For the love of animals
With over 20 years of experience amongst our Veterinary Team, you can rest assured that your pet is in the best hands.
We support continued learning and education and strive to stay up to date with the latest industry standards within all facets of veterinary care.
OUR TEAM
Meet your expert team
SARAH SUMMERFIELD
Veterinarian (DVM BSc)
Sarah is currently on Maternity Leave and will be returning to our clinic soon!
Sarah has worked in the Veterinary Industry for the past 9 years, initially as a Veterinary Nurse and now as a Veterinarian. She loves meeting all the different pets and their personalities and helping them when they are in need. She enjoys getting the chance to educate owners on how best to care for their pets from the experienced owners to new or first time owners.
Sarah has a few pets of her own. She has two Belgian shepherds, two domestic short-haired cats, 5 guinea pigs and a sheep. She hopes to add some chickens to her family soon. Spending time with her family, training her dogs and competing in various dog sports is what Sarah enjoys outside of work to keep her busy and active.
If she could be any animal, Sarah would choose to be a wolf as she has loved them since she was a child for their resilience and pack lifestyle. She loves that these qualities remind her to have a strong community of friends and family around her.
Support Team
KAICEE BALLINGER
practice manager
Kaicee started in the veterinary industry as a school based trainee back in 2011. Graduating in 2012 and staying in the industry for the past 13 years, locuming as a nurse and being in a Head Nurse role, she has been in management positions for the last 9 years.
Kaicee has two fur babies – Coco a 13 year old PomChi and Opie an 8 year old English Staffy. Married with a family, she enjoys spending her home life with family and friends camping, motorbike riding and at the beach.
Kaicee is very passionate about staff mental health and wellbeing. She enjoys training and teaching and she loves upskilling staff and watching them progress within our industry. Kaicee focuses on a happy and open working environment.
KIRRA KLANE
vET nURSE (CERTIFICATE IV VETERINARY NURSING)
Kirra first came to Furkids as a keen volunteer. She has now been a Veterinary Nurse here at Furkids for the past 9 years and an absolute necessity here at the clinic.
She finds that seeing patients’ quality of life improve after surgery here at Furkids and working with all our staff who double as friends is the most rewarding part of her role.
Kirra has 2 Miniature Dachshunds named Franklyn and Louis who are both ex ABC Rescue dogs. Franklyn is a quirky boy with Hydrocephalus and Louis is a cunning but cuddly boy.
Socialising with friends and family over some good food is what Kirra enjoys doing outside of work. She also enjoys going to the gym and travelling.
LEARRA RADKE
VET NURSE (CERTIFICATE IV VETERINARY NURSE)
Learra has been working in the veterinary industry for 13 and a half years now with experience in both large and small animal nursing and is an incredibly valuable member of our nursing team.
Learra’s favourite part about her job is spending time with all the Brachycephalic patients and being able to work with her best friends.
She has 6 French Bulldogs and 2 Horses who all keep her very busy and occupied as an Accredited and Ethical breeder of her Frenchies.
She enjoys spending her time off with her dogs, riding her horses, spending time with friends and eating a lot of carbs.
KELLY O'CONNOR
VET NURSE (CURRENTLY COMPLETING CERT IV IN VET NURSING)
Kelly has been a part of the industry on and off for 15 years.
What drew Kelly to the industry is working with all the different kinds of animals and their owners.
Kelly has a few different pets including Penelope her Great Dane, Peaches her British Bulldog, her 2 French Bulldogs Lucy & Timmy, her Horse named Whiskey & Mickey her Ragdoll.
Outside of work Kelly enjoys showing her dogs, riding horses and spending time with her family.
AMY NAIRNE
VET NURSE (CURRENTLY COMPLETING CERT II IN VET NURSING)
Amy has worked in the industry for 4 years now. She originally started working in Equine for 3 years and has been working with small pets for the last year.
What Amy loves about her position is helping great owners take care of their pets, improving pets’ quality of life and just helping animals as a whole. Seeing animals get better and make a full recovery is one of the best parts of the job.
Amy has a 17 year old Thoroughbred Horse named Comet who loves swimming, carrots & pretending he is on a racetrack even when they are supposed to be going for a “relaxing” ride.
Amy enjoys riding her horse, going to the gym and spending time with her family and friends. She also enjoys live music and good food.
If Amy could be any animal, she would choose to be a cat living life on her own terms while always being pampered to and relaxing.
ASHLEIGH HARGREAVES
TRAINEE NURSE
Ashleigh is new to the industry, and this is her first clinic working as a Veterinary Nurse, but has dreamed of working in the Veterinary Industry her whole life.
Ashleigh says that her favourite part about her role is working with people and their fur babies and making sure everyone is happy and comfortable. She also loves seeing how excited pets are to see their owners after being discharged.
Ashleigh’s pets include a Border Collie named Buddy, a Cattle Dog x Kelpie named Mikey, her 2 horses Millie and Bolt and her Grey Tabby Cat Tiger.
Ashleigh enjoys playing and coaching netball with her time off and is very active. She also enjoys spending time with her family.
If Ashleigh were an animal, she would be a cat so that she could sleep all day and be awake all night, yell when she gets hungry and have all the independence.
CAITLIN TAYLOR
Admin
Caitlin has been working in the industry now for the past year and a half after completing her Certificate 3 in Animal Studies.
Her favourite part of coming to work is getting to learn new things and meeting all the patients and their owners.
She has an 11 year old Harrier Beagle named Nugget who is definitely a lover of food, sleep and lazing about.
If Cailtin could be any animal she would be a Fox, as they are such a playful and free spirited animal.
She loves spending time with her small family and taking them on adventures, but most importantly she enjoys taking time to relax.