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The Laura Dowling Experience

The Laura Dowling Experience

By: Laura Dowling
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Conversations about health, science, wellness, life, love, sex and everything in-between. Laura is a Pharmacist who loves to talk to interesting people about their unique life and work experiences. See @fabulouspharmacist on instagram for more information.

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© 2025 The Laura Dowling Experience Hygiene & Healthy Living Psychology & Mental Health Social Sciences
Episodes
  • What Your Vet Wishes You Knew About Your Pet with Charles Cosgrave #192

    What Your Vet Wishes You Knew About Your Pet with Charles Cosgrave #192
    22 Oct 2026
    Charles Cosgrave grew up on a dairy farm in County Meath where the work never really stopped. His father was the local vet, farmers knocked on the door day and night, and Christmas dinner waited until the calls were done. He didn't realise that wasn't how everyone lived until he was older.He went to UCD, qualified, and left for the UK with no intention of coming home. He came back for a few months to earn a few quid before going travelling with his wife. They never went. He had seen what multi-site practice looked like in Britain, sat down with his dad and John Corrigan, and started building it here. Village Vets is now 35 sites across the country, with three 24-hour emergency centres.What makes this worth an hour is everything in between. Why a vet learns five species in one degree while a human surgeon learns one part of one body. Why the kids in the room give the best information about a sick dog. What actually walks through the door at two in the morning. And why, with 35 practices to run, he calls himself a pretend vet now and misses the room.🔑 Key PointsThe job was in the house before it was a careerHis father was a vet, farmers called at all hours, and the family didn't sit down for Christmas dinner until the morning's calls were finished.One degree, five speciesVets are taught cats, dogs, cows, horses and sheep, and it works because the muscles, the heart, the lungs and the gut are largely the same across all of them.He came home for a few months and never leftHe was between jobs and wanted a few quid together before going travelling with his wife — he started working with his dad instead, and never went.The night rota is why the business existsOn a one-in-two rota he was exhausted on his nights off, and the only way to fix it was more vets, so he grew the practice.The kids usually give you the best informationParents tell children to stay quiet in the consult room, but the children are the ones glued to the dog all day and they notice what changed and when.Two new vet schools open this year and it still won't be enoughGalway and Waterford will take about forty students each, UCD takes 120, and demand for veterinary care has risen far faster than the profession can train for.Neutering a male dog is a prostate conversationDogs have no outlet for testosterone the way humans do, so the build-up can cause testicular and prostate problems later in life.Pet insurance is worth having, and switching providers is the trapA new provider can exclude anything that happened under the old one, so research the policy properly at the start and stay with it.📚 ResourcesVillage VetsCharles's practice group, 35 clinics across Ireland and three 24-hour emergency centresUCD School of Veterinary Medicinewhere Charles trained, and still the main route into the professionDog microchippingwhat's required in Ireland, and the measure Charles says would curb puppy farming⏱️ Timestamps02:37 — Growing up on a dairy farm with a vet for a father03:04 — Christmas dinner waited until the calls were done05:59 — How one vet learns to treat five different species07:30 — Thirty-five sites, and how it started08:04 — Home for a few months before travelling, and they never went09:37 — No craic in the rota: the real reason the practice grew10:24 — Two new vet schools, in Galway and Waterford13:44 — Three emergency centres, open 24/714:38 — What actually comes through the door at night15:45 — Why the kids give the best information19:20 — Neutering, testosterone and the prostate33:44 — Pet insurance, and the catch in switching providers40:45 — "I'm a pretend vet now"50:15 — Be bold, be brave, back yourselfThanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    53 mins
  • Bitesize Moment: "I Will Not Be Pressured Into Anything." — Meghan O'Neill on Consent and Boundaries

    Bitesize Moment: "I Will Not Be Pressured Into Anything." — Meghan O'Neill on Consent and Boundaries
    20 Oct 2026

    In this bitesize moment pulled from the Laura Dowling Experience back catalogue, Meghan O'Neill, online content creator and mother of two explains how she holds firm boundaries for herself, then how she is teaching her young children about consent, from everyday moments like a kiss or a tickle through to the bigger conversations about porn and never being with someone who is drunk.


