Don't Call Me Catty

Jillian Carr and Leilani Saad
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  • Entrepreneurship
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Don’t Call Me Catty is the unapologetic, plain-talking podcast for veterinary professionals who want real conversations, not sugarcoating. Hosted by Jillian Carr, a veterinary financial strategist, and Leilani Saad, co-founder and CEO of a 24/7 veterinary teletriage company, the show dives into the messy, meaningful parts of vet med: burnout, boundaries, big decisions, money moves, and midnight emergencies. The podcast began as a pop-up at a veterinary trade show, where unscripted, in-the-moment conversations with the community struck a chord and sparked something bigger. Today, it continues to grow into a movement connecting vet med professionals and their clients through honesty, humor, and the courage to say the quiet parts out loud. Whether you’re leading a practice, on the clinic floor, or you just love animals, this is your space for truth, tools, and the occasional F-bomb.

  1. 2d ago

    Vet Med Already Uses Virtual Care. So Why the Pushback? | Dr. Chris Armstrong, DVM

    If your veterinary practice has ever answered a phone or an email, Dr. Chris Armstrong has news for you: you’ve probably already practiced some form of virtual care. So why does the idea still make parts of veterinary medicine uncomfortable? Live from the 2026 CVMA Convention, Chris joins Leilani and Jillian to unpack the resistance to virtual care, the fear that technology could disrupt the veterinarian-client-patient relationship, and why the better answer may be a hybrid approach rather than choosing between virtual and in-person medicine. They also talk about retaining experienced RVTs, creating new career paths outside the clinic floor, AI and emerging technology, mentorship, veterinary workforce shortages, and how nearly 40 years in the profession have shaped Chris’s perspective on change. About Chris: Dr. Chris Armstrong is a British Columbia veterinarian with nearly four decades of experience in companion animal practice, ownership, and veterinary leadership. After graduating with distinction from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in 1987, she joined Scottsdale Veterinary Hospital and became a partner the following year. She spent 30 years practising small animal medicine, dentistry, and surgery while helping manage the AAHA-accredited hospital. Chris has served as president of the College of Veterinarians of British Columbia, a director of the Society of British Columbia Veterinarians, and British Columbia’s representative on the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association Council. In 2026, she joined the CVMA executive, beginning her path toward serving as president. Chris has contributed to national work on telemedicine and virtual veterinary care and speaks on telemedicine, informed consent, and provincial regulations. Outside veterinary medicine, she is a longtime CSIA Level 3 ski instructor at Whistler Blackcomb. LinkedIn Support the show Follow us on Instagram @dontcallmecatty Visit Animal HealthLink Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Visit Steady Gait Planning Instagram For podcast inquiries, please contact dontcallmecatty@gmail.com

  2. Sep 10

    The RVT Glass Ceiling: Pay, Diversity & Finding Your Place in Vet Med | Marina John, RVT

    What happens when you stop accepting “this is just how vet med works”? Marina John, RVT, joins Leilani and Jillian at the CVMA Convention in Charlottetown to talk about building a veterinary career on her own terms. Marina shares her path from 17 hour ER shifts and veterinary martyr culture to GP, acupuncture, locum work, research, management, and eventually technical services at the Atlantic Veterinary College. Along the way, the conversation gets into what meaningful diversity actually looks like in veterinary medicine, why representation matters, how hiring practices can reinforce the status quo, and what workplaces can do to become genuinely more inclusive. They also trade stories about discrimination in job interviews, the wage gap, the value RVTs bring that never shows up neatly on a production report, and the glass ceiling technicians still face when it comes to pay, leadership, ownership, and advancement. And because this is Don’t Call Me Catty, Marina finishes with a ghost pepper hot take: should RVTs be paid as much as veterinarians? It’s a conversation about knowing your value, making room for different voices, and leaving veterinary medicine better than you found it. About Marina Marina is a seasoned RVT with almost 15 years of diverse experience. She embarked on her veterinary journey after an unconventional start. Following a Specialized Honours Bachelor of Science degree from York University, she found her passion, while teaching ESL in Seoul, when she stumbled upon the RVT Diploma Degree at the University of Guelph.  Marina has worn multiple hats, serving as the Vice President of the British Columbia Veterinary Technologist Association and instructing the Vet Assistant Program at Vancouver Island University. Her expertise spans large animal sciences, lab animal sciences, companion animal ophthalmology, ER, UC, and referral services. With a Veterinary Acupuncture Certification from the Xie Institute, she played a pivotal role in developing the acupuncture department at a small animal GP.  Marina's extensive background includes roles as a swine farrowing tech, Lead Tech, Production Manager, and contributing to a mixed animal practice handling companion animals, exotics, and avian species.  Committed to giving back, she volunteered with a local charity providing veterinary care to low-income and unhoused populations. Marina launched her own locum RVT business, embracing a fulfilling career as a traveling veterinary technologist. Most recently she relocated to PEI and is working as an Assistant Manager at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital of Atlantic Veterinary College - UPEI. Get In Touch LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-john-211695282/  UPEI Admin Support the show Follow us on Instagram @dontcallmecatty Visit Animal HealthLink Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Visit Steady Gait Planning Instagram For podcast inquiries, please contact dontcallmecatty@gmail.com

  3. Sep 2

    Pressure Is a Privilege? Building a Vet Practice Your Way | Dr. Jennifer Hurford, DVM, CVA, CTPEP

    What does it look like to build a veterinary practice around the life and workplace you actually want? Dr. Jennifer Hurford, owner of Foxboro Veterinary Hospital in Ontario, joins Leilani and Jillian for a candid conversation about veterinary practice ownership, leadership, motherhood, grief, money, and figuring things out as you go. Jen shares what it was like to buy a veterinary practice just months before COVID changed everything, why she cut Saturdays and made employee benefits a priority, and how she rebuilt after a staff walkout during the pandemic. She also talks about becoming a single parent, losing her dad while growing her business, planning for what would happen to her practice and team if something happened to her, and working toward financial independence rather than traditional retirement. Plus: integrative veterinary medicine, questionable retirement plans, Sphynx cat Baldwin, Canadian Idol, Taylor Swift, and a hot take about mental health, hard work, and why pressure can sometimes be a privilege. It’s a wide-ranging conversation about building a veterinary career that works for you and remembering there’s supposed to be a life outside of work, too. About Dr. Jennifer Dr Jennifer Hurford is a 2013 graduate from the Atlantic Veterinary College. As a small practice owner she has become wildly passionate about providing the best possible care for her patients. She is working towards completing her Masters of Science degree in Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine and believes the future of medicine is integrative.  Since purchasing her practice in 2019 (3 months before the pandemic shut downs) she has built a work culture that prioritizes individual growth and a true work-life balance. She partnered with Steady Gait Planning early on so that she could ensure her team was cared for in terms of physical/mental health benefits as well as helping to plan for their futures with an RRSP matching program.  In the last year she has also become obsessed with her rescue Sphynx cats (Baldwin and Owen) and brings them with her to work daily.  Get in Touch:  Follow Baldwin and Owen on Instagram @sphynx.boys.at.work Foxboro Veterinary Hospital | info@foxborovet.com Support the show Follow us on Instagram @dontcallmecatty Visit Animal HealthLink Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Visit Steady Gait Planning Instagram For podcast inquiries, please contact dontcallmecatty@gmail.com

  4. Aug 26

    F*ck Death: Pet Hospice, Loss & What Comes After | Dr. Emily Hawrysio, DVM, CHPV

    Grief is messy and uncomfortable, and it seems no one really knows how to navigate it. We don’t always want to think about these topics... until suddenly we have to. They’re a brutal reality, and we can all do each other a favour by understanding what loving end-of-life decisions can look like, and how to actually support someone during and after a loss. Dr. Emily Hawrysio, DVM, CHPV, founder of Halo Pet Hospice, joins us to talk about veterinary hospice, at-home euthanasia, pet loss, and knowing when it’s time to let go. She also shares how losing her husband to pancreatic cancer changed her relationship with grief, hospice care, and the work she does with families today. It’s a conversation about death, but really, it’s about what it means to care for someone when you know you can’t take their pain away. About Dr. Emily  Dr. Emily Hawrysio is the founder and owner of Halo Pet Hospice, a mobile veterinary practice dedicated exclusively to in-home hospice care, palliative care, and humane euthanasia for pets throughout Northwest Indiana. A graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Atlantic Veterinary College, Dr. Hawrysio spent seven years in general practice before following her passion for end-of-life care and founding Halo Pet Hospice. In 2021, she earned her certification in hospice and palliative care through the International Association for Animal Hospice and Palliative Care. Having witnessed the profound impact of hospice care on both people and animals, Dr. Hawrysio is passionate about guiding families through one of the most difficult parts of pet ownership. She believes there is a unique and meaningful bond formed during the end-of-life journey and considers it a privilege to help pets pass peacefully at home, surrounded by the people who love them most. Through Halo Pet Hospice, Dr. Hawrysio is dedicated to bringing compassionate, personalized end-of-life care to as many pets and families as possible, ensuring that every animal's final chapter is filled with comfort, dignity, and love. Halo Pet Hospice Website | 219-200-4808 Support the show Follow us on Instagram @dontcallmecatty Visit Animal HealthLink Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Visit Steady Gait Planning Instagram For podcast inquiries, please contact dontcallmecatty@gmail.com

  5. Aug 19

    Wait… What If I’m the Toxic One? | Jen Cote, RVT

    What happens when you realize you might have been part of the problem? Jen Cote, RVT, joins Leilani and Jillian for a candid conversation about nearly 20 years in vet med. They discuss the lessons that came from changing roles, getting uncomfortable, learning how to communicate, and becoming the kind of leader she wishes she’d had earlier in her career. Jen’s career has taken her from general practice and emergency medicine to sales, operations, communications, program management, and industry leadership. Today, she works with NVA Canada developing programs that support veterinary teams and their clients, while also serving as President and Chair of the Ontario Association Of Veterinary Technicians (OAVT). Along the way, they get into what it means to own your past mistakes, become a better mentor and leader, take career risks, and stay open to opportunities you never expected. They also talk about why RVT careers don’t have to follow one path, and why it matter to get more RVTs into the rooms where decisions are made. Plus: AI scribes, the problem with pizza parties, disgust over dog saliva, and why she wants the Arkells played at her funeral. About Jen Jen is an RVT and veterinary industry leader with nearly two decades of experience spanning clinical practice, leadership, communications, and program management. She currently works with NVA Canada, helping develop programs that support veterinary teams and the clients they serve, and serves as President and Chair of the OAVT. Endlessly curious and rarely short on opinions, Jen has a habit of saying yes to interesting opportunities and figuring out the details afterward. Outside of work, she loves travelling, time with her husband and friends, and managing a collection of pets, plants, and aquariums that rivals a small public exhibit. Contact OAVT: jenc@oavt.org  NVA Canada: jen.cote@nva.com Support the show Follow us on Instagram @dontcallmecatty Visit Animal HealthLink Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Visit Steady Gait Planning Instagram For podcast inquiries, please contact dontcallmecatty@gmail.com

  6. Aug 12

    Is Vet Med Confusing Resilience with Endurance? | The Founders of Boop

    What if the problem in veterinary medicine isn’t that we need to be more resilient, but that we’ve gotten really good at enduring things we shouldn’t have to? In this special episode of Don’t Call Me Catty, Leilani and Jillian sit down with boop co-founders Amanda Ensor, DVM, Ashleigh White, and Rachelle Richard to talk about how an idea for veterinary apparel became something much bigger. The conversation gets into the leadership problem in vet med, why wellbeing initiatives can only go so far when the workplace itself isn’t working, the lack of space to process the emotional weight of the profession, and what it actually takes to build teams where people feel supported. They also talk about preparing new grads for the realities of practice without scaring them away, why veterinary professionals need to talk to each other instead of at each other, and boop’s mission to use apparel, community, and a little bit of humour to push the profession forward. Plus: founder friendship, financially feral behaviour, questionable spending advice, rapid-fire questions, and some very spicy hot takes. boop may have started with what you wear on your chest, but the real conversation is about what veterinary medicine should stand for. Support boop  Shop | Instagram  About The Founders  Amanda Ensor, DVM As a practicing DVM and recognized thought leader, Dr. Amanda's connection to the boop mission is personal: she's lived it. The long shifts, the emotional weight, the gap between how hard vet teams work and how rarely that gets acknowledged. At boop, she's our steward of wellbeing: the reason everything we put out reflects the real texture of veterinary life, not a polished version of it. She also leads partnerships with organizations like the Veterinary Hope Foundation and Reviving Vet Med. Never without a book and a water bottle roughly the size of a small aquarium. hydration and high standards — non-negotiable. Ashleigh White, PHR With a background in HR and talent acquisition, Ashleigh has spent years helping hospitals grow their teams, developing a deep appreciation for the people behind the profession—their dedication, resilience, and sense of humour.  At boop, she leads product — making sure everything we create reflects the culture of vet med, from the inside jokes to the everyday realities. When she’s not working on boop, you can find her traveling, gardening, or spending time with the animals who inspired it all. Rachelle Richard, MBA With a background in leadership and operations, Rachelle has spent decades building and supporting healthy, high-trust teams across human health and vet med. At boop, she leads operations - the connective tissue between the vision and the reality of running it. Rachelle also founded goodvet.ca - a Canadian veterinary recruitment consultancy built on the principle that who you work with shapes how you experience this profession. Powered by infectious laughter and an unwavering commitment to booping every dog she encounters. Also, she has found a new tech tool and yes, she will tell you all about it. Support the show Follow us on Instagram @dontcallmecatty Visit Animal HealthLink Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Visit Steady Gait Planning Instagram For podcast inquiries, please contact dontcallmecatty@gmail.com

  7. Aug 5

    You’re More Capable Than You Think: POCUS, Failure & the Future of Vet Med | Serge Chalhoub DVM, DACVIM (SAIM)

