50 Years a Veterinarian: Stories of Animals and their People

Donald V. “Doc” Tebbe rolled into the town of Fort Recovery, Ohio, in June 1962 ready to get work as a veterinarian. More than fifty years later, he’s still practicing his craft. It’s a career he knew he’d embark on as a young boy, when his prized cow, Shirley, suffered complications while giving birth. He watched on in horror from a hay chute as the veterinarian, Dr. Steinke, began cutting off the calf’s legs, head, and ribs, yelling to no one in particular, “I hate to do this, but it’s our only chance to save the cow.” Both the cow and the calf died, and it broke Tebbe’s heart. That day, he vowed to become a better veterinarian than Dr. Steinke to make up for what he did to his Shirley. Tebbe has since had colossal failures that have made him realize how bad Dr. Steinke must have felt that day he failed. For instance, on his very first day of work, he accidentally killed a cat. Join a small-town veterinarian on some very big adventures in 50 Years a Veterinarian.