Award-winning writer and veterinarian Caitlin Venniker brings the funny, moving, and unexpected moments of veterinary life to readers in her upcoming memoir, sharing a world often unseen behind the stethoscope.
Pretoria, South Africa (17 November 2025) – Dr Caitlin Gunthorp (née) Venniker is about to let readers peek behind the curtain of veterinary life with her memoir. The book is set to hit shelves in May 2026. It promises to capture the humour, heart, and chaos that define a vet’s world.
“Vets study for just as long as human doctors but our patients can’t speak. There’s no small talk about the weather or lengthy details of symptoms from them. No. Our patients are the ones angling to hump a leg, or scheming their escape, or plotting the demise of someone in the waiting room. All bets are off.”
Her journey from words to stethoscopes and back again is as impressive. After completing a BA in English at UCT, she pivoted entirely, embarking on Veterinary Biology in 2007 and then her BVSc at Onderstepoort in 2009, finishing in 2012. Since then, she’s worked as a veterinarian across South Africa, the UK, and the Middle East.
But writing has always been part of her DNA. In 2022, Caitlin won the prestigious Mark Ford Prize for Food and Drinking Writing with her short story The Hunt, taking home £10,000 from a pool of 870 global entries. Her talent does not stop there. She also won the 2023 Page Prize in Nonfiction for her essay Conversations in Colic Season. Her poem titled If You Could Have Sex with Any Song made the 2025 Winchester Poetry Prize shortlist.
Her Wells Festival of Literature 2022-winning story Goodbye Mrs Alston has been turned into a track on the debut edition of Album magazine, streaming on Spotify and YouTube Music.
“I love vets. I love how much they give of themselves every day, how much they care, how closely they observe. With my book I wanted to show people their side of the story, a side that is so often overlooked.”
With Caitlin’s sharp wit and eye for human (and animal) nature, this upcoming memoir promises to be both entertaining and moving. Fans of her short stories and poetry can already get a taste of her world on her Substack page.
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