Worn out by the life of a country vet, Bob Hatton subsequently helped his son Michael build up a chain of four veterinary clinics in Dublin, writes Rose Doyle.

THE LOT AND working life of the country vet in the Ireland of the 1940s was rough and tough going. There was no electricity. Roads were unsurfaced. The only telephones were in the local Garda station or post office. Animals, as a consequence, were operated on by candlelight in cowsheds, travel was hazardous and slow, emergencies couldn't be called in.

There were no antibiotics for animals either. These came later, in the 1950s. Bob Hatton, a Wexford man and New Ross-based vet in the 1940s, remembers his first penicillin patient: a greyhound with gangrene of the tail. "I injected around the tail and he was cured in two days," he says, pleased even today at the speed of the animal's recovery.

Bob Hatton has a lot to remember; 20 years in sole practice in struggling times makes for many stories to tell.

It leaves its mark in other ways too. Bob Hatton's passionate care for animals thrives in the second generation person of Michael Hatton, son of Bob and wife Hilda, the man who set up the Anicare Veterinary Group. A youthful 17-year-old institution in the world of veterinary services, Anicare has twice won the National Stronghold Veterinary Pet Care Award - no small thing since winners are decided by pet owners and the public.

Father and son, in Anicare's Clontarf Clinic, tell a tale with enough coincidence and chance to make the story a good one. Bob Hatton, with an instinct for the important bits, lays down the story's foundation.

"I was born just outside Enniscorthy, qualified as a vet from UCD in 1945 and started up in New Ross that year. I stayed in the Royal Hotel for £3 a week, full board.

Fred Taylor had been a vet in New Ross from 1894 to 1944 and when he died, his assistant, Billy Joyce, took over the practice. I married Mr Taylor's granddaughter, Hilda MacCormack, and we rented a house for £20 a year, an old Victorian four-storey with a carriage house in which I set up the surgery.

I was out on farms all the time. Pigs and sheep cost about 15 shillings to treat. There was no light, only candles, very bad roads and very few cars. At one stage, because of rationing, we used get eight gallons of petrol a month. I had a Baby Ford, no brakes and no tyres! I often mended four or five punctures a day at the side of the road.

Farmers gave help to the vet - but they'd call first on the local quack and, when he failed, call in the vet. A lot of the work involved calving cases, milk fever and mastitis in cows. Hilda sent out the bills. "It was seven days a week and 24 hours a day and after 20 years on my own I was burned out."

By then he and Hilda were parents to four children: Paul, Laura, Ken and Michael. Bob says he "kind of retired, joined the Civil Service Veterinary and Agriculture Department and came to Dublin in 1965 or 1966."

Michael Hatton was the one of the Hatton offspring who "always wanted to be a vet". Bob swears he "never encouraged him, told all four to do what they wanted". (Paul went into banking, Laura is a teacher/counsellor and Ken is in sales).

Michael Hatton studied in UCD too, graduating 25 years ago into a world in which veterinary medicine was concentrated mostly on larger, farm animals.

"I worked in Gorey for six months, until the weather got cold, then I looked around for work with small animals but it was the 1980s and there were no jobs, only a few small animal practices in Dublin. I went to the UK for 18 months but couldn't settle, then went to Hong Kong, which was great!"

Michael's story takes on the pace and excitement of travel and experience. He tells of wealthy Hong Kong dog-owners flying in a vet from the US to give a rescue dog artificial hips, of others having Mercedes cars "just for their dogs", of being collected in chauffeur-driven cars to attend pets, of journeying in Tibet, Japan, Hawaii, the US, Canada, Mexico, Nepal, India and South America. It was all grist to the experience mill, he says, and what he learned setting up and running a practice in Hong Kong was invaluable, giving him the confidence to set up on his own when he came home in 1991.

The first clinic was in Glasnevin, close to the Botanic Gardens. His father was on hand to help - "cheap labour" Bob says. Michael lived over the practice in what were "tough times. Interest rates were 15 per cent - after a few years I realised the only way to keep going was to open another practice and take on a partner."

And so it happened: vet Tanis Turley came on board as his partner in 1994. Today's Anicare Veterinary Group has practices in Glasnevin, Clontarf, Blanchardstown and Palmerstown, all with full hospital status which, Michael explains, means "certain standards of equipment, consulting room, laboratory facilities and an operating theatre.

"From the beginning it was all cats and dogs, no large animals. We get a lot of hamsters now, the occasional snake. Animals are generally quite sick when they're brought to the vet although they're much better looked after than they used be. There's cruelty out there, but most owners are much more responsible. Veterinary care standards have improved too, and pet insurance is now available, which means you can have your pet's care covered."

Father and son agree the study of veterinary medicine is much broader these days too, with students "more and more" taking add-on certificates in such as radiology, equine reproduction, and orthopaedics.

There's a family veterinary gene which won't be denied. Michael tells of attending a veterinary conference in Birmingham, after he'd set up Anicare, and meeting a UK vet who'd also, coincidentally, called his practice Anicare. "He was a cousin I didn't know I had; we figured it out later." Bob remembers the cousin's parents visiting, his aunts and uncles too, before contact was lost.

The same gene looks to be rearing its head in the coming generation. Michael Hatton and spouse Anne (nee Kelly, from a farming background) have two sons, Harry and Robert. Harry's setting his sights on the arts but Robert, 14, "wants to be a vet and could be a vet", his Dad says. "He'll make his own choice, but I certainly won't discourage him."

Anicare employs eight vets, eight veterinary nurses (graduates of the three-year veterinary nursing course in the Veterinary College) and four receptionists.

Michael Hatton produces the large, recently won silver trophy cup, and says they're all very proud and glad to have it for the second time in eight years.

"We've an ethos about providing the best possible veterinary care and the best possible nursing care, and aim to deliver this in a personal and friendly atmosphere where the needs of our patients and owners are given the time and understanding they deserve.

"We work alongside animal welfare organisations too, and look after guide dogs. The numbers owning pets have doubled in the last 10 years. Pets live longer these days, and so do their owners. We're kinder to animals now, and the standards of care are better - more are being neutered for instance."

Michael Hatton says he's a vet, quite simply, "because I love animals and enjoy working with them". His own family's pet is a border collie called Maggie. Bob and Hilda Hatton have "a three-legged dog called Benjy who used to be called Tripod".

Michael Hatton's core advice to animal owners is simple: "Look after your pets well, and responsibly. Clean up after them, and vaccinate. You'll get enormous pleasure from your animal."