Meet our Team

Valley Farm employs over fifty staff. With the business running 24 hours a day we have to cover three normal shifts, which means that some staff hardly ever meet each other apart from social events!
We feel it is important that your pets are cared for by qualified, dedicated people. All our clinical staff are either qualified veterinarians or veterinary nurses. To ensure that all staff can do their jobs to the best of their ability we have on-going training for staff on all levels.
The partners, Drs Tim Krafft, Dean de Kock and Hans van der Zee are ably assisted in the running of the practice by their management team, Julia van Draanen, Karen Wiggill, Rene Swart and headed up by Melissa Kulper, the Practice Manager.

Melissa Kulper qualified as a  Veterinary Nurse in 1998 and joined the Valley Farm Animal Hospital team in January 1999. After working as a general nurse and then head nurse for several years she was promoted to Practice Manager in 2007.

Positions available:

Veterinary positions
Veterinary Nurse positions
Admin positions
Kennel Assistant positions

The Veterinarians

Our team of ten full-time doctors is supported by five weekend staff. Many of our doctors have special areas of interest that allow us to offer a broad range of expertise and treatments for companion animals. Many have either obtained a further qualification or are working towards one. Three of our doctors share the after-hours duties, while the other seven work during the days.

Dr Tim Krafft, BVSc
Dr Tim 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 honours 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 Dean de Kock, BVSc
Dr Dean is one of the founding members of Valley Farm Animal Hospital. He qualified at Onderstepoort in 1996. After qualifying, Dr Dean travelled to the UK and worked in a few mixed animal practices in Wales and Scotland for a short while. On his return in 1997 he joined Dr Krafft at Valley Farm Animal Hospital. Dr Dean considers himself a general practitioner with interest in small animal medicine as well ultrasonography .He continues to study post-graduate courses in these subjects.
Dr Dean has a love of the great outdoors, fishing, camping, four-wheel driving and photography. He has a house full of animals - dogs of all shapes and sizes, cats, reptiles, a fish tank and some cage birds as well. Dr Dean and his wife also run a registered wildlife rehabilitation centre on their property, where they care for and rehabilitate wildlife that have been orphaned and abandoned. Once rehabilitated, these animals are released on the adjacent game farm.

Dr Hans van der Zee, BVSc, MMedVet(Surg.) 
Dr Hans is a specialist surgeon. He joined Valley Farm in October 2007 and became a Partner in April 2008. He qualified at Onderstepoort in 1986. Dr Hans developed a special interest in surgery and especially orthopaedics. He worked at Medunsa, in the Department of Companion Animal Medicine and Surgery, under the dynamic leadership of Professor Joseph van Heerden. In 1995 he obtained his MMedVet in surgery, which means he is a specialist surgeon.
After obtaining this qualification, he opened his own successful referral practice, Pretoria East Animal Hospital, where he performed a wide array of surgical procedures on pets and some wild animals for 10 years. Due to his interest and extensive experience in orthopaedic surgery, he was recently invited by Orthomed, an international company that manufactures specialist orthopaedic implants, to introduce their products to South African veterinary surgeons. Dr Hans accepts referrals from other veterinary practices for cases that require specialist surgery, viz. spinal surgery, advanced orthopedic surgery and soft tissue surgery.
Dr Hans shares his work philosophy with his hobbies which include building sound structures while doing carpentry, as well as nurturing growth in hia gardening. His pets are a big hairy German Shepherd and a Rottweiler called Rastus.

Dr Liesel van der Merwe, BVSC, MMedVet(Med.)
Dr Liesel joined the practice in October 2010. She qualified at Onderstepoort in 1992 and after 4 years doing general small animal work in Johannesburg and the UK she returned to Onderstepoort to pursue a specialty in small animal medicine and teach both undergraduate and post graduate students in the teaching hospital. She obtained her MMedVet specialist degree in small animal medicine in 2005. Dr Liesel is frequently asked to give lectures to veterinarians at congresses and CPD events and has also presented her research work overseas. She has a special interest in transfusion medicine and canine spirocercosis.
Dr Liesel has a house full of dogs and cats - all rescued from work. She enjoys reading, the outdoors and gardening.

