Monsieur le Vet: My Life with Animals in Rural France

The hilarious, poignant and sometimes bizarre stories of an extraordinary vet in rural France

Sylvain Balteau works as a village vet in the Pyrenees. Equally at home with a sick hamster as with a pregnant Charolais cow, he is permanently on call, immersed in the daily dramas of animals and their people.

Since 2007 he has kept a blog, revealing the hidden side of a vet's work and the rich variety of French rural life. As well as caring for the usual puppies and elderly cats, he tries to save a...