The Veterinary staff complement at VFAH is made up of five permanent day veterinarians and three night vets. The veterinarians have over time developed special interests and areas of expertise which together provide a broad base of ability within the hospital, enabling effective diagnosis and treatment of complex diseases and trauma incidents.

Our Veterinarians

Dr Tim Krafft, was the founding partner of Valley Farm Animal Hospital back in 1996. He qualified at Onderstepoort in 1991 and apart from a year as a State Vet during his National Service he has been self-employed. He started out in private practice treating horses as well as dogs and cats but later decided to pursue his special interest of surgery in small animals. He completed the honors course in Small Animal Surgery and has supplemented this with courses in fracture repair and general surgery. He considers himself a general practitioner with a special interest in surgery.

Dr Tim keeps fit by running, swimming and is a keen cyclist. He has two Scottie dogs and three cats, two of which were rescue cases.

Dr Dean de Kock is one of the founding members of Valley Farm Animal Hospital . He qualified from Onderstepoort in 1996. After qualifying Dr Dean travelled to the UK and worked in a few mixed animal practices in  Wales and  Scotland . On his return in 1997 he joined Dr Krafft at Valley Farm Animal Hospital. His particular interests are medicine and diagnostic work such as radiology and ultrasounography. He has studied post graduate courses in these subjects.

Dr Dean has a love of the great outdoors, fishing, camping and four-wheel driving and photography. He has a house full of animals - dogs of all shapes and sizes, cats, a fish tank and some cagebirds as well. Quite a few of these birds are wild birds that he and his wife have cared for and rehabilitated for release in to the wild.

Dr Hans Van der Zee, a Specialist surgeon has joined our team as of October 2007 and was made a Partner in April 2008. He qualified from Onderstepoort in 1986. Dr Hans developed a special interest in surgery and especially orthopedics. He worked at Medunsa in the Department of Companion Animal Medicine and Surgery under Professor Van Heerden. He enjoyed this time and in 1995 he obtained M med vet in surgery, this means he is a specialist surgeon.

After obtaining this qualification he opened his own successful Referral practice, Pretoria East Animal Hospital where he worked for 10 years.

Dr Hans accepts referrals from other veterinary practices for cases that require specialist surgery, viz spinal surgery, advanced orthopedic and soft tissue surgery.

Dr Hans shares his work philosophy with his hobbies. Building sound structures while doing carpentry, as well as nurturing growth as with gardening. His pets are a big hairy German Shepard and a Rottweiler called Rastus.

Dr Helena Swanepoel was born in Prince Albert a beautiful little town at the foot of the Zartberg in the karoo. After graduating from Onderstepoort with her Bachelors in Veterinary Science she, lucky for us, decided to stay in Pretoria . Dr Helena joined our after hours team in December 2007.

Her hobbies include hiking, painting and playing the guitar. Dr Helena has hand reared a kitten who she has called Nikki. Nikki has grown in to a strong and naughty kitten.

Dr Kristen Lachenicht

Kristen graduated from Onderspoort in 2006. Since then she has worked in various practices both in South Africa and the UK. Kristen interest in medicine has led her to start studying for her Honors in Small Animal Medicine this year. Kristen is surrounded by pets at home as well as work. She has six dogs and an African grey African parrot called Nelson.

Jean-Lynn Van Heerden

Jean-lynn grew up and started studying in the Cape and then moved up to Pretoria to attend Onderstepoort. Her veterinary interests lie with medicine and we know she will become a valuable part of our team. In her spare time she is very active - running, playing tennis and water skiing. She has Staffie called Gigi and a 10 year old cat called Ciska.

Ryan Moralee

Ryan Qualified 2008 and went to work at a practice in Johannesburg for a year. He is very Interested in furthering his studies and is at present working towards a Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging Honours. He has three cats at home called Sprog, Chinx and Bella. Ryan loves the outdoor life.

Our Nurses

We are very fortunate to have eleven nurses working at Valley Farm Animal Hospital. Our nurses run the Hospital and are responsible for the TLC that you’re pets get when coming to spend time with us. There is always a nurse on duty keeping an eye on all hospital cases, specifically those in our High Care Ward.

Rene Swart - Head Nurse

Rene qualified in 2003 and went to the UK where she worked in various types of veterinary practices and riding stables gaining experience in many aspects of veterinary work and animal care. She returned to South Africa in 2006 when she joined Valley Farm Animal Hospital .
Rene is in charge of the nursing team and is responsible for the smooth running of the hospital. Her work here allows her plenty of opportunity within her fields of interest, trauma and medical cases.
When she is not here caring for your pets she is at home cuddling her two cute but crazy cats and riding her horses.

