1984 was not a year of despair for me as a passionate vet!

When you are the only one in the school photo in the 80’s looking at the dog on a teacher’s lap, you know that maybe this passion for animals may change your life!

I left school in 1984, the year that author of the book 1984; George Orwell predicted a world of despair, but how my journey as a vegan vet and accidental environmentalist has shown the complete opposite! This is the article I wrote for the Old Kingsmeadian Association in South Africa which is where I was fortunate enough to go to school. I loved writing it as it brought back so many happy memories of my time as a teenager in the 80’s and my journey as a vet full of imposter syndrome 💚

“I am a Kingsmead College 1984 old girl (exactly 40 years ago!) I have such fond memories of my time there and one of my role models as a teenager in the 80’s, was our Headmistress at the time – Miss Margaret Edwards. She had 2 Airedale Terriers and as she lived on the school grounds, we used to see them regularly.

I remember in our final Matric school year how she used to tell me that she had wanted to become a vet like her father as we shared a deep love of animals. I dreamt too of becoming a vet but never considered myself clever enough to get into Onderstepoort (the only vet school in South africa) as I was not an A Grade student – I only achieved an A in french thanks to having a french mother!

I went on to study a BSc at Wits University in Johannesburg but my heart was stuck firmly in wanting to become a vet. Each year, I applied and by my second year at Wits University, I was finally offered an interview. I remember my interview so well. One of the vets Dr Marie Smuts looked at my grades and my application and the only remark she made was ‘Oh you were Headgirl at Kingsmead College – that will help you to get in’…and it did! I was offered a place and I was elated.

Hard though it was to get in; it was equally as hard to graduate from Onderstepoort Vet School – I failed a year and spent 6 1/2 years there instead of 5 1/2 years but it was worth it. I finally had a ‘passport’ to practice as a vet and my dream had come true…but had it?

I remember applying for my very first job with a vet in Parkview Johannesburg who only wanted to employ me as he had a daughter at Kingsmead at the time. He refused to pay me a salary, but wanted me to earn money for his practice and he said that he would only pay me on commission. He insisted that all hospital kennels remain filled to earn as much as I could from each client – my dream bubble had burst and I realised that my profession had a very dark side to it!

I married soon after to a vet in my year (failing that year had its advantages!), and we worked together in Zimbabwe for a bit which was heaven. We operated on somango monkeys and zebra and I fell in love with the beauty of Zimbabwe and its people, but we were still being paid in Zimbabwean dollars which eqauted to a few pounds a month and we had student loans to repay.
As I had a french passport, we decided to work in the UK for a year, travel and return home after a year – we even bought 2 backpacks for our travels.

We still have those 2 backpacks, as we never did leave the UK or travel! 4 children and 30 years later, the UK has become our home. Sadly during my career as a vet in the UK, I came across that dark side of veterinary again.

It was while working as a vet in Northern Ireland in 2005 and being forced to admit any animal with a minor condition (that was insured), to run a barrage of unnecessary tests and line the pockets of the practice; that I felt I had to step away from my profession for a while. What I was being asked to do was wrong and I didn’t want to play any part in it – cruel for the animal undergoing unnecessary prodecures, and deceitful to the trusting owner.

My children were all very young and I stopped working as a vet to take on the role of Mum for many years (how fortunate was I?) It was only upon returning to South Africa in 2017 to be with my elderly very ill Mum and staying with her until she passed away peacefully in her own bed in Johannesburg, that my life changed. I returned to the UK with a renewed strength and I think the loss of a parent gives us that turning point we all need in our lives. I felt I could face any fears.
I did a short course to regain my confidence in my abilities as a vet and shake away the imposter syndrome, and I began working as a GP vet again consulting for the PDSA charity in Leicester seeing about 50 animals a day. How I loved being back in practice!

On one fateful day, I had 4 animals to put to sleep for obesity related reasons – the elderly Labrador riddled with arthritis with legs that could barely carry her, or the Bull Terrier with cancer from obesity….I was emotionally drained when I got home and announced to my family that I wanted to do something about the way people fed their pets in the UK as there was a real problem.

I decided that I wanted to run pet slimming classes! I remember my days going to Weigh Less classes in the 80’s (as I always struggled with comfort eating), and I loved that idea for dogs!

There was one problem however….I knew nothing about pet nutrition. I had learnt so much about how to feed a dairy cow or chickens for industry during my days at university; and nothing about dogs and cats (it is the same with new graduates even today). Being someone who doesn’t like to do anything by half measures (yes I am a bit obsessive when I start something), I threw myself into pet nutrition doing every possible course going and I found it all fascinating. Just like us, the more plants that are added to a dog’s diet; the healthier they will be!

My Slimming Pet Classes never took off. It’s a little bit like a doctor telling a mother that their fat child needed to attend a class….and no one came to my classes! I remember sitting in a little village hall with our own dog Ruff, waiting for people to attend when I had put up so many flyers and even Facebook Ads – but no one came! I was disheartened but learnt from the experience and what I chose to do next has changed my life beyond every measure!

Our eldest son announced to us as a teenager that he wanted to turn vegan. My husband was shocked but I only admired our sensitive son. He inspired me so much that on the day of my 52nd birthday (5 years ago); I turned myself vegan to turn our little family dog Ruff vegan and find the perfect diet for him.

My husband was very concerned and I had SO much to prove as we all love Ruff so much. I turned to Germany that was 8 years ahead of the UK with complete plant-based dog foods, and I began importing dog food as I only wanted the best for our little Ruff. My new business called Just Be Kind was born. I had no idea how to run a business (we never even had computers in the 80’s at Kingsmead!!) but I had the same drive to just do the right thing.

I had no idea that a few years after starting my business, I would become the most passionate ‘plant powered’ vet in the UK (and in my hormonal fifties!). Published papers came out from the UK and the US in the last few years showing that not only do dogs thrive on a vegan dog food diet, but they can also live longer than those eating a plant-based diet.

One study from October 2023 has shown that if all the worlds’ dogs went vegan, it would quite literally save our planet as the amount of emissions from dogs eating such high meat-based diets has such an impact on climate change from the animal agriculture industry.

The press got hold of this paper and I have appeared on TV with Ruff, I have been into the BBC studios to be interviewed (again with Ruff); I have had film crew at my home as we were on a documentary. My Dad loves that if you search Arielle Griffiths on Imdb, I come up in the search having been on a documentary called ‘Dog Poo Wars’ !

The dark side of veterinary is greater than ever with corporatisation having swept through the veterinary practices in the UK and the US and most of them are now owned by Nestle that owns Purina who want nothing to do with plant-based dog food.
It has all overwhelmed me sometimes with despair at the lengths companies will go to just to make money (at the expense of our future and our environment), but I am overwhelmed too in a hugely positive way.

I have never felt healthier being ‘vegan’ (yes no more biltong, yoghurt, and cheese which I don’t miss at all) and I have never felt more empowered by the impact that what I am doing can have. It all goes back to me wanting to just do the right thing with the ideals I learnt from my school days.

I feel SO fortunate to have been admitted to Onderstepoort Vet School in the 80’s from having been at Kingsmead, as this has allowed me to follow my passion and just give us the hope we all need so badly in the world today!”

– Dr Arielle Griffiths Kingsmead Old Girl 1984 (and now Plant Powered Vet with Ruff Plant Powered Dog)