Toronto's hottest vets

DR TED MORRIS
Bloor Animal Hospital
I met Dr Morris at his clinic on the west side of town. Though we chatted in an exam room, no exam took place. Sigh. Just talking.

What made you want to become a veterinarian?
I was good at science. I was looking at going into human medicine, but I’m like, Ehhh, people are gross. And you get to do a lot more, like surgery, internal medicine.

People are gross. What’s the best part of your job?
The animals. I have my favourites.

Now Ted, it’s not nice to play favourites. What’s the hardest part?
The people! Not all the people. Just dealing with money and the fact that not everything can be free. Dealing with the business, dealing with the money, people’s unrealistic expectations.

Do you have any pets?
Most of a Jack Russell terrier.

Ummm?
A three-legged Jack Russell. I couldn’t commit to a full dog! Her name is B, which is short for Beatrix. My boyfriend wanted to call her Buffy, but I’m not standing in a park yelling out “Buffy.”

My roommate wanted to call her dog Potato. I was all, Not if you want me walking it! Do you have any crazy vet stories?
I did a pregnancy check on 160 cows one day — that’s going up 160 cows. They really try to fight you; they clamp down on your whole arm so that by the end of the day it’s just this smelly noodle at the end of your shoulder. It’s rather disgusting. So yeah, that happened.

DR JUSTIN SURETTE (pictured above)
Downtown Animal Hospital
This handsome doc had me feline good!

What is the best part of your job?
Helping sick patients get better and seeing happy owners is very rewarding, but playing with the new puppies and kittens that come in is probably the best.

Awwww! What’s the hardest part?
It’s always hard seeing pets that you’ve known for years reach the end of their lives. You sometimes feel helpless when you realize that there is nothing more that can be done.

Do you have any favourite work stories?
When an owner brings a dog in because it ate something that it shouldn’t, you usually make them vomit it up. I’ve picked out a few tampons and condoms in my day. My favourite is when they’ve eaten chocolate, because believe it or not, it still smells like chocolate.

That’s really gross/hilarious. Tell me about your fish.
His name is Elmer.

Okay then! If you could impart a message to the people and their pets, what would it be?
If you want to purchase a pet, you should do your homework. I would recommend buying only from a reputable breeder. Finding pets online and at pet stores can be a lot easier, but you may be supporting an industry that does not have the animal’s best interest in mind. Otherwise, I always recommend adopting from the local animal shelters.

Dr MARK DILWORTH
Beaches Animal Hospital
If this vet were an animal, he’d be a silver fox!

What is your favourite part of the job, other than interviews with attractive, single reporters?
It’s the interaction with the clients.

You’re very different from Dr Morris!
It’s just the best when you see a hopelessly ill animal, and the animal gets better and lives a healthy life. Everyone’s really grateful that you were able to save their family member.

Tell me about your pets.
We have three dogs, two cats, and we’re fostering a dog right now, too. Oh, and great neighbours! Our clinic does a lot of intake of rescue animals. It’s one of the risks of my job — not being able to say no! And, I mean, my partner is now the chair of the new, improved Toronto Humane Society.

Oh great, so you’re taken. How long have you been together?
Five years now.

Congrats. Moving on . . . What is Toronto’s best-kept secret?
The many small rescue groups throughout Ontario that find homes for rescue pets, and most of them do it from their own pocketbook. You can find excellent pets from these groups. There’s this group called Happy Tails. This one woman gets dogs from shelters and takes care of their needs until she can find them homes. Not completely out of her pocket, but mostly.