Joaret Vermas – Theatre Nurse

Joaret grew up on a farm in the North West, her interest in animals begun here while looking after and raising orphaned lambs and calves. She qualified in 2002 and has had a varied veterinary career both here and in the UK. She has worked in mixed animal practice, wildlife centres as well as small animal practice. She also has a special interest in surgery and joined our nursing team as the Theatre nurse. Her responsibilities are to ensure the smooth running of the operating theatre and the wellbeing of all the patients during operations. Hiking, reading and beading are a few of her favourites. She has a adopted doggy called Yeti!

Carina Stroebel

Carina grew up on a farm in Vryburg, this is where her passion for animals started. Carina’s qualified in 2000 and her career as a veterinary nurse has taken her to many places including to the UK. She has joined Valley Farm as a Theatre Nurse and has a strong interest in Hydrotherapy. Her pet cat Duné was hand reared by her from 2 days of age. Carina enjoys an active outside life, dancing, hiking and wildlife photography.

Somarie Terblanche

Somarie who was born in the Free State got a taste for Pretoria while studying at Ondestepoort and decided to stay. She has spent time in the UK where she worked as everything from a waitress to packing dog food in a factory, good life experience! She has also worked as a volunteer at a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Durban. All of this set her up for work in this busy Veterinary Hospital. Somarie enjoys orthopaedics. Time off is spent relaxing, fishing and reading. She has a crossbreed puppy called Biscuit and a cat called Asterix at home.

Madelaine Swart

Madelaine is a local girl, she grew up in Centurion where she still lives with her family and four dogs. Madelaine is very interested in dentistry, an often neglected part of our pet care. She previously worked as a volunteer at a wildlife rehabilitation centre. She will be happy to offer you advice or even a dental check on your pets. Madelaine has lots of energy, very necessary for a Veterinary Nurse, any left over is used dancing in the evenings.

Melanie Muller

Melanie loves all babies, feathered or furred and has the patience and dedication to nurses the orphans and babies that we get here at Valley Farm. Melanie has trained to be one of our Puppy class trainers and has been practicing on her dachshund cross puppy, Johnny at home. She also has a cocker spaniel called Jamie who has called her Mom from two days of age when she started to hand rear him! She loves working with orphaned wildlife. Her ambition in life is to be able to do community work such as training the Guide dogs for the blind.

Surina Scheepers

Surina joined Valley Farm as part of our nursing team after working on board a cruise ship. She says “dogs and cats are much easier to handle than children!” Her particular interests are ophthalmology and radiography. She enjoys the challenge of nursing exotic species.
Surina has just adopted a tiny Siamese cross kitten who she has called Shockwave. Surina enjoys being outdoors, hiking, horse riding and braaing.

Lesley Weiss

Lesley has always been an animal lover and has worked at Pretoria Zoo as a volunteer for the last six years. She particularly enjoyed her time there in the breeding unit hand rearing baby birds. Her particular nurses interests are emergency and high care cases. She has a Fox terrier and a cockatiel.

Stephanie Rotherham

Stephanie was born in the UK but grew up in Vanderbjlpark. Stephanie is an experienced nurse having worked at both first opinion and referral practices in the past. Her special interests are medicine and critical care. In her off time Stephanie enjoys reading and scrap booking.

Our Admin Staff

This includes our bookkeeper Karen Wiggill who handles all financial queries, the Practice Manager, Sr. Melissa Kulper who fields any other queries you might have, whilst ensuring the smooth running of the hospital, Sr. Julia van Draanen who is in charge of the shop and receptionists as well as Tara Volker who assists with admin duties.

Melissa Kulper – Practice Manager

Melissa joined Valley Farm as a newly qualified Veterinary Nurse in 1998. Her hard work and dedication kept the hospital running smoothly and the patients well cared for, for many years. Melissa has grown with the practice and was the perfect person for the job as practice manager when the position became available. Her children consist of two dogs and a cat that keeps her and her husband constantly amused. She enjoys socialising with her family and friends and has a keen interest in spending time in the outdoors.

Julia Van Draanen – Reception Manager

Julia was born in the UK and came to South Africa with her South African husband 4 years ago. Julia was a veterinary nurse for 15 years in the UK and qualified as a nurse in South Africa in 2006. She started work at Valley Farm as a receptionist, then as a nurse and now is the manger for the reception and the shop. Here she puts her passion of preventative health, client care and education to good use. She has a dog called Einstein and loves to do gardening in her spare time.

Karen Wiggill - Accountant

Karen joined Valley Farm as our bookkeeper in August 2006. She studied at Tukkies were she obtained her B.Com degree in Accountancy. She worked for Telkom for 17 years of which 7 years were as financial manager in the Procurement environment. She thought she'd take a quieter job, but the Valley Farm finances keep her very busy. When she is not working hard she goes home to relax with her two dogs Tessa & Maya. She loves gardening and her amazing garden is testament to the hard work and care that she puts in to it.