About Nurse Tara

and her small friends Sati and Talyn

“Why do you work with animals?” I am sometimes asked. I ask “Why breathe? Because I gotta!!!” I have always known I was going to be working with animals in some form or another. When I was a little kid (growing up here in Canberra) I was always out in the backyard turning over rocks in the garden to play with the bugs, up a tree pretending to be some form of animal, or watching a documentary, all the while playing with my pets who were some of my best friends. Even though now I have grown up animals still fascinate me in every way.

I have a cat who was an RSPCA adoption, her name is Sati. Sati has the prettiest green eyes and a lovely nature to match. She is very tolerant of the rough play that she is subjected to by her friends. Sometimes at night Sati will suddenly go silly and race around the house for no apparent reason, this crazy behaviour is usually seen at night so maybe there is a full moon out?? Sati likes to greet my husband Kurt and I with what is known as her ‘Happy Rolls’ – whenever you get home you can count on Sati to be on her back rolling around presenting her belly for a rub within about 5 seconds.

Then of course there’s our surrogate son, the newest addition to the family, Talyn, a young Boxer dog. Kurt & I drove to Victoria in April 2008 to get him as a 9 week old puppy. Sati wasn’t very impressed when we came home and all of a sudden she has an annoying, bouncy little brother that would very soon be much bigger than her. Talyn can always make me and my husband laugh with his ‘Boxer goofiness’. He is also very cute, smart, and great at obedience training – when he is not distracted by another person or dog that he is dying to be friends with! Kurt and I hope to channel some of his boundless energy into agility and/or flyball in the future. Talyn got to cameo at our wedding in September 2008, standing up with the groomsmen and looking very handsome wearing a homemade blue bow-tie attached to his collar.

Small Friends Veterinary Hospital is a great place to be. My job is involving, interesting and the clients and my fellow workmates are friendly and talkative. I find working with small friends such fun. It is unpredictable and rewarding – I am sure if the small friends really understood what was going on they would be very appreciative of our help. It is exciting meeting new people and their small friends each day.

I have a Diploma of Animal Technology and a Certificate 4 Veterinary Nursing which I gained studying at CIT (Canberra Institute of Technology).

Outside of Small Friends Veterinary Hospital I enjoy spending time with my husband Kurt, our friends and our small friends, reading sci-fi / fantasy novels, music, movies, console games, cartoons and being out and about.