Hayley
Nurse Hayley Young started at MVH in May 2005. She is currently studying for her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing. She already has a Certificate III in Dental Nursing and 5 years experience in a human dental practice. While she loves the fact that her job at MVH involves helping animals recover from illness or injury, she also says an aspect of her job she enjoys is getting the vets organized and keeping them that way. Along with Michelle, she will be attending the Veterinary Nurses’ Council of Australia annual conference in Surfers Paradise for 3 days in April. Hayley is also a qualified cook so we are always thrilled when she is on morning tea duty. At home Hayley and her husband Joel have their hands full playing with their 2 cats, a Domestic longhair cat named Kahlua and a Somali cat named Merlot. The cats wake them very early to be fed and then let out into their cat enclosure. They also have 2 Finnish Lapphunds named Spirit and Pennja. Finnish Lapphunds are a relatively new dog breed to Australia and were originally bred for reindeer herding, which they try out on the cats when they can. In her spare time Hayley enjoys spending time with Joel and her friends, taking the dogs for walks and going to the beach.

Jess
Nurse Jess started at MVH in May 2006. She has a Certificate III in Companion Animal Services and is studying for her Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing. She is very dedicated to animal rights and is also vegan. She is a caring person whose aim is to help and nurture the animals that come into the practice. Jess works part time at Seeing Eye Dogs Australia, where she assists in feeding, exercising, and socialising the puppies and dogs. In 2007 Jess was a puppy carer for a Golden Retriever named Nevada who recently graduated and is now a qualified Seeing Eye Dog. This means, of course, that no Labrador or Retriever can come in to MVH without being cuddled and smooched by Jess. At home Jess has a Labradoodle, Travis and a rat named Sharon, not to mention the family pets including Purdy the Pekinese, Jaimie the Bichon cross and a Long-necked turtle. When Jess is not with all her animals, she enjoys going to concerts, travelling the world, supporting the West Coast Eagles and playing netball with her old school friends. She is also interested in tropical marine fish and hence loves snorkelling and scuba diving.

Meesha
Nurse Meesha did work experience at MVH in 2005 and joined the practice as a veterinary nurse in March 2007 since we couldn’t do without her. She grew up on King Island and says she was always the unofficial pet-sitter for the island. She says she loves being a vet nurse as she loves the opportunity to work with animals and help them recover from illness and injury. Recently she assisted in the treatment of a dog who had eaten snail bait and she says it was an amazing experience to help save the dog’s life. Meesha is a keen horse rider and whenever she goes home to King Island she loves to ride her horse, Whisper, a buckskin Connemara mare. She lives in Melbourne with her boyfriend Aaden and their dogs Sumo and Buddy, who is a labradoodle. She also owns two budgerigars, George and Bluey and enjoys spending time with Aaden and her friends and going fishing.

Vicki
Receptionist and nurse Vicki Mouat previously worked at MVH for a number of years, however she has just returned to us having spent the last seven years working in a pharmacy in Mentone. Vicki says she is glad to be back because she loves the varied nature of working with animals – it is always interesting and rewarding. She loves animals and adopted several strays during her previous stint at MVH. From that time she still owns Tiddles, who is the last remaining member of a litter of unwanted strays that she adopted. Sadly Vicki has just recently lost her beloved dog Buster who was also an MVH stray who had been injured in a road accident. Vicki says one of her favourite memorable moments from her time at MVH previously was when a client brought in a “possum” that they had carefully rescued and lovingly bedded down in their cat’s basket. Upon closer inspection by the vet, the possum turned out to be a bush rat. Upon hearing the news, the client screamed and dropped the basket and the rat took off into the clinic. A frantic chase ensued until the rat was caught again!

Kara
Nurse Kara Billing has recently joined the team in 2008. She says it was her experience in a vet hospital for Year 10 work experience that helped her decide to pursue veterinary nursing as a career. She loves the opportunity to help animals and gains enormous satisfaction from being able to help them recover from illness and injury. Kara has nursed in a couple of veterinary hospitals since leaving school and has also completed a number of tertiary certificates, including one in Animal Studies. She is lucky enough to own quite a menagerie of pets – Ewok - a young Shih Tzu, Lucy - a Jack Russell Cross, Neffie and Skye - both DSH cats, Sooty - a Dwarf Rabbit and Henry - a guinea pig. If that were not enough to keep her busy, she also enjoys karate, jazz and tap dancing and various craft activities including knitting and cross stitching.