Emma Milne

Having been featured on BBC's Vets in Practice for seven years I've had the opportunity to get involved in lots of things that an everyday vet might miss out on. As well as getting involved with lots of brilliant animal charities I've also ended up writing for quite a few magazines over the years and have done quite a bit of welfare campaigning. Being on the panel for Question Time's fox hunting special was probably one of my scariest but most memorable moments!

I wrote my first book over a few years in between work and it was published in 2007. With The Truth about Cats and Dogs I really wanted to make people aware of the sorry state of the health of our pedigree dogs and cats. We should be striving to make sure our wonderful animal companions are as healthy as they can be way before we worry about how they look.

My second book, Tales from the Tail End, was brilliant fun to write and is very different. After years of serious welfare issues it was a lovely bit of light relief to write a book based on the funny and bizarre things that have happened to me over my time as a vet. Having grown up totally in love with the stories of James Herriot is was great to set out my own mishaps and experiences for all to see. Being a female vet brings its own unique 'issues' in some cases and having had the added oddity of being a semi-celebrity for some of the time the stories do vary greatly!

For the moment I'm not practising at the surgery because I spend my days (in between trying to continue my welfare work) looking after my two lovely daughters who, of course, are creating their own stories and chapters in my life.