of this)
The other half is really nature writing, descriptions of childhood walks, birdwatching and outdoor experience. Not that I 'don't like' this, but I'm not a birder or even a fan of birds at all, so I had no idea what these birds look like that he was naming, and it felt like 'filler' by way of light relief from the harrowing findings of his investigations. Which it probably was, in fairness.
So, a book of two halves, but with a vitally important message that I wish more people would read.
Half of it is a very illuminating, serious investigation into animal welfare particularly in the food industry but also covering elite horse sport. I learned a LOT and felt compelled to be even more vigilant in what I buy in supermarkets ( although I will give a 'smug alert' as I'm already very conscious of this)
The other half is really nature writing, descriptions of childhood walks, birdwatching and outdoor experience. Not that I 'don't like' this, but I'm not a birder or even a fan of birds at all, so I had no idea what these birds look like that he was naming, and it felt like 'filler' by way of light relief from the harrowing findings of his investigations. Which it probably was, in fairness.
So, a book of two halves, but with a vitally important message that I wish more people would read.
October 6, 2022
Excessively preachy and too littered with statistics and references which would have worked better in an appendix. As an animal lover, I could not read the sections describing some of the worse treatment of animals in the farming wide; as a vegetarian, I did not need any convincing that animals can suffer and maltreating them is wrong. I doubt whether many other possible readers would disagree.
The cause is a great one and I agree wholeheartedly with his conclusions -- I also enjoyed the interludes describing his birding and fox encounters -- but the book simply is not readable enough and I doubt whether the unconverted will get past the second chapter.
February 2, 2023
This is veterinarian Dr. Steve Winsley’s memoir/interesting account of being a vet. He shares his days as one of the leading veterinarians in the UK and width opinions and interesting facts he’s gathered along the way. From protecting animals to how similar they are to humans the book isn’t short on entertainment an interesting stories. I loved reading about his compassion for animals in the history of animal protection in the UK it’s so much more this really was a very interesting book that I am glad I read. I received it from NetGalley and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
December 24, 2024
Very informative book highlighting the importance of animal welfare to world health. This book is very enlightening and revealed farming practices around the world and in the UK that most people would be shocked to find out. Instead of just criticising these practices, Wensley provides realistic, achievable steps that everyone can take to make a difference and increase the ethical treatment of animals. This book is very important not only for protecting and caring for the world’s animals, but to protect human health, the livelihoods of farmers and producers, and the health of the environment.
June 5, 2025
4.5 this. book. i really think anyone and everyone should read this if they are remotely interested or care about animals, the environment or life. Wensley writing is sprinkled with a mix of scientific backing, interesting anecdotes and scenic settings. Coming away from this book, you're really motivated to change how you eat, how you buy and how you think about animals, how we treat them and their impact. while it did take me a long time to read it, it was basically because i wanted to properly digest and take in this book, because its message is so important
June 10, 2022
Sean delivers a thought provoking and powerful message in a hugely accessible way interweaving his love of nature with his extreme concern for those animals we’ve domesticated and utilise. A hugely enjoyable read that makes you think how you can help change things.
July 18, 2023
I'm a sucker for vet's stories and this one was good, well written and it alternates moving and entertaining moments.
There's information about animals and there's parts about battles for their welfare.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
There's information about animals and there's parts about battles for their welfare.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
October 28, 2022
Exceptional. Thought provoking. Hard read at times, but highly recommended.
May 27, 2023
Outstanding informative and well written book, without judgement but with encouragement for people who want to preserve animal welfare. It should be a gcse text book for our younger citizens.
July 10, 2024
Was interesting, read it over a long time which ruined it a bit
April 23, 2023
I am unable to download this book at all there is no download button in any way shape or form. Please can you fix this as I want to read it.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews