Many things have changed in the 50 years since Dr. Charles DeVinne started his career in veterinary medicine, but the local vet’s love for his work has stayed the same.

“There has never been a day in 50 years that I wasn’t happy to come into work,” DeVinne said. “I still love going to work. I have a great staff. I cannot say enough about them. Many of them have been here 25 or 30 years, and it is so great to come to work each day; it’s being part of a team that is the most rewarding.” 

DeVinne will present “Veterinary Episodes” at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 3, at the Jaffrey Civic Center as part of the “Stories to Share” series. A reception will follow. 

“I’m basically sharing some of our more interesting case reports from over the years – why I found it interesting, and what we did about it,” DeVinne said. “There are other aspects of the business, of course, but it’s the animals people are really interested in.”

DeVinne, who started his career working with large animals in rural Vermont in the early 1970s, has thousands of stories about his patients and his cases, from cats to cows. 

“I’ll have a slideshow, and it will cover several species. We’ve seen sugar gliders, African hedgehogs, farm animals, alpacas, llamas, turtles, iguanas, you name it. We’ve been involved with a lot of different things over the years. We’ve done rehabilitation, some large animals, some exotics,” DeVinne said. 

When asked what animal is his favorite, DeVinne answers, “My own dog.” He added that the hardest part of being a veterinarian is “saying goodbye to animals.”

“I’ve had to be my own patient a few times and put my own animals down,” DeVinne said. “It is very emotional. The communication between vets and patients is complex. It isn’t always straightforward, and you have to work it through. We try to guide people thought making rational decisions, and we try to make sure the patient gets a fair shake.”

DeVinne said decisions about a patient’s care can sometimes cause strife between family members. 

“Sometimes we have to figure out a compromise, and we need to get everyone on board. There are some real drama in the exam rooms sometimes. Sometimes family members don’t agree. Sometimes there is wide difference of opinion, and sometimes we’re like the mediators or the guidance counselors,” he said.

DeVinne  says that since he first started practicing medicine, the bottom line in diagnosis has evolved from being based primarily on exams and history to focusing on diagnostics. 

“The technology has changed a lot. We have access to things now that we never used to have. When I started as a large-animal vet in northern Vermont, it could take days to get blood results now. Now, it takes 10 minutes. We can all X-ray in our offices; we can do MRI ultrasound and dental,” DeVinne said. 

DeVinne said veterinary medicine has also gotten more specialized over the years

“There have been tremendous changes within the industry. We used to be (general practitioners) and do pretty much everything. We did the eye therapy, we did the chemotherapy. Now there are oncologists, neurologists, cardiologists, you name it,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of change, but I’m still happy to go to work every day.”

For tickets to Stories to Share go to jaffreyciviccenter.com/stories.