m When I went to the Dublin vet school in the late 60's, early70's, the horse was the pre-eminent species, followed by the cow. We knew that dogs barked and got a disease called footpad if their owners didn't fork out for the 'injections'. Over the first few weeks of my first job in the south of England, I was, rather distressingly, presented with a Rhodesian Ridgeback with hysteria/false pregnancy, a Mynah bird with a broken toe and a tortoise that 'wasn't well'. I put a brave face on it and started to take the history as all good clinicians do. 'So, how old is he then?' 'Around 40'. I refused to believe this and stood my ground. There was a certain lack of credibility clientside for the rest of the consultation.

JJ Interestingly, the age estimate was made by a vet, based on how the shell had grown. The tortoise had been found at the bottom of someone's garden about 25 years ago.