Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer 
Audrie, her mother says, has loved animals since her toddler years.
"I AM AN oddity" Audrie McNab, petite veterinarian who lives in Michelton, Linstead, admits. This is not because she will travel anywhere in the island in her little red Geo Metro to care for animals, but because Jamaicans identify 'vets' here with white, English males who can wrestle with huge pigs and boisterous cows.
Those who hold this image in their minds will be therefore surprised by this undoubtedly strong, sunny-natured woman who has departed from the classroom to pursue her hearts desire of caring for beasts and birds.
Her choice of career is even more odd in light of the fact that the tradition of cosseting and pets (which would provide vets with a greater client base) is not a strong one here.
"Dogs are not even named," Audrey observes with a hint of distress.
So, just what possessed, her to do what she did?
Puppy love
Reneta McNab, public health nurse and mother of Audrie , and her brother Richard , recall that from she (Audrie) was creeping she loved puppies.
"She used to creep away and behave as if the dog was following her. We were really intrigued. My husband (a school principal) would bring home cats for her and she started paying lots of attention to them. She would have conversations about feeding them. When they all saw us coming they (Audrie and her animal pets) would disappear. Her father would say 'what am I going to do with this vet?'
When older, Audrey, she said, once brought home an Alsatian which eventually became sick . She took the dog to Jamaica Society for the Prevention for Cruelty to Animals (JSPCA), but it died. "She brought the dead dog back all the way from Kingston and buried it under a tree. She had a funeral service for the dog," her mother recalls.
"I put strict orders down (about having dogs in the home) but when I am not there it's something else. When I am not at home, she has the dogs in the house. When she is at home the dogs would go right by her window and lie down. She will go to utmost end to buy dog feed. Even when she is not working whatever money she gets its for them."
When leaving for St. Augustine, Trinidad to finally take up studies in veterinary science in 1999, Audrie left behind seven grown dogs in her mother's care.
After leaving Immaculate Conception and St. Andrew High schools, Audrie McNab did three years of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of the West Indies and went to teach at Wolmer's Boys' School for six years.
Teaching was a career which she enjoyed, but even while she worked at Wolmer's she did volunteer work with the JSPCA in Spanish Town. While there, she met Susan Rondon ( then the manager) who suggested that she might enjoy and benefit from getting formal training in the area of veterinary science.
Circumstances
She hesitated, she said, because in 1984 , her father Donald H. McNab, a past principal of Rosemount All-Age school in Linstead which he started, had died and she did not think it was fair to go off and leave her mother. Her younger brother, Richard, was still in school. She also disliked air travel.
In 1999 however, she was accepted at St. Augustine and, with a loan approved by the Student Loans Bureau , went off to school again to begin what she calls the third phase of her life. The animal lover was awarded the Gentle Vet Prize at St. Augustine in her final year, an ward given to the student who displays great compassion.
"You do not have clients who can talk," she explains, " so vets must have the ability to read the body language of animals. There are lots of visual clues, she adds which indicate when they are in pain.
Since coming back in 2004 , she began a mobile vet service.
"A lot of people have the hassle of taking their animals into see the vet," she explains She saves them the trouble by travelling out to see their cats, dogs, pigs, cows goats and other animals.
Audrie's very first clients were an elderly couple from her church who had a pig who was losing weight.
The life of the vet she says is great. As a mobile vet, she is always in the outdoors. She also loves to drive, going on long journeys in her 15 year old car.
Not much bothers this vet, but Mrs Renata McNab, her mother states, " What she gets angry about his the mistreatment of animals and she will be annoyed with people for years over this. Audrie is quite outspoken and to the point. She is not afraid to show her feelings. I tell her that in dealing with people you have to be a little moiré tactful. But she says it's the truth."
Her mother reveals that the vet also has a great love for older people. "In church she is a every good friend of the elderly.
Retired nurse Elizabeth Rhodd, suffering from a chronic illness comments, "She is very dignified Christian and take part in a lot of community work. She calls me auntie."
Audrie routinely takes Ms. Rhodd, Aunt Lily, to the University Hospital of the West Indies to see her doctor, often spending the entire day to get this done.
She has also taken Ms. Rhodd and several of her friends on excursions to Emancipation Park in her little car, saying that the cultural space was a must-see for them.
At age 34, Audrie might be a little behind her peers in terms of financial achievement. But, she does not care. She is living the life she wants, finally. "At least I can pay my student loan," she says.
Her self-made, daily schedule also allows her to visit children who are experiencing hardships and counsel young people, including those of her age who have children. "She always has a good word for them," her mother says.
Outlook was introduced to Audrie by psychologist and farmer Dr. Ruth Doorbar who was intrigued by the mobile, female vet and said "I think she will go far".
Her mother agrees, naturally.
"There are four persons who have come to me and said, boy she loves what she is doing and she seems to be good at it. I said 'yes'. I only wonder why she did not do it earlier. She loves it."
That, as far as can be seen, is the year's understatement.
