Meet Susan Little – BSAVA President for 2026-27

30 June 2026

At this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 26^th June, we welcomed Dr Susan Little as BSAVA President for the next year. We spoke to Susan to find out a little bit more about her, her career and her journey with us as a volunteer over the past few years.

What has your journey been as a volunteer so far?

I started out as a regional volunteer, which was a great, social way to meet lots of colleagues and make new friends, with a time commitment which was very manageable around work and a young family.

After helping to organise the Scottish Congress (now BSAVA Alba), I applied to be the ‘Regions Coordinator’. The twice yearly ‘Regional Forum’ get together for the Regional Officers was always really productive, and good fun too. I enjoyed attending Council meetings, and sessions with the Board members, other committee Chairs and the Leadership team from Woodrow House.

I then served a three-year term as PetSavers Management Committee Chair, which was the first time I worked closely with my now Senior Vice President Julian Hoad, who was then Chair of PetSavers Grant Awarding Committee. I can report that his jokes have not improved much since those days!

After a break from volunteering for the BSAVA, due to work and home life being ever busier, I rejoined as a trustee in 2024. My two years as Junior Vice President then Vice President have certainly been interesting, and challenging at times, but I take some pride in bringing skills and experience from my other roles to the issues which we face as a team on Board.

What or who has been the biggest influence on your career?

That’s a tough one. I would say my original interest was from reading Gerald Durrell’s books, when I was a kid; I loved his observations of the animals’ (and his family’s) behaviours, told in such a humorous way. It was a great treat for me to visit the zoo he set up in Jersey, many years later, especially with its clear focus being on the animals’ habitats, rather than prioritising them being on view to the visiting public.

Once I started working, I’d genuinely say that my biggest influencers and cheerleaders have been lots of amazing, dedicated and supportive veterinary nurses that I’ve worked alongside. I remain in awe of their patience, humour and skills in multiple areas, especially getting bandages to stay on awkward bits of pets, which still eludes me! I’ve also been lucky to be helped along the way by many other colleagues and various people from the wider industry; such as buying groups, bank managers and pharmaceutical reps who visited the practice with experience, knowledge, support, training opportunities, scones and a bit of gossip to keep us going.

Participating in an intensive business education course (10 KSB) for entrepreneurs and small business owners 10 years ago gave me a real boost in non-clinical knowledge and confidence, as well as a network of peers from all different backgrounds and sectors.

Can you tell us about your career journey and day-to-day job?

I always wanted to work in small animal practice, for various reasons. Whilst I loved gaining experience on farms (I still miss lambing time) I always felt too much of a ‘townie’ to fit in with farmers. Plus, I don’t have the circulation to keep all my fingers and toes whilst working outside in all conditions, no matter how many layers I wear.

One mind-blowing, perspective changing, experience I had as a student (thanks to a BVA travel grant) was to spend 10 weeks in Kenya on a rural field station of the Trypanosomiasis Research Institute, living and working with the Maasai tribespeople. I always intended to return to work or volunteer in developing countries but have never managed to find or create the time…yet.

My early career years were spent gaining experience in various small animal practices, doing lots of sole charge and on-call, which was exhausting and challenging but gave me loads of experience and resilience, as well as huge appreciation for the teamwork which quietly but reliably powers our practices and ability to look after all our patients and clients, even when unexpected things happen and it may be chaotic behind the scenes.

Having my two children within a few years of graduating meant a period of part time and locum work, during which time I spotted an opportunity in an empty shop unit in our town, and decided to start up a practice. Now that was a steep learning curve! It opened in 2000 and grew to a three-site practice, where the team take pride in being a big part of the local community. We were very lucky to be situated close to R(D)SVS so could provide all levels of care, from first opinion to swift referral.

After nearly 20 years, we joined in with a larger, mixed practice and then one of the corporates, which meant I moved into almost solely management roles. As a Business Development Director I was responsible for looking after a variety of practices with very different setups and client demographics, and met some inspiring colleagues working in small, mixed, and equine teams. Their skillsets and dedication always impress me, as does their ability to maintain warm hands!

During my years working in the practice I did several other roles, alongside BSAVA volunteering. These include being a vet member on the RCVS RVC-PIC committee, an external examiner, and helping out at the ‘Dick Vet’ School’s Admissions interviews each year.

Since 2022, I have stopped working full time and took a couple of years to enjoy lots of travel (and sleep). These days I am a volunteer for Vetlife, have just been involved with my first RVCS university Accreditation panel visit, and also do some minor volunteering for a couple of other charities. If there’s an event where I can have a stall for ‘Crazy Sand’ (filling plastic animal shapes with rainbow sand), I don’t need asking twice – it’s great as a wellbeing activity and kids of all ages love it!

What do you enjoy most about being part of the veterinary profession?

The variety which it allows, both day to day and throughout the years. Many of us like being stretched, having to problem solve, draw on our experience and the skills of those around us, and coping in adversity. However, most of the stories I’d put in my memoirs would be people based – the characters, the funny and downright crazy things we (and our clients) do. No, I’m not mentioning any names here….

The one thing I miss about working is the team spirit and moments of laughter, but the BSAVA Board and the folk at Woodrow House and in our regions help to provide that, especially when we can have ‘proper’ meetings rather than online.

What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you?

I truly believe I have a beautiful singing voice. At least, anyone who’s had the misfortune to share a car journey or karaoke session with me would be surprised at that. I could tell you a story about miming my way through a bit of a choir rehearsal at school, so as to not be removed from a Christmas concert rehearsal for being the person singing (allegedly) flat, but I’m not sure that’s appropriate Presidential behaviour? In my defence, no innocent person was asked to leave.

What do you have planned for your presidential year?

I don’t have any big themes to announce or focus on but am very much looking forward to working closely with our Leadership team, Board (with several new trustees), committee Chairs, members and staff to keep rolling out support, opportunities and products for our members. We keep exploring ways to widen our impact and reach people who could use our resources and add to our offering.

Also, I’ll be looking to maximise my efforts for other partners, whether commercial, charity or other associations. I expect it may be a year for my biggest ‘team effort’ yet.

And I’m sure the universe will chuck a few more curveballs at us, to keep us on our toes.

Outside of the role…

I always planned to move to Europe once I wasn’t working so much, but I’ve only made it to Edinburgh’s breezy riviera. My partner and I live very close to the beach and to the city, which is a great mix, though we tend to avoid the city centre for most of the International Festival time. I’ve had quite a variety of pets over the years, but at the moment just have one elderly white moggy, who loves sunbathing- it’s not too much of a concern for the few days of exposure he gets in Scotland.