ABOUT US

Dr Pieter Hanekom
BVSc MRCVS

Dr Hanekom is a very experienced vet with a particular interest in cardiology and orthopaedic surgery. He has authored several continuing education articles on echocardiography for general practitioners, feline cardiomyopathy, feline dyspnoea, snake envenomation, bite wounds as well as an article on stress in the veterinary profession (a very serious problem).

After 18 years of being a vet and 11 years owning his own practice, he sold it and went overseas to complete the North American Veterinary Licensing exams (which were very hard!). He says: "It was like a major refresher course, and I believe it made me a better veterinarian. It also enabled me to see practice in the USA and Canada which was great."

Dr Carra Walters
BSc (Hons) BVMS MRCV

Dr Walters was born in Pretoria but relocated to London, UK, at 12 years old when her parents immigrated. She returned home to South Africa on completion of her Veterinary Degree at Edinburgh University and after working for three and a half years in London, where she gained a huge amount of experience in small animal medicine and surgery.

What most people don’t know about Dr Walters is that she first studied and gained a first class honours degree in Biological and Medicinal Chemistry before pursuing her ambition to become a vet. “I knew I’d always regret not following my dreams and I am so happy I did!”

Dr Walters has been a vet for 15 years and started at HVH in 2009, first in the capacity of a full-time emergency after-hours vet, then as co-owner after buying into the business in 2016. She took complete ownership of HVH in 2019. Much has changed both aesthetically and in management here at Hillcrest Vets. She says “running a 24hr practice comes with many challenges, and has been the steepest learning curve and the greatest achievement of my life (second to raising a little boy as a single mom)”. “I feel very strongly about compassionate care of our patients and we give our best here at Hillcrest Veterinary Hospital. Being able to offer top of the range diagnostic and surgical facilities to the greater Upper Highway area is real a privilege”.

Dr Shantelle Naidoo
BVMCh

Dr Naidoo has been working as a vet for 20 years and has a particular interest in surgery and exotics. She is our "go to" on the HVH team when it comes to pet snakes, birds, lizards and other exotic pets.

She enjoys intricate surgeries and finds them really rewarding. She also states "lost causes" as one of her specialties, so you know she will do everything in her power to have a positive outcome for a patient, and prefers to treat every patient she sees as her most important.

Dr Inke Helm
BVSc

Dr Helm has been a practicing vet for four years and is extremely passionate about her work, and about animals. She puts in many hours and is always striving to improve her knowledge and skills as Veterinary surgeon. She is currently enrolled in a postgraduate diploma in Small Animal Surgery through the University of Pretoria, and this is not an easy feat whilst being employed as a full time vet! She has a love for and an outstanding ability for surgery cases and is extremely competent in abdominal ultrasonography.

Dr Helm is also busy writing an article in anaesthesiology called "Clinical bed side methods for assessing optimal positive end expiratory pressure in the anaesthetised veterinary patients”, and will be looking at publishing it next year in 2022.

Dr Nicky Hogan
BVSc

Dr Hogan has been a practicing vet for over 16 years, of which four were spent working in the United Kingdom. She is especially interested in wound management and care and says; "I am in constant awe of how the body regenerates itself and over stages, even huge wounds contract and heal if they are managed correctly". (The secret, of course, is having the knowledge to manage them correctly. >> Insert our wonderful vets!!)

Dr Hogan speaks of a specific case that she remembers: “A few years ago I had a very bad bite wound case in a female dog. Her front legs had been mauled and there was significant tissue loss, so much so, that I could see the bone on the upper part of her front leg. It took three surgeries and four weeks but with lots of time, patience and proper wound care, all her wounds healed perfectly.”

Sr Kathryn Marett
Veterinary Nurse

Sister Kat was born and bred in a small farming town in the Free State, where she was lucky enough to grow up with her own horses and was always surrounded by dogs. She had always wanted to be a vet growing up with her nose permanently in a James Harriet book and spent her school holidays at the local vet practice.

After completing a post matric course in Equine studies, she went on to study veterinary nursing. She qualified 12 years ago from Onderstepoort and has had the absolute pleasure of working in some incredible practices in KZN, gathering immeasurable knowledge and experience. She says she is thrilled to be a part of the Hillcrest Veterinary Hospital team, where she is passionate about caring for all patients as if they were her own. 

Patrick

Paul

Lucky

Maddy

Sanele

Sizwe

Daniel

Moses

Valmae

Accounts / Administration

Sharlene

Gillian

Kerry