Dr Karien Brink, BVSc

Dr Terri-Ann Roberts Shields, BSc BVSc  
Dr Terri qualified in 2004 and has worked in both mixed and small animal practices as well as having worked overseas. She joined Valley Farm in October 2010. Her particular veterinary interest is small animal medicine and she particularly likes working with cats. She has 2 cats of her own, Fudge Pop and Sonic, as well as a Bapsfontein rescue dog called Rascal and a horse called Roxy. In her spare time she rides competitively and also mountain bikes with Brad, her fiancé.

Dr. Arpana Bhagwan, BVSc
When Dr Arpana is not spending time with her furry friends at work, she is usually outdoors enjoying the gorgeous South African sun. She lived and worked in the UK for 7 years, where her work took her to a few very large mixed practices. She is slowly becoming accustomed to, and enjoying the South African way of life of sun, braaiing, and biltong. Her passions outside work are Dante, her Ducati Monster motorbike, and mountain biking. She is fascinated with anything on 2 wheels. As a bit of a fitness fanatic, you will find Dr Arpana in the gym whenever she has time. Her grumpy Jack Russell, Eddy, keeps her busy and happy otherwise.

Dr Omar Mehtar, BVSc
Dr. Omar qualified in 2009 and joined a mixed animal practice where he worked with all kinds of animals, anything that walked, crawled, slithered, bounced, pounced or flew! Great experience! Dr Omar is interested in internal medicine and he still has a soft spot for wildlife after his first job.
Dr Omar and his fiancée live with their four dogs and four cats, quite a household! He is passionate about cooking and loves to grow his own produce. For relaxation he reads, especially fantasy books, and writes about the weird and wonderful happenings of his life!

Dr Maggie van der Merwe, BVSc
Dr Maggie van der Merwe qualified in 2009 from the university of Pretoria, and has been working in private practice since then. She joined us at Valley Farm Animal Hospital at the beginning of 2011 as part of the after hours team.
Dr Maggie has a special interest is charity work and currently supports the Booysens and Danville CVC by working there on her weeks off.
During her off time, Dr Maggie enjoys playing squash, gardening and reading. She has two mixed breed dogs called Minette and Lara.

Dr Charmaine Wepener, BSc, BVSc
Dr Charmaine qualified in 2009 at Onderstepoort. She then started her career in White River Mpumalanga working with production animals, wildlife, horses and small animals for duration of 2 years.  Dr Charmaine has a soft spot for small animals especially small animal medicine.
Charmaine lives with her fiancé, a dapple dachshund adopted from the SPCA called Malika, and an Italian Greyhound called Maranello . When not in her veterinary outfit she loves the outdoors,  sightseeing, butterfly watching, spending time with family and friends, dancing and going to the gym.  

Veterinary Nurses

Our nursing team is by far the biggest in private veterinary practice in Pretoria. We feel that a qualified nurse’s knowledge and abilities are essential when offering high quality patient care. Our team members have many years’ experience between them and many of the nurses have special areas of interest. The nursing team is headed up by Sr Rene Swart, who qualified at Onderspoort in 2003. Her work took her to the UK for two years. 

Nursing is a vocation and these dedicated staff provide excellent patient care. They ensure that not only your pets’ physical needs are attended to with food, medication and treatments, but their psychological needs are also taken into account with lots of cuddles, kisses TLC, grooming, baths, treats, cosy beds for the cats to hide in, massage and exercise. 

Our nurses are supported by a great team of Kennel assistants and cleaning ladies. These staff are vital to the running of the hospital, keeping the place neat and clean. The kennel assistants help the nurses care for the patients and are essential for the smooth running of the hospital.

Reception Team

Members of our reception team are here from 7 o’clock in the morning until midnight, to assist you with enquiries, bookings, purchases and payments. Our reception staff receive on-going training on the products sold in the shop so that they can always offer you advice and a solution for your pets’ problems. Some of our staff have been trained by Dr. Quixi Sonntag and host our puppy classes. Julia van Draanen is the reception manager. She has worked in veterinary practice for over 20 years and is qualified as a veterinary nurse, both here and in the UK.