Dr Julie Handley
Julie Handley trained at the University of Queensland, in the early 90’s. She began her professional life as a large animal vet in Brisbane’s bay side, seeing horses with colic at 3am on cold winters nights. After a few years working in the United Kingdom, she returned to Australia to a position with the RSPCA located in Newcastle and Broken Hill. Following some time off to start a family, Julie now works Fridays and Saturdays at Algester Vets, a job she enjoys for its opportunities to closely connect with her patients and their owners.
Love Your Pets sits down with the mum of 2 boys to talk about how she became the highly skilled veterinarian she is today and her ‘cat dog’ Truman.
Where were you born and raised, Julie?
Although I was born in Brisbane, I grew up in regional Queensland. My love for science came from my grandmother, who was one of the first female geologists trained in Queensland. She always fostered a questioning mind in her grandchildren.
Tell us a little about your veterinarian role…
I started here at Algester Vet Clinic as a locum, seven years ago now.
I now work every Friday, most Saturdays and the odd Thursday before I have a weekend off. Although I work part time, I’ve been such a long-term staff member, I’ve pretty much met every patient on our books.
What does your typical day at the clinic look like?
After doing all my mum jobs beforehand, a typical work day begins with checking in patients, especially those just about to have a procedure. All patients having a procedure have a clinical examination and the nurses and I collect blood samples from these patients before I start morning consultations.
I see clients and their pets for appointments, which could be anything from a new puppy consultation, to annual health checks, vaccinations, heartworm injections as well as those less routine issues pets have like lameness’s, lumps or upset tummies.
Then I begin surgical procedures, for example, de-sexing surgeries, or dental work to lump removals or x-rays. Next, I like to make follow up calls, receive and sending samples to external laboratories, respond to any emails, discharge my surgical patients, and see evening appointments.
After closing up shop, I rush home to catch the kids before they go to bed, and get a thorough sniffing over by Truman our little dog, who is always intrigued by the animal smells.
Do you have a specialty?
In short, not really, but as time has gone by I’ve narrowed my focus from general mixed practice to the medical and surgical care of family pets.
What do you love most about being a veterinarian?
I love getting to know the intricacies of people’s relationships with their pets. I think it is one of the most amazing things about human beings, that we can form such strong bonds with members of another species, that we can care so deeply for them, and where they sometimes become our closest friends. What an incredible honour to help people keep these special little creatures healthy and happy, so that this relationship can last as long as possible.
If you didn’t become a vet what was your second career option?
I seem to remember putting down a degree in Wild Systems Management on my QTAC form – I thought about becoming a wild life ranger or doing a general science degree if I didn’t get into vet school.
How do you spend your days off?
I spend most of my other time looking after my children, with lots of school mum stuff. I volunteer a lot at their community minded school and have become heavily involved with running the school fete every year. In between the mad times, I try and read as much as possible, and drag everyone out into the outdoors for bush walks and camping as much as possible. If I wasn’t at work, my happy place would be by the beach somewhere, enjoying a podcast or novel in between swims and gelato.
Tell us a little known fact about you?
As my husband is a composer and sometimes writes music for advertising, I sometimes do backing vocals for ads. He records these in a recording studio under our house, usually after hours. I might sound glamorous, but it usually involves me singing in my pj’s!
Tell us about your own pets –what’s their story?
Along with a few odd goldfish, we have a very spoilt little mixed breed rescue dog called Truman. Truman is what my kids call a “cat dog” – he prefers spending all his time sitting on the couch, ideally on someone’s lap, while having his ears endlessly scratched or his back gently stroked. He hates anything that might get his feet wet or dirty – so hates baths, beaches or walking on any day that isn’t perfectly dry and warm. We think he might have spend some times “on the streets” as a stray, and so is happiest as a home dog. He really thinks he’s just one of my kids, as he spends most of his time hanging out with them, playing lego, jumping on the trampoline or running around the back yard.
What made you decide to become a vet?
I lay the blame firmly on James Herriot. Yes, I was one of those kids who grew up in the 80’s watching All Creatures Great and Small every Sunday night with my family. We always had a spoilt family dog who I loved, and I thought a job where I hung out with animals all day, in a broadly scientific field, would just be ideal! After more than 20years in the job, I think I must have been on the right track!