There’s no shortage of podcasts devoted to veterinary medicine by Dr. Andy Roark’s “Cone of Shame” and “Uncharted” to Dr. Ernie Ward and Beckie Mossor’s Veterinary Viewfinder and VETgirl’s Veterinary Continuing Education. Not to mention the AVMA podcast “My Veterinary Life”, which was first broadcast in February 2019 and in which guests talk about their career experiences.
Regardless of the topic – be it marketing strategies for veterinary practices, tips for fourth year veterinary students or insights into cat medicine – there is a podcast for this.
Earlier this year, Veterinary Twins Jenifer and Jason Chatfield’s “In Other News,” produced by Mark Winter with Pet Life Radio, was named a finalist in the 2020 People’s Choice Podcast Awards. It was one of 10 finalists in the Science and Medicine category and the only podcast in that category that covered veterinary medicine and related topics. A podcast on genetics would ultimately win.
The twins graduated from Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedicine, became zoo veterinarians, and currently live close to each other in Florida’s Miami-Dade area.
Jason was having dinner at Jenifer’s when they both received the email that they were finalists in the People’s Choice Awards.
“That’s not real,” Jenifer recalled thinking.
“We thought we were playing a prank,” added Jason.
The idea for “In Other News” was born when Dr. Jill Lopez, Founder of Vet Candy, encouraged Jenifer to contribute to the website. Jenifer admits she had never heard a podcast at this point, but Jason thought the format was a great idea.
“It was really just an excuse to work on something together,” said Jason.
The first episode was posted on the Vet Candy website in May 2019. More than forty episodes later, the Chatfields show is currently the most listened to podcast on Pet Life Radio, with an average of 600,000 downloads per month.
Jenifer described the podcast format as “organic and scriptless”. For each episode, she and Jason discuss a veterinary or animal-related topic, often with a guest. They avoid veterinary jargon to be accessible to everyone from the veterinarian to the pet owner. Past guests include AVMA President Dr. Doug Kratt and Natalie Decker, a NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race driver, discussing how their dog keeps them on the ground.
The twins attribute the show’s success to their guests, many of whom don’t do many interviews. “This really is proof that they trust us,” said Jenifer.