    Season 2 is here, and we’re kicking things off with Dr. Serge Chalhoub: internal medicine specialist, professor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, co-founder of the Calgary Veterinary POCUS Academy and, apparently, Prince of the Nephrons. Serge’s path through vet med wasn’t exactly linear. After vet school, he thought he’d become a general practice owner. A near-fainting incident during a dog spay, a detour through emergency medicine and a habit of calling ER clients a week later to see how their pets were doing eventually pointed him toward internal medicine, and a career built around teaching. We get into why point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has become such a valuable tool in veterinary medicine, why Serge believes RVTs and DVMs alike can learn to use it, and how it could change the way we triage and care for patients. We also talk kidneys (obviously), the ethics of feline kidney transplants, raw diets, AI and innovation in veterinary practice, burnout, boundaries, staffing shortages and what Serge thinks needs to change as the profession moves forward. And near the end, Serge shares something he hopes every veterinary student learns: think critically, challenge your assumptions, and stop being so afraid to fail. Plus: kidney dad jokes, techno, questionable dancing and the official crowning of the King of the Nephrons. Welcome back to Don't Call Me Catty. 🎙️ In this episode: • Finding the right career path when your first plan doesn’t fit • Why Serge chose internal medicine and teaching • What POCUS can actually do in everyday veterinary practice • How RVTs can use ultrasound in triage • Kidneys, nephrology and feline kidney transplantation • AI, innovation and reducing workload in vet med • Burnout, boundaries and the changing veterinary workforce • Why veterinary professionals need permission to make mistakes About Dr. Serge Chalhoub Dr. Chalhoub graduated from the DVM program at the Faculté de médecine vétérinaire (FMV) of the Université de Montréal in 2004. Serge followed this with a one-year rotating small animal clinical internship at the same institution. After working for two years as a general practitioner and emergency veterinarian in Montreal, Serge pursued a residency in small animal internal medicine at the Animal Medical Center (AMC) in New York City. Once his residency completed in 2009 he stayed on at the AMC as their first renal/hemodialysis fellow and then as a staff doctor. Dr. Chalhoub has been a faculty member at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) since 2012 and currently holds the rank of Professor (Teaching). He was the recipient of the 2021 and 2013 Canadian Veterinary Medical Association’s Teacher of the Year Award, the 2015 University of Calgary Team Teacher of the Year Award, the 2017 Carl J. Norden Distinguished Teacher Award, and is a 2024 3M National Teaching Fellowship recipient recognizing Canada’s outstanding teachers. Serge is the coordinator of a community outreach-service learning program (UCVM-CUPS Pet Health Clinic) for disadvantaged Calgarians. He has authored and co-authored numerous scientific articles and book chapters on veterinary point of care ultrasound, renal and urinary medicine, and lectures around the world on these topics. He was a member of the National Issues Committee (NIC) of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) (2016-2024) and also the President of Alberta Veterinary Medical Association (ABVMA) from 2024-2025. Get in Touch Email: serge.chalhoub@ucalgary.ca Calgary POCUS Academy Support the show Follow us on Instagram @dontcallmecatty Visit Animal HealthLink Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Visit Steady Gait Planning Instagram For podcast inquiries, please contact dontcallmecatty@gmail.com

  8. Jun 20

    Hot Wings & Hot Takes: Burnout, Business & Big Feelings in Vet Med

    What happens when two veterinary industry leaders put themselves in the hot seat with actual hot sauce? 🌶️ In this special episode of Don’t Call Me Catty, hosts Leilani Saad and Jillian Carr take on a hot wings challenge while answering the questions they usually ask their guests. As entrepreneurs and passionate advocates for the veterinary community, Leilani and Jillian open up about the conversations happening behind the scenes in vet med. They talk about burnout, leadership, client relationships, money, business ownership, and what it really takes to create positive change in the industry. Between increasingly spicy wings, plenty of laughs, and a few moments of regret, they share the personal stories and experiences that shaped their careers, their companies, and the way they think about supporting the people who care for animals. Whether you’re a veterinarian, RVT, practice owner, student, pet owner, or simply curious about the humans behind veterinary medicine, this episode is for you. Hot wings. Hot takes. Real conversations. Plus, get a sneak peek at what’s ahead for Season 2 and find out where Don’t Call Me Catty will be recording in 2026. 🔥 Support the show Follow us on Instagram @dontcallmecatty Visit Animal HealthLink Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Visit Steady Gait Planning Instagram For podcast inquiries, please contact dontcallmecatty@gmail.com

    Hot Wings & Hot Takes: Burnout, Business & Big Feelings in Vet Med
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About

Don’t Call Me Catty is the unapologetic, plain-talking podcast for veterinary professionals who want real conversations, not sugarcoating. Hosted by Jillian Carr, a veterinary financial strategist, and Leilani Saad, co-founder and CEO of a 24/7 veterinary teletriage company, the show dives into the messy, meaningful parts of vet med: burnout, boundaries, big decisions, money moves, and midnight emergencies. The podcast began as a pop-up at a veterinary trade show, where unscripted, in-the-moment conversations with the community struck a chord and sparked something bigger. Today, it continues to grow into a movement connecting vet med professionals and their clients through honesty, humor, and the courage to say the quiet parts out loud. Whether you’re leading a practice, on the clinic floor, or you just love animals, this is your space for truth, tools, and the occasional F-bomb.

Information

  • Creator
    Jillian Carr and Leilani Saad
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    27
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Don't Call Me Catty
  • Show Website
    Don't Call Me Catty