About Dr Matthew Almond BVSc MACVSc

Wedding singer, tennis player, runner, comedian, author and Father of the Year.

OK, so my children wrote that…the truth is I play keyboards and backing vocals at the occasional wedding and more often at open mic nights, I love a hit of tennis with my four boys, I always compete in the Sydney City to Surf and I try to train for it a few months before hand, I tell a great Dad joke at least once a day (even before I became a father), I always have a book on the go (that I am reading), and I am the proud father of four beautiful boys who I hang out with in preference to all others.

When I am not doing all this, I am very happy to say, I work at Small Friends Vet. We have an awesome team of people, who all enjoy working together (they even laugh at my Dad jokes…sometimes) and we all take great pride in the service we provide to our clients and their small friends. I graduated from The University of Sydney in 1997 and went back to study four years later to gain a further qualification, my Memberships in Small Animal Medicine. Then in 2004, I opened Small Friends Vet because I wanted to create a place that I would be pleased to take my own small friend, Gerald. Gerald, a miniature schnauzer, was only two years old at the time, but he was the inspiration for Small Friends Vet. I offer every client that visits Small Friends the same level of service I would give my own small friends.

 With Gerald

I was lucky to have Gerald in my life for 16 beautiful years. He filled my days with fun and happiness, prepared me for fatherhood, played with and protected my four boys, helped train two more miniature schnauzers, and greeted me excitedly every single day of his life. I understand the bond we have with our small friends and I also understand that second (Graham), third (Lionel), fourth (Trim) and fifth (Regina) small friends aren’t always as well trained as our first – especially once you add human kids to the mix!

I feel very lucky to be a vet and there are many things that I enjoy about my job, but what I love most is helping families to spend quality time with their small friends. It is great to get to know families during their visits to Small Friends Vet with their pet and I enjoy hearing what their small friend has been up to. It is also very rewarding to support a family when things aren’t so straightforward. I know how special my small friends are to me and my family and when I see a family going through a difficult time I ask myself “What would I like for Gerald and my family right now?” It gives me such satisfaction to work together with a family to keep their small friend happy and healthy or allow a family to spend more time with their small friend doing the things they love to do together. If I can do this each day then I go home feeling that I have made a difference.