I’ve recently joined the Harbour Cities Veterinary Hospital team as a veterinary technician so I thought I would introduce myself to you all.
I’m Kirsty. I have 2 small children and 3 dogs that fill up my time when not working. I moved to Nova Scotia in June from the UK. It was a long-considered move that mainly started to be closer to my family but as a time progressed and we had children, Nova Scotia looked more and more appealing as a safe and happy place to raise our family with a greater focus on the outdoors. After moving I was also relieved to find there is a thriving agility community so I can start competing in agility trials again soon with my 3 duck tollers.
I have always loved animals but as I grew I became more interested in how they work and how best I can care for them and make them better. My mom was a human nurse and when I was very young I thought I would follow in her footsteps. Until I discovered I couldn’t cope with sick humans, sick animals, however, were a completely different matter and from there my desire to study something to do with animals started. At first like all children who like animals, I decided I would be a veterinarian but though many work placements and discussions with the staff I found that I enjoyed the nursing side much more than the diagnostic, surgery or consultation side. As a technician, I get to have the best of all worlds. I spend prolonged periods of times with patients and get to know them and how best to help them.
I am dual trained with qualifications both as a Veterinary Physiotherapist and a Registered Veterinary Nurse. I completed a degree in Veterinary Nursing at Napier University in Edinburgh in 2007 and have worked as a veterinary nurse in the UK since then. My desire to help my patients as much as possible and aid their recovery, as well as my interest in sports injuries due to my agility training, led me into studying veterinary physiotherapy and rehabilitation. In 2011 I was lucky enough to be accepted on a Postgraduate Diploma in Veterinary Physiotherapy at Harper Adams University. After graduating I worked running my own business providing rehabilitation to pets after injury, surgery or illness or to increase performance and stamina.
In 2016 I passed the FitPaws Master Trainer award and am now studying towards Certified Canine Fitness Trainer (CCFT) through the University of Tennessee. This has given me new ideas to use towards rehabilitation but also now allows further work on ‘prehab’ aka working to ensure that patients are as fit and healthy as possible to hopefully prevent injury or if the worst does happen it allows for a quicker less painful recovery.
I am hoping to bring these skills to force to aid the pets of Harbour Cities in recovery and to help reduce the pain associated with conditions such as arthritis and obesity as well as my veterinary technician skills to aid all my patients to lead long healthy lives.
Written by Kirsty, RVT