    What if the most important thing you teach your kids about sex has nothing to do with sex, and everything to do with the word no?


    🔑Key Points

    • Meghan will not be pressured into anything; she can walk away right up to the last moment if something does not feel right

    • She wants her kids to know porn is not real, because no one ever told her that

    • At home, her kids can say no to a kiss or a tickle, and that no is respected straight away

    • She is direct with her son: never sleep with someone who is drunk, because they cannot consent


    🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

    Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    7 mins
  • What Advanced Breast Cancer Really Looks Like with Helen Forristal & Dr Tonya Leonard #191

    What Advanced Breast Cancer Really Looks Like with Helen Forristal & Dr Tonya Leonard #191
    15 Oct 2026
    Dr Tonya Leonard was a GP when she found a lump she was sure was a cyst. She had sent three women in their thirties to the breast clinic that month and reassured every one of them. By half past nine that morning she was being told it was breast cancer, and asked to decide by the following week whether she had finished her family. Her twin boys were 18 months old.Sixteen years, a second primary cancer and a diagnosis of advanced breast cancer later, Tonya joins Laura with Helen Forristal, Director of Nursing Services at the Marie Keating Foundation, to talk about what living with advanced breast cancer really looks like: scans every three months, fatigue that stops you where you stand, and plans that rarely reach past the next result.Helen explains why advanced breast cancer is an invisible cancer in Ireland, with no official count, which signs of a recurrence to watch for, and how the Positive Living group gives women somewhere to share all of it, grief included. The conversation is part of the Living Loudly. Dying to be Heard campaign.🔑 Key PointsAdvanced breast cancer means it has spreadThe cancer has moved from the breast to another organ; in Tonya's case, to lesions on her lung and under her arm.Life in three-month segmentsWith a scan every three months, Tonya finds it hard to plan past the next result, the anxiety Laura calls scanxiety.Fatigue is not the same as tirednessTonya describes cancer fatigue as like an injection of horse tranquilliser: once she feels it rising, she has minutes to lie down.Women are living longer with itHelen calls it the long middle, moving through lines of treatment; one woman in her group has lived with advanced breast cancer for 21 years.Nobody is countingRecurrences aren't recorded the way first diagnoses are; Helen's estimate is around 30% of women with primary breast cancer, and a University of Limerick project has started counting.Know the signs of a recurrenceSymptoms depend on where it spreads, from a cough and breathlessness to weight change or bone pain; if something hasn't settled in three weeks, ask your doctor, "Could this be cancer?"Mental health support needs to be specialistTonya waited eight weeks to see a psychologist; psycho-oncology services now run in Ireland's eight cancer centres.Palliative care is not only for the end of lifePalliative teams help manage symptoms and support families, and the CLIMB programme supports children aged 5 to 12 who have a parent with cancer.📚 ResourcesLiving Loudly. Dying to be HeardThe Marie Keating Foundation's advanced breast cancer campaign and photo exhibitionPositive LivingThe Marie Keating Foundation's support programme for people with advanced cancerCLIMBThe HSE programme for children aged 5 to 12 affected by a parent's cancer⏱️ Timestamps00:00 — Welcome01:52 — Helen Forristal of the Marie Keating Foundation02:51 — Dr Tonya Leonard: a GP, and now the patient06:21 — The Positive Living group09:28 — Scanxiety and life in three-month segments12:08 — The long middle: living longer with it17:14 — Fatigue is not the same as tiredness22:58 — "Have you finished your family?"29:17 — An invisible cancer: the percentage nobody counts30:41 — The signs of a recurrence37:57 — Mental health and the eight-week wait46:45 — Palliative care is not only end of life51:40 — Making the 18th the big party, just in case56:28 — Advice for young peopleThanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 hr and 4 mins
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