{"id":3441,"date":"2024-07-08T13:27:13","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T03:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=3441"},"modified":"2024-07-02T13:28:29","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T03:28:29","slug":"a-day-in-the-life-of-katerina-skarbek-mixed-animal-veterinarian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=3441","title":{"rendered":"<strong>A DAY IN THE LIFE OF KATERINA SKARBEK \u2013 MIXED ANIMAL VETERINARIAN<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Welcome back to a Day in the Life \u2013 this month we are joining Katerina Skarbek from Somersby Animal Hospital, which is located on the Central Coast of New South Wales. While Somersby Animal Hospital may sound like it is a generic veterinary practice, the reality is anything but \u2013 largely due to its proximity to the Australian Reptile Park, which is home to more than 2,000 animals. As a result, Skarbek describes herself as a mixed animal veterinarian who works primarily with exotics, wildlife and zoo animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many ways, working at Somersby Animal Hospital is a dream come true for Skarbek. \u201cI grew up on a horse stud and was telling people I was going to be a vet from the second I could talk,\u201d she said. \u201cI was always coming home with an animal that needed \u2018help\u2019 and I hand raised various animals from kittens to goats to ducks. Luckily, I had an animal-loving family who tolerated this very well.\u201d Not surprisingly, Skarbek opted to study a Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Newcastle University when she finished high school, and followed this up with a Bachelor of Veterinary Biology\/Diploma of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Sydney, which she completed in 2019. \u201cI always wanted to work with horses and exotics but did not think I would be able to do both until I did a University placement at Somersby Animal Hospital as a student,\u201d Skarbek said. \u201cI fell in love with the clinic and was lucky enough to be offered a job then and there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A regular day at Somersby Animal Hospital sees Skarbek attending to a packed and varied schedule. \u201cI see at least six or seven different species a day, from macaws to alligators to zebras,\u201d she said. The clinic has a regular clientele who bring in domestic animals for treatment, but Skarbek and the rest of the team at Somersby Animal Hospital also treat animals from six different zoos and wildlife facilities, as well as for multiple wildlife groups. As a result, Skarbek has to deal with an unpredictable case load and long hours. \u201cA twelve-hour day is pretty normal, as our varied patient base often results in the need for a fair bit of research,\u201d she said. \u201cWeirdly, they don\u2019t teach us how to take blood from a crocodile or how to anaesthetise a lion at university!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Skarbek loves working with such a diverse patient caseload. \u201cI\u2019ve never heard of a \u2018regular\u2019 veterinary clinic that sees the variety of species that we do,\u201d she said. \u201cNot many clinics can say they have cheetahs, giraffes and Komodo dragons as patients.\u201d That said, working with such an assortment of species also presents challenges, particularly when working with animals for whom there is not a lot of published data. \u201cDue to significant inter- and intra-species differences in reptiles, for example, we often don\u2019t have sufficient data to guarantee adequate anaesthesia in these animals,\u201d Skarbek said. \u201cAnd did you know that the eye of an echidna has not been fully described in the literature?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The challenging aspects of Skarbek\u2019s role have ended up becoming the most rewarding parts of her job. \u201cI love problem-solving and working with species outside of the \u2018norm\u2019,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s making an anaesthetic mask to fit a kookaburra\u2019s beak, or figuring out how we can lift a 170kg Galapagos tortoise to access its plastron, this role throws me curve balls on a daily basis and I love it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JAI HUMEL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, we conclude our day in the life with Katerina Skarbek by asking our ever-so-slightly cheesy Creature Questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do you currently have any pets?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Considering I live in an apartment, I have lots of pets! I currently have one tabby cat, three dogs (a chihuahua cross, a French bulldog and an American bulldog), three snakes and a galah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is your favourite animal?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I had to choose, I would probably pick a big cat of some description. But, quite honestly, I am just obsessed with all animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If you could transform into any animal, what would you be and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think I would transform into a leopard! Anyone who knows me is well aware of my strong affinity for leopard print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to a Day in the Life \u2013 this month we are joining Katerina Skarbek from Somersby Animal Hospital, which is located on the Central Coast of New South Wales. While Somersby Animal Hospital may sound like it is a generic veterinary practice, the reality is anything but \u2013 largely due to its proximity [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[2857,2671,3287,2830,3284,3285,3290,2756,3281,2820,2673,2848,2749,3288,3289,3286,2850,2682,3282,3283],"class_list":["post-3441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-animalcare","tag-animalhealth","tag-animalhospital","tag-animallovers","tag-exoticanimals","tag-exoticpets","tag-mixedanimalvet","tag-petcare","tag-vetcareer","tag-veterinarianlife","tag-veterinarymedicine","tag-veterinarypractice","tag-veterinaryscience","tag-vetjourney","tag-vetschool","tag-vetstudents","tag-vettech","tag-wildlifeconservation","tag-wildlifevet","tag-zoovet"],"rise-blocks_total_comments":0,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":67,"name":"Features","slug":"features","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":68,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":63,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":67,"category_count":63,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Features","category_nicename":"features","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"Welcome back to a Day in the Life \u2013 this month we are joining Katerina Skarbek from Somersby Animal Hospital, which is located on the Central Coast of New South Wales. While Somersby Animal Hospital may sound like it is a generic veterinary practice, the reality is anything but \u2013 largely due to its proximity to the Australian Reptile Park,..","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AirBrush_20240528203503-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AirBrush_20240528203503.jpg",720,1280,false]},"categories_names":{"67":{"name":"Features","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?cat=67"}},"tags_names":{"2857":{"name":"#AnimalCare","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=animalcare"},"2671":{"name":"#AnimalHealth","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=animalhealth"},"3287":{"name":"#AnimalHospital","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=animalhospital"},"2830":{"name":"#AnimalLovers","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=animallovers"},"3284":{"name":"#ExoticAnimals","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=exoticanimals"},"3285":{"name":"#ExoticPets","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=exoticpets"},"3290":{"name":"#MixedAnimalVet","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=mixedanimalvet"},"2756":{"name":"#PetCare","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=petcare"},"3281":{"name":"#VetCareer","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=vetcareer"},"2820":{"name":"#VeterinarianLife","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=veterinarianlife"},"2673":{"name":"#VeterinaryMedicine","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=veterinarymedicine"},"2848":{"name":"#VeterinaryPractice","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=veterinarypractice"},"2749":{"name":"#VeterinaryScience","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=veterinaryscience"},"3288":{"name":"#VetJourney","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=vetjourney"},"3289":{"name":"#VetSchool","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=vetschool"},"3286":{"name":"#VetStudents","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=vetstudents"},"2850":{"name":"#VetTech","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=vettech"},"2682":{"name":"#WildlifeConservation","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=wildlifeconservation"},"3282":{"name":"#WildlifeVet","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=wildlifevet"},"3283":{"name":"#ZooVet","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=zoovet"}},"comments_number":"0","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AirBrush_20240528203503-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AirBrush_20240528203503.jpg",169,300,false],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AirBrush_20240528203503.jpg",116,207,false],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AirBrush_20240528203503.jpg",338,600,false],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AirBrush_20240528203503.jpg",338,600,false],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AirBrush_20240528203503.jpg",576,1024,false],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AirBrush_20240528203503.jpg",53,95,false],"full":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/AirBrush_20240528203503.jpg",720,1280,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3441"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3443,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3441\/revisions\/3443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}