Alice is a professional veterinary surgeon at Takurua Vets who brings equal parts enthusiasm, compassion, and calm to every consult. She likes to describe herself as a Labrador with a dodgy cruciate ligament - always keen for adventure, fuelled by treats, and never short on energy.
What Alice enjoys most about veterinary care is the privilege of being there for pets and their people when it matters most. She finds real fulfilment in providing comfort, managing pain effectively, and seeing animals relax once they realise they’re in safe hands.
At just 5’3”, Alice has a wonderfully non-intimidating presence that pets (and their humans) immediately respond to. She has a knack for making nervous animals feel at ease, simply by meeting them at their level and keeping every interaction gentle and reassuring.
Alice has a soft spot for animals with big personalities - she says they’re perfect for deep and meaningful conversations - and she has a great sense of humour about the less glamorous side of the job, including the impressive accuracy of a well-timed sneeze.
Outside the clinic, Alice is the proud owner of dwarf pufferfish, which she strongly advises against owning unless you enjoy highly complicated feeding routines. She is also exceptionally talented at eating olives, a skill she feels is wildly under-appreciated.
When she’s not at work, you’ll likely find Alice enjoying Duck Island Ambrosia ice cream or watching anything created by Taika Waititi, with a Trent Dalton book never far away.
Her personal motto comes from Grand Master Oogway:
“Today is a gift - that’s why it’s called the present.”
Bachelor of Veterinary Science (BVSc)
Fear Free Certified Professional
Alice has a strong interest in challenging soft tissue surgery, and especially enjoys cases that require quick thinking, strong anatomy knowledge, and decisive problem-solving in theatre. She’s particularly keen on exploratory laparotomy (“ex-lap”) surgery - including foreign body obstructions and acute abdominal cases - and loves being involved early in the workup so surgical decisions are timely and well supported.
She also has a big focus on excellent peri-operative pain control, careful patient monitoring, and smooth recoveries, because great surgery is only part of the outcome - how pets feel during and after matters just as much.
