Beyond Supervet: How Animals Make Us The Best We Can Be: The New Number 1 Sunday Times Bestseller

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He says how Leonardo da Vinci was both a scientist and an artist simultaneously, and didn’t differentiate between the two disciplines. “Neither do I,” he says.

He writes how “Christmas morning 2022, I woke up crying. Keira was dead. Mammy was dead... I wanted to drift away.” He also said he enjoys running between midnight and 2am with the quiet surroundings meaning he feels like it is “just you and the universe.” He does have some time for downtime though saying he enjoys watching the hit TV show Succession and was the “only thing” he watched this year. Search through hundreds of recommended walks, treats, toys and places to stay when you're on an adventure together. TeamDogs is a community for dog lovers who want to get the most out of their relationship with their best pal. He says he felt his dog’s presence at that moment — “I surrendered once again to her love and let her in” — and that’s when he got the idea for the book. Crikey. I wonder if he is okay. If he’s had bereavement counselling?I’ve been blessed by the universe with these gifts,” he says. “I’m like an artist painting at 4am, except unlike the artist, I just keep painting.” Despite the fact he is usually in charge of the animals in his line of work, the 54-year-old revealed in a recent interview with Waitrose magazine that his Maine coon cats - Ricochet and Excalibur - sometimes get the upper hand. When asked if he preferred to get up early or lie in, he said he doesn't always have a choice. The point of this book is that life is full of ups and downs, but the unique quality of an animal companion is unconditional love,” he says.

Honesty and truthfulness are huge themes in the book, from the practice of veterinary medicine and the difficulties his industry faces around money versus ethics, to the need to be honest with ourselves. “In my field, people don’t typically think a surgeon is going to be totally honest with people about his inner feelings and demons. I thought it’s really important that somebody like me tells the absolute truth because to look in that mirror and to be honest with oneself can go one of two ways: Sublimation and self-destruction, or ‘OK, I’m not perfect, I have very few of the answers, I’m just a bloke trying to do his best and can I help others do their best in a difficult situation?’ That’s the origin of the difficult album number three,” he laughs. Noel also revealed how he was able to get the time to write his new book Beyond Supervet despite his busy job, revealing a flat out schedule. After finishing a day at work he would write from 10m all the way through the night until 5.30am, only sleeping between 6am and 10am.To which the answers are (a) no, (b) pescatarian, and (c) eye roll. “I will neither confirm nor deny — you’d have to ask the lady who wrote the song,” he says (he used to go out with songwriter Cathy Denis 20 years ago). This is where the Humanimal Trust, which he founded in 2014, comes in. He explains how in the past, human and animal bodies were dissected side by side, with no distinction made between human and veterinary medicine. She was my best friend ever,” he says. “Keira and I had a connectedness on a human level. I never use the term ‘ownership’ — I say ‘family.’” His current domestic companions are two Maine Coon cats. Valentine s aid: “As a nation of animal lovers, Noel’s story is one that will inspire us all as he explores what makes us connect to animals so deeply, and in doing so shows how our relationship with them can help us all to be better versions of ourselves. It’s been an honour to work with Noel on his past two books and I’m thrilled to be continuing our bestselling relationship with this new volume of memoirs.” He’s speaking to me about his new book, not a memoir this time, but an illustrated prose poem, Keira & Me: A Tale Of Two Best Friends And How They Saved Each Other.