From Vet Student Notes to a Published Book: The Story Behind VetNotes: Farm Animal Disease
There was a time when I felt overwhelmed trying to survive veterinary school while preparing for the board exam. Every day felt like a race between lectures, clinics, sleepless review nights, and trying to remember hundreds of diseases, clinical signs, diagnostics, and treatments all at once.
As someone who also loved art and creativity, I struggled finding study materials that felt simple, organized, and inspiring enough to help me learn better. Most of the time, my notes were scattered everywhere. So instead of waiting for the “perfect” reviewer, I started making my own.
That became the beginning of my very first book: VetNotes: Farm Animal Disease.
What started as personal review notes during vet school slowly turned into a complete compilation of common diseases in ruminants, poultry, swine, and equine medicine. It became my companion during board exam preparation ...organized in a way that was easier for me to understand and remember.
I never imagined that the same notes I made to help myself survive veterinary medicine would eventually help other veterinary students and young veterinarians too.
The book covers important and commonly encountered farm animal diseases, simplified into easy-to-follow notes including:
- Etiology
- Clinical signs
- Diagnosis
- Treatment
- Prevention
- Important “must not forget” points
I created it with one goal in mind: to simplify veterinary medicine and make studying more enjoyable. Surprisingly, while creating the book, I also learned to enjoy the process myself. What started as stressful review notes slowly became something creative, meaningful, and fulfilling.
One of the most meaningful parts of this journey was realizing that I didn’t have to choose between being an artist and becoming a veterinarian. I learned that I could combine both passions together. While studying diseases and preparing for exams, I was also drawing, organizing concepts visually, and turning difficult topics into something more creative and easier to understand.
Looking back, VetNotes: Farm Animal Disease is more than just a book to me.
It represents sleepless nights, self-doubt, pressure, discipline, growth, and the dream of becoming a veterinarian despite all the struggles.
To every veterinary student currently preparing for exams, feeling delayed, pressured, or unsure of themselves:
Keep going.
Your notes, your struggles, your late nights, and your small progress every day will someday become part of your story too.
Sometimes the things we create while trying to survive become the very things that help others survive as well.
— Leatrize Gonzales, DVM
Veterinarian • Author • Artist
