30 Sept 2025
Sharon Butler’s colleagues said she takes everything in stride with ‘her signature calm, a wry smile and a well-timed quip.’
Chris Simpson
Job Title
RVNs Stephanie Palin and Sharon Butler treat a grey heron.
Colleagues have paid tribute to a “superhero” Merseyside-based vet nurse celebrating 50 years in the profession.
Sharon Butler, of Village Vets Formby, became a Registered Animal Nursing Auxiliary (RANA) in November 1975, when the vet nurse title did not yet exist.
Mrs Butler began her RANA training aged 17, which was primarily done in-practice as well as tuition with a vet while making daily house calls.
“As a student I was allowed to do more procedures than qualified nurses do now,” she reflected.
She also studied at Bolton College in her first year of training before working at two vet practices in Lancashire in her second year.
When the title of vet nurse was recognised in 1984, she became an RVN in November that year.
Mrs Butler said some procedures, such as x-rays, “were far more complicated” in her early career.
“I had to do developing in a cold dark shed with chemicals in trays, a thermometer and a timer,” she said.
The nurse does not miss her old uniform either, comprised of a green dress, elasticated belt and white apron, adding: “So impractical, I went through many pairs of tights.”
“The major changes in vet nursing is computerisation and the advance in equipment, but essentially the job has not changed,” she added. “I am fortunate to love my job and the people I work with; throughout my career I have worked with some amazing people.”
In 2012 the RVN joined Village Vets in Formby, where her colleagues have paid tribute.
Practice co-owners Kate Higgins and Howard Goatley described Mrs Butler as “one of those rare people who quietly holds everything together… our rock, our go-to, and our very own legend.”
Jenny Mowatt on the client care team added: “She should wear a cape, absolute superhero and legend.”
Receptionist Jenny McCall hailed her “unmatched” care and compassion, describing her as “an absolute credit to the industry,” while RVN Claire Tollerton described Sharon as “everything I want to be.”
Fellow nurse Jane Bebbington lauded her “wealth of experience, her sense of humour, her no-nonsense approach and her kind heart,” adding: “There isn’t a cat in the land who cannot be burrito’d by her.”
A keen dog trainer and long-time member of the West Lancs Dog Display Team, Mrs Butler also has a special interest in behavioural medicine and takes behaviour referrals within the practice